Rain, sun, snow—we experience the Pacific Northwest’s spectrum of weather through coats and hats, or comfortably in climate-controlled offices and homes. Our fashion reflects this insulation: most of our jeans and shirts are fine for flitting in between buildings and cars but wouldn’t help us survive a week in the elements.

Architecture firm Bora wants Portlanders to reconsider our clothes as little “shelters” that mediate our experience of the world. Designed with the help of Creative Capital Design, Bora’s interactive exhibit requires visitors to enter a structure (picture an MC Escher-esque canopy smaller than two parking spaces) and don futuristic clothing that reacts to rain and moisture dynamically. Bora aims to spur contemplation about the shelter clothes provide and the sensation of skin against fabrics, ranging from natural fibers such as undyed cotton to home-building materials such as Tyvek.

Deep, guys.

Comfortable? Fabric and the Threshold of Shelter

4–8 p.m. Thu, Apr 19, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, 15 NE Hancock St, FREE