EVENT / 2018

Ann Hamilton, Habitus

HABITUS IS THE LANDSCAPE MADE FROM LETTING GO AND HOLDING ON, FROM REELINGS AND TURNINGS, UNRAVELINGS AND GATHERINGS, SPINNING AND SCROLLING, CONTINUOUS AND DISCONTINUOUS THREADS, IN CIRCLES AND IN LINES.

—ANN HAMILTON

August 10 – September 16, 2018

Free and open to the public
Friday–Sunday, 3–7pm
First Thursday hours: September 6, 3-8pm

Centennial Mills, 1362 NW Naito Parkway

Converge 45 presents Ann Hamilton’s “habitus”, at Centennial Mills Pavilion on the waterfront of the Willamette river in Portland, Oregon. Inspired by one of the earliest human technologies, cloth making, the title, “habitus” refers to clothing, customs of dress, social patterns and what Hamilton calls “the commonness of cloth.”

A field of suspended curtains are turned by rope and pulley or animated by air’s movements. Wind might dwarf the mechanical action of a hand pulling and releasing the ropes at one moment. At another, human effort coaxes the static drag of cloth’s weight to circle and surround. Part cause and effect, part nature and culture, part individual and collective, this landscape invites social interactions and reciprocity.

Originally commissioned by The Fabric Workshop and Museum in 2016 for the historic waterfront at Pier 9 in Philadelphia, Ann Hamilton re-sites elements of “habitus” in relation to Portland’s civic history and places a model of the city built in the 1970’s at the center of the work. Created at a moment of urban renewal, this architectural representation is flanked by long shelves of literary excerpts related to dwelling, shelter and sanctuary. These commonplace pages were contributed by the public through an open call for submissions which continues throughout the run of the exhibition via : habitus-a-commonplace.tumblr.com.