The Book of Scores Reviewed

Disjecta curator Chiara Giovando's opening salvo is a familiar approach to group exhibitions, but the result is something very unexpected.

Curators often choose a concept and ask artists to push that ordinary idea to the breaking point. In this case, the idea is a score of music, and The Book of Scores artists' interpretations are as diverse as an ugly sweater and a life-size music box. Sculptures, textiles, films, Cagian notations and live performances on two nights round out the experiment.

Ellen Lesperance's Solo for Congratulations and Celebrations is a sweater emblazoned with a battle axe. Viewers are supposed to don the sweater and film themselves doing something courageous. Their act then becomes part of an online archive of gutsy sweater-clad patrons (it's also available for renting).

There are more traditional scores too, in the sense that they involve playing instruments while reading from a page. Johannes Lund's Circles looks like a mountainous elevation map going around and around, as concentric circles do. During the opening night performance, three musicians interpreted the piece in their medium, blurring the line between performance and installation even further.

Alison O'Daniel's Skater's Score is a large-scale floor work that winds around the gallery like the yellow brick road. It's a dynamic work, as violinists play an accompanying score and skateboarders ride over the bumpy course, making a different type of music with their wheels.

Disjecta's gallery on North Interstate is a unique and difficult space to display art in. Whether or not there's song in a sweater or skate park, this show is at least making the most of it's sound premise and space. It's worth the trip to go listen in.

GO: Book of Scores is at Disjecta, 8371 N Interstate Ave., 286-9449. Through Nov. 1.

Willamette Week