A permanently lighted wall sculpture, measuring 12¡¯ 6¡±w x 21¡±h, covers the lobby wall space of the building. The piece is composed of glass and fiber optic light. Layers of text are printed on pieces of glass that open in the form of pamphlets. The texts of many different languages overlap one another, with each maintaining its original script and writing format. e.g. English reads from left to right, Arabic reads from right to left, and Chinese reads from top to bottom starting at the right and so on. Sixty-three individuals contributed texts in twenty-two different languages, all of which addressed the experience of being from or living in Portland, Oregon. A catalogue at the site provides more detailed information about the participants, an English translation of the texts, and details about the process of making the work. The central idea of Portland Pamphlets is that a work of art has to grow from the existing context of history, environment and community. It becomes a coherent part of physical and social reality.
Basic idea of overlapping texts:
The multi-lingual texts in this project address public, physical space, the consciousness of cultural fragments and their inner-woven symbols, and the experience of the different individuals who walk through the public space where the work is sited. To me, language and syntax traditionally are only understood within their own discipline and cultural environment. Therefore, by paralleling and overlapping different original scripts of language with piercing light, I expose the displacement of cultural syntax in contemporary society¡¯s complex structure. I also emphasize the architectural format of the work and suggest a chaotic ambiguity of the texts as a whole. The penetrating detail of a single word is taken out of its own context.
