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The deserted Wapato Correctional Facility that sits just minutes from downtown St. Johns is a mystery to most neighbors, an occasional film set for shows like Leverage and Portlandia, and a thorn in the side of Multnomah County's financial officers and board members, who have watched it suck up over $300,000 annually since voters approved the 58 million dollar project in 1996.
But when the newest art gallery in St. Johns, c3:initiative, invited a California-based artist group called ERNEST to take up residency in Portland, ERNEST decided that Wapato is art.
As election season and the end of a 10 year bond requiring the county to maintain Wapato loom nearer, Wapato's Demos installation in the tiny NoPo gallery paints an eerie portrait of the place now.
ERNEST members mined footage from surveillance cameras inside Wapato's hall, cells and visitation rooms, and even the kitchen. They photographed it's 525 empty beds. They filmed local volunteers wearing coyote masks and running through the stairwells. The coyote motif runs throughout ERNEST's exhibit—lines from Native American creation myths and dozens of unique coyote masks pay homage to rumours that the facility is overrun with wildlife. Thanks to ERNEST's spy-cams, we know it's true.
Footage from the cameras is spliced with still photos of the deserted jail and reams of white noise in the 20-or-so minute video installation that viewers can watch in a small, curtained square of the C3 gallery. Soundtracked with ambient noise, recordings of wind gusting around the facility's cement walls and, at one point, a deafening cacophony of footsteps—the video is like a non-scary, art house version of The Blair Witch Project, with coyotes.
The video, the fledging gallery's big-hearted residency and the accompanying book of opinion pieces and architectural sketches that Container Corps printed make for a nice story about artistic collaboration. But Demos is really a big red arrow aimed at political oversight and social justice issues. Including round table discussions, visits from school kids and feedback forms for community members, this art is supposed to go far beyond the tiny gallery and minimalist exhibit.
ERNEST set up a table at the St. Johns Farmers Market this summer and asked passersby what they knew about Wapato. Many had never heard of the place. The Portlanders in coyote masks responded to C3's call for volunteers, many with no political agenda.
But ERNEST wants Demos to live up to it's name: "The Greek word 'demos' (pronounced 'day-moss'), refers to the 'village' or 'people.' In English, 'demo', is used as a shorthand for "demonstration", as reference to the 'demo mix-tape', or as the vernacular for 'demolition'." By New Years, Portland's people will have demonstrated whether they want Wapato to turn into a TV production set, a demolition site or…maybe a zoo? We hear that the county is making suggestions.
GO: Demos is at c3:initiative, 7326 N. Chicago Ave., c3initiative.org. Through November 22.
Willamette Week