Lex is presenting an installation with paintings and an operatic video called Carnelian, which uses a libretto that, like many of her works, talks about the absurdist effects of living in a highly surveilled and image-saturated world. She takes us in many different directions. I met her as a sculptor, who is also a performer—but she also writes science fiction. Carnelian was a predecessor to an opera she made in residency with the Washington National Opera, with the composer Kyle Brenn, which premiered last year at the Kennedy Center. Thru October 17, Reser Center for the Arts 

Trisha works in 3D video installation—they create a stereoscopic 3D video and build a world around it. This piece, MORE, is about the similarities between training AI and raising a child, the mirroring effects and the negotiations of demands that kind of shape your daily life. While Trisha is making the piece from the perspective of a parent, the piece is as much about the shape-shifting experience of a child. The installation mimics the idea of being a small child—of everything being larger than you. You look up at the screen, and these ordinary objects dominate you and their shadows transform into something more sinister. Thru October 24, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

Rose works with unusual archives. She buys strange objects and then builds what she calls a “dynamic set” using the objects and personal recollections or individualized memories. She was looking for a broad touchpoint that connected Portland to a global moment and discovered archival footage of public gatherings around the death of Princess Diana, and public condolence journals that were meant to be sent to Buckingham Palace, but, like, probably never were. She’s placing these shoes she bought at auction that were worn by Princess Diana in a public space and inviting the public to engage with them and create new condolence journals—a replacement for those from 1997. She’s making a video with footage from that event, as well as from a magic show at the Lloyd Center—where the shoes disappeared—that speaks to public memory and how history is shaped by individual encounters with objects. Thru December 12, Cooley Gallery at Reed College 

Linda’s a very well-known choreographer. She started this project called Mycelium Dreams during COVID. She drew all the connections she’s ever had to everyone in the Portland dance scene—shows they did together, who they introduced her to, and then the people that she introduced—visualizing this entire network. Then she asked others to do that. It’s becoming this massive archive. Some are all ephemera. We’ve talked about some becoming oral histories, and how others could offer a more somatic experience. Linda’s so dedicated to keeping, like, the entire history of Portland dance alive in all these experimental ways. Dates TBD, Place Gallery 

Meech creates festivals and workshops that are not, let’s say, “art events,” but have more to do with what they call biomaterials: fermentation, food, and agricultural processes. Their show uses the motif of slime in children’s television shows to talk about ideas of cleanliness and humiliation. It’ll be a combination of video installation and ceramic and soap sculptures. You’re invited to touch everything. They’re also thinking about what they consider care and aftercare. So you feel like you’re consumed by the slime, and then another space of the gallery takes care of you, removes certain senses and replaces them with a smell or touch. Thru October 31, Paragon Gallery at Portland Community College–Cascade