Ghosts in the Void

Kim Smith Claudel, Artist in Residence at Building 5

Emma Lutz-Higgins and Tahni Holt perform at 4pm on Sunday November 10th

Closing Exhibition and Performance

Building 5 at NW Marine Art Works

2516 NW 29th Ave, Portland, OR 97210

Ghosts in the Void takes its name from a chance encounter between the artist and a man who worked in Building 5 for 30 years, when it was a bustling machine shop creating large components for sawmills and dams. Standing in the emptiness of the space, he talked of the many ghosts in the palpable void. His clear and detailed memories provide the threads that are both woven together and unraveled to create an installation that touches on loss, absence, and the ghosts of our memory. Ghosts in the Void uses light, ethereal paintings, and performance to call attention to the spiritual presence within this space—a space in which history lingers, machines no longer roar, and a buried lake lies beneath. Layered in complexity, it is a place in which yesterday’s technological optimism confronts the present moment: the profound depletion of the natural ecosystem amidst the lasting remains of a forgotten industry.