Building 5 art space opens May 30 2021
New maker space and installation art center in Northwest Portland opened Saturday with a whirlwind of wood, rags and
At long last the new art space Building 5 is open. The space, a former ship component factory, opened May 29 with a birds nest-like installation AUXART by artist Philip Krohn. The title is a play on the aux port, pronounced ox, used to connect sound sources in home electronics, cars and soundboards.
Building 5 was hatched in July 2019 when Portland sculptor Dana Lynn Louis approached longtime landlord Ken Unkeles to see whether he had a space for dancers and installation artists to make work and display it. Unkeles is known for renting out basic warehouse spaces as artist studios. He agreed and began a long process of design, permitting and construction while setting up a 501(c)(3) to run the place.
When Margaret Carter reflects on police, she remembers the 1970s, when officers in North Portland planted marijuana in people’s cars and arrested them. Since then, said Carter the first Black woman elected to the Oregon Legislature little has changed to restore trust between Black Portlanders and police officers. And continued police killings of Black Americans have only exacerbated these .