2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial:

The Price of the Ticket

Bust of York by Todd McGrain | Courtesy of the artist

April 3 - July 5, 2026

Curated by TK Smith

“The romance of treason never occurred to us for the brutally simple reason that you can’t betray a country you don’t have. (Think about it.) Treason draws its energy from the conscious, deliberate betrayal of trust—as we were not trusted, we could not betray. And we did not wish to be traitors. We wished to be citizens.” —James Baldwin, The Price of the Ticket

Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial is a survey of works by visual and performing artists who are defining and advancing Oregon’s contemporary art landscape. The exhibition is supplemented by a series of interdisciplinary programming and events.

The Price of the Ticket will explore the interconnected themes of place, power, and promise, especially as they relate to our complex relationships with the land, our histories, and our nations. It will act as a response to the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This pivotal document emancipated the 13 American colonies from British rule, establishing the new nation with the promise of certain “unalienable rights” to all citizens. Since its signing, there have been long and violent battles over who is considered a citizen and therefore granted rights and protection under the law. Often the most vulnerable of us are left to reconcile the disparities between ideal and reality.

The exhibition takes its title from Black American writer and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin’s proposed book of the same title. The Price of the Ticket was intended to explore the political realities of post-Civil Rights era America—progress and the lack thereof. The book was never finished. The title now exists as the introduction to a collection of Baldwin’s non-fiction works and as the title of a biographical episode of American Masters.

The 2026 Biennial will be documented within a forthcoming exhibition catalog designed by Adam McIsaac. It will feature contributions from the curator, the participating artists, and institutional partners.

The Artists’ Biennial 2026 is supported by The Ford Family Foundation, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, Autzen Foundation, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition and the Oregon Cultural Trust. Oregon Contemporary is supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, the City of Portland's Office of Arts & Culture, and the Oregon Arts Commission, a state agency funded by the State of Oregon and the National Endowment for the Arts. Other businesses and individuals provide additional support.

Participating Exhibition Artists

Programs of the 2026 Artists’ Biennial

Oregon Contemporary hosts the main exhibition with all participating artists and programs on First Saturdays and more. The exhibition will conclude with an event on July 4th, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with community readings and responses to that document.

The Portland Art Museum debuts the bronze version of Bust of York by artist Todd McGrain for the first time since the original was damaged. In collaboration with Oregon Contemporary, Portland State University, and the City of Portland, a survey will be offered throughout the biennial to give Portlanders the opportunity to share their thoughts on where the bust should be placed permanently.

Hand2Mouth Theatre revives their immersive and participatory performance of HOME/LAND at Zidell Yards.

KSMoCA presents an exhibition and programming with DeepTime Collective working directly with the elementary students of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School.

Ori Gallery presents the exhibition Rememory: A Poem and accompanying programming with biennial artist Ebony Frison and Oregon-based artist and writer Stephanie Adams-Santos.

Race Talks will be presenting programming as part of the biennial.

Collins Gallery at the Multnomah County Central Library presents the exhibition Invite Hope and accompanying programming with biennial artist Marcelo Fontana and the Portland-based Wave Collective.

Behind The 2026 Biennial

One of the central pieces and conversations in the 2026 Oregon Artists’ Biennial is the newly created bronze Bust of York, the only Black man in the Corps of Discovery, by artist Todd McGrain. This statue will be a permanent version of his initial bust which was built of Styrofoam painted bronze, and was surreptitiously installed in 2021 on Mount Tabor on the pedestal where a statue of Oregonian editor Harvey Scott, a known racist, once stood. After 8 months, the Bust of York was eventually vandalized and toppled off its pedestal.

While traveling later in 2021, TK Smith was made aware of McGrain’s bust, although the artist’s name had not yet been revealed. Smith’s interest in American history and his specialization in public art and monuments compelled him to make the trip to see the bust. Once he reached Mount Tabor, he was disappointed to discover that the bust was gone and the plinth was empty.

Years later, Smith was contacted by the Oregon Contemporary with the (unrelated) proposal to curate the 2026 biennial. His first studio visit was with Todd McGrain where Smith, at last, was able to experience the powerful work of art. Both the original bust and the new bronze bust will be included in the biennial, anchoring its larger themes of citizenship with local history and on-going discourse.

Oregon Contemporary is particularly indebted to Sitka Center for Art and Ecology for their unprecedented support of the biennial after the National Endowment for the Arts withdrew funding based solely on the names and bios of our curator and artists.

The National Endowment for the Arts granted and confirmed $30,000 in funding for Oregon Contemporary, only to pull it at the last minute, plunging Oregon Contemporary’s Artists’ Biennial into danger of cancellation. The Biennial was already well underway when the sudden news of the grant cancellation came in a letter from the NEA. Sitka Center for Art and Ecology stepped forward to help bridge this gap at a time when support for the arts is in question. The move is motivated by a show of solidarity and alignment between the two organizations, as well as an affirmation of the importance of diverse voices in the art dialogue.

About the Curator

TK Smith is an independent curator, writer, and cultural historian. He most recently served as Curator, Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora, Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. Previously, Smith served as Assistant Curator: Art of the African Diaspora at the Barnes Foundation. His recent independent curatorial projects include Carried Over at ISCP (2025); the Mississippi Invitational: Call Home (2025); Hand to Mouth at Stove Works (2024); and Kelly Taylor Mitchell & Sergio Suárez: Material Memory at Swan Coach House Gallery (2024). Smith’s writing has been published in exhibition catalogues, academic journals, and periodicals, including Art Papers where he is a contributing editor. He is a past recipient of an Andy Warhol Arts Writers Grant and was awarded the Leo and Dorothea Rabkin Prize in art writing in 2024. He has been a visiting lecturer at numerous academic and cultural institutions, including Cornell University. Smith has lectured for several institutions, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Louis University, and Cornell University. Smith is a doctoral candidate in the History of American Civilization program at the University of Delaware, where he is completing his dissertation, entitled “Granite, Power, and Piss: The Transformation of a Confederate Symbol.”

Additional Programming:

Friday, April 3rd, 2026
Event: Rememory: A Poem (Opening Reception)
Time: 6:00-8:00pm
Location: Ori Gallery
Description: “If a house burns down, it's gone, but the place - the picture of it stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there in the world.” —Toni Morrison

Ebony Frison and Stephanie Adams-Santos, both Portland-based artists and poets, come together to create a space to recall, reflect, and hold grief. Working in distinct visual languages, both artists engage memory as something active and persistent that lingers in image, land, and the body. Bringing together printmaking, installation, photography, and the written word, the exhibition takes its title from the concept of “rememory” in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, where memory is understood as experiential. Memory can live and breathe, love and admonish. Haunt.

April 4th - July 5th, 2026
Event: Invite Hope: Marcelo Fontana + Wave Collective (Exhibition)
Time: Standard Library Hours
Location: Multnomah County Central Library
Description: "Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.” —Maya Angelou

Marcelo Fontana and Wave Contemporary will transform the Multnomah County Central Library into a space for poetic resistance, inviting the viewer to see hope as an active power rather than a passive wish.

Saturday April 4th, 2026
Event: Todd McGrain: Debut of York
Time: TBA
Location: Portland Art Museum
Description: The Portland Art Museum debuts the bronze version of Bust of York by artist Todd McGrain for the first time since the original was damaged. In collaboration with Oregon Contemporary, Portland State University, and the City of Portland, a survey will be offered throughout the biennial to give Portlanders the opportunity to share their thoughts on where the bust should be placed permanently.

Saturday April 4th, 2026
Event: Invite Hope: Marcelo Fontana + Wave Collective (Opening Reception)
Time: 1:00-3:00pm
Location: Multnomah County Central Library
Description: Marcelo Fontana and Wave Contemporary will transform the Multnomah County Central Library into a space for poetic resistance, inviting the viewer to see hope as an active power rather than a passive wish.

Saturday April 4th, 2026
Event: Opening Reception with DeepTime Collective: Fifty Clocks Made To Strike Together
Time: 5:00-8:00, 6:00 performance
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: DeepTime Collective (Amanda Leigh Evans and Tia Kramer) in collaboration with Darr Anderson of Portland’s own Father Time Clocks present, Fifty Clocks Made to Strike Together, a large-scale installation and performance. In an 1818 letter written by Founding Father John Adams describing the success of the American Revolution, he states, “Thirteen Clocks were made to strike together—a perfection of mechanism which no artist had ever before effected.” He used the metaphor of thirteen mechanical clocks to represent the strategic unity of the thirteen colonies uniting to create a new singular nation. Two hundred and eight years later, DeepTime Collective questions if such a feat can occur again by activating fifty mechanical clocks intended to represent the fifty united states. Together with clockmaker Darr Anderson, the artists blend mechanical skill with conceptual art and performance to see if the assembled clocks can once again strike on one accord.

Saturday May 2nd, 2026
Event: First Saturday with Jaleesa Johnston: Waiting Amongst the Trees
Time: 5:00-8:00, 6:00 performance
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: Interdisciplinary artist Jaleesa Johnston will activate her installation Clearing with a performance titled Waiting Amongst the Trees. The performance was created in reverence of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 novel Beloved, in which a family is haunted by their past. In a moment of transgression, spiritual leader Baby Suggs invites the recently emancipated to a clearing where she preaches the love of one’s own flesh. She states, “In this here place, we flesh; flesh that weeps, laughs; flesh that dances on bare feet in grass. Love it. Love it hard.” Within the galleries of the Oregon Contemporary, Johnston creates her own clearing and invites us to gather and return to our flesh—our hands, our necks, our hearts—and find love, despite the world that may despise it.

Sunday May 17th, 2026
Event: Poetry Reading
Time: 4:00-6:00pm
Location: Ori Gallery
Description: All are invited to an afternoon poetry reading at Ori Gallery featuring the words of Portland-based poets Ebony Frison, Stephanie Adams-Santos, and Makayla Terrell. Rememory: A Poem is a focused exhibition that incorporates visual art and the written word to reflect on memory as something active and persistent that lingers in image, land, and the body. Join us in creating an open space to recall, reflect, and hold grief.

Saturday May 23rd, 2026
Event: Race Talks City Tour
Time: TBA
Location: TBA
Description: TBA

Saturday June 6th, 2026
Event: First Saturday with Joe Kye: Portal
Time: 5:00-8:00, 6:00 performance
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: Musician and installation artist, Joe Kye, in collaboration with botanical artist, Theresa Bear, invites the Portland community to join them in creating Portal, a collective ritual to honor our ancestors. As a Korean American musician, he uses his practice to keep traditional Korean music, language, and culture alive, as well as to connect to the sounds and experience of life as an immigrant in the Pacific Northwest. This seance event incorporates musical performance, storytelling, letter-writing, and collective making to inspire conversations with our ancestors, and hopefully, conversations between our ancestors. Kye and Bear invite you to bring flowers and photographs to honor your ancestors to the event.

June 18-21st & 25-28th, 2026
Event: HOME/LAND (Hand2Mouth Theatre)
Time: TBD
Location: Zydell Yards
Description: HOME / LAND is an immersive journey along the paths of personal and collective memories. Within a context of critical instability, when displacement and forced migrations have caused many to leave their homes and everything they hold dear, audience members are each assigned a temporary unit in a government-run shelter village called Lot 6B.

Audience members move back and forth through time and witness stories about the singular place, Portland, and all those who have occupied and lived here. HOME / LAND asks audiences to question their own personal relationship to the place they call home and their hopes for what its future might hold. Ticket link coming soon.

Thursday July 2nd, 2026
Event: The gesture and the shout: community printing, collages and design techniques
Time: 12:00-3:00pm
Location: Multnomah County Central Library
Description: Tired of endless scrolling and digital noise? This workshop will help bring our message out of the digital ether and into the public sphere. The workshop will remind us that in a scattered world with distant posts, there's a lot of power in a real, shared action. We'll explore how to reclaim our public spaces and connect with each other through tangible art.

In this hands-on workshop, you'll learn the basics of wheatpasting, collage and design. We'll create our own images, designs and messages and put them directly on the street. It's a chance to turn ideas into a collective act of presence. Come join us, make something real, and find your voice in the physical world.

Ages 14+

Saturday July 4th, 2026
Event: First Saturday with Public Reading & DeepTime Collective: Fifty Clocks Made to Strike Together
Time: 5:00-8:00, 6:00 performance
Location: Oregon Contemporary
Description: To close the 2026 Oregon Artists Biennial, we invite the Portland community to a public reading event in which a microphone will be provided to those who wish to share a piece of writing inspired by the themes of the biennial, The Price of the Ticket. We hope to create a safe space in which people of all ages and all experiences can speak, respectfully, to their realities living in the United States. We invite people to read published work by a cherished writer, or bring something they have penned themselves. This event will culminate in the final performance of DeepTime Collective’s Fifty Clocks Made to Strike Together, in which we will see if the biennial can close on one accord.

About Oregon Contemporary

Oregon Contemporary is a space dedicated to art, community, and the exponential possibilities of contemporary art. We produce powerful, visionary art programs for the communities of Oregon. We believe artists provide unique, forward-thinking ways of connecting people to the nuanced issues that define modern life. We regularly promote voices and points of view—regional to international—that have been historically underrepresented in the arts, and engage these populations to impact and intervene in the contemporary arts dialogue. By showcasing any and all forms of art in our exhibitions and events, Oregon Contemporary supports and empowers artists, curators, and performers, presenting singular experiences for the public every month. Through individual and business donations, as well as grant support,Oregon Contemporary is able to pay arts producers fairly for their work, while offering the majority of our programs to audiences free of charge.

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