Block Cinema

The Joy and Chaos of Collectivity: Penny Allen in Conversation [Video]

In November 2021, Block Cinema screened Property (1978) by filmmaker Penny Allen. In Property, Penny Allen turns her lens to the eccentric residents of a bohemian neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. The film, a critically under-seen gem of 1970s independent filmmaking, delivers an economic critique of urban renewal to warm, satirical effect. Property revels in the joy and […]

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Staff Stories

Meet Block Museum Fellow Sarah Dwider

In September 2021 the Block Museum welcomed  Sarah Dwider as a 2021-2022 graduate fellow.  Block Museum Graduate Fellowships are offered to two graduate students annually, one from Art History and one from any department within the Graduate School.  Fellows are integral members of the museum staff supporting projects through exhibition and collection research, curating, writing, […]

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Programs & Events

Collections are Museums’ Self- Portraits: “Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts” Curator Discussion [Video]

Who gets in? Who decides? In recent years, questions about accessibility, representation, and inclusion have become central to an ongoing reexamination of the collecting practices and power structures of museums and the art world. Artists, curators, writers, and activists have emphasized the narrow framework of Western art history—a discipline dominated by white Euro-American institutions and […]

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Programs & Events

“This battle has been fought with images” Sarah Maza, Andrea Carlson, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Chris Pappan on art and history

Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts: Thinking about History with The Block’s Collection considers our constantly changing understanding of the past through the lens of artistic practice. On September 29, 2021 the Block Museum hosed a keynote conversation with exhibition artists Andrea Carlson, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Chris Pappan who discussed how artists, artworks, and museums shape and challenge […]

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Staff Stories

Meet América Salomón, Manager of Public Programs

This summer The Block is honored to welcome América Salomón into a new role as the Manager of Public Programs within the Engagement Department. Within this position, América will helm public program offerings at the Block as well as collaborative curricular programs. We sat down with her to learn a bit more about her path […]

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