Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA

The ICA is where I usually start every First Friday Art Walk — it’s usually filled with incredible shows that inspire and remind folks what a unique scene Portland really is (and that we’re more than just a foodie town).
What have I seen here that’s stuck with me for weeks, months, and years?:
1. Dan and Frank DenDanto: BUMP (
) — The interactive whale bones art installation. It was enormous and really put how large these majestic, mysterious animals are into perspective. I LOVED that we were encouraged to touch the bones hanging from the ceiling like wind chimes.
2. A pingpong table that you could play with, but had to take your shoes off first. I didn’t get the correlation, but… I got to take my shoes off INSIDE a building AND I got to play pingpong while passerby’s watched, so really, what was not to love? Maybe it was some sort of expression of freedom, competition, and voyeurism?
3. «The Wrong Kind of Bars» — anonymous art by prisoners at the Maine State Prison. Just haunting despite the beauty of some pieces because we have no idea who created it and what their crime was.
4. Sascha Braunig’s thousands of, I believe, Twitter entries all printed out and hung up chronologically (
). I was completely enthralled by this and could have stayed here for hours reading every single entry. Have always been a fan of self-​documentation, and love how
I appreciate the malleability of the space here. Despite being vastly open white rooms, the folks here do an excellent job at manipulating it to work with whatever art is being shown. I would very much like to do an event here. I think it would be fabulous!