Portland Acupuncture Project
(2010) steel, foam, fabric
Installation, Portland, OR.
This project explored the interface between art, regional planning, traditional Chinese medicine and the health of a city. Needles appearing across the city brought attention to the some of the city's most challenging problems, greatest assets, as well as places with enormous potential. From April-October 2010, needles moved from site to site in a roving city-wide installation. The project coincided with a series of public workshops to help steer the Portland Plan, a guide for the city's growth over the next 25 years.
“Using the body as a metaphor for the entire city, Kuby hopes to identify those places in the landscape that are important to us as a community, drawing attention not only to the significance of each focal point but also to the inter-connectedness of them to each other as well as to ourselves.” – Susan Anderson, Director, Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability
Point Name: Space In Between
Location: Gateway Green Site - I-84 & I-205
photo: Yalcin Erhan
This 35 acre site between I-84 & I-205 was mostly unused, but behind the scenes activists, planners & elected officials are working to reclaim it as a new recreation area for off-road cycling, hiking & more. It will be an important piece of the region’s web of trails & green spaces. Another trail is being proposed along I-84 (Sullivan’s Gulch Trail) that will link Gateway Green to downtown Portland and the Willamette River. **As of 2021 it is now an active recreation area.
Point Name: Utmost Middle
Meridian: Heart
Location: NW 4th & Couch Old Town/Chinatown
Install dates: June 5 - Sept.
photo: Yalcin Erhan
In Chinese Medicine, the principle Gu Ben Fu Zheng means "preserve the history and raise new energy". This is the perfect prescription for Oldtown/Chinatown, the original core of the city and home to Portland’s early Chinese & Japanese communities. The area is now getting a much needed infusion of qi as businesses, schools, service organizations, restaurants and nightlife together create a vibrant new mix.
Point Name: Remove Toxins
Meridian: Liver
Location: Swan Island
Contaminated with heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), dioxin/furans and pesticides, this stretch of the Willamette from the Fremont Bridge to the Columbia is one of EPA’s top priority Superfund clean up sites nationwide. Swan Island is also the site of Portland’s “Big Pipe”pump station which has greatly reduced sewage overflows and marks a huge improvement to the river’s well-being.
Point Name: Swimmable River
Meridian: Kidney
Location: Waterfront Park
When will the Willamette River be clean enough to swim in without concern? Steady progress is being made to reduce hazardous chemical and waste overflows into the river, but there is still more to be done. Imagine a river clean enough for people to swim in, as well as the salmon, herons, eagles and beavers that eat, drink and live in it every day.
Point Name: Streetcar Desire
Meridian: Spleen
Location: SE 12th & Clinton
This site is very near the future Portland - Milwaukie MAX Light Rail Clinton St.Station, slated to open in 2015. Streetcars ruled Portland from the 1880’s through the 1940’s, but they were all removed when cars became the predominant form of travel. As the city grows, better public transit is essential to Portland’s health by ensuring efficient movement of her overall circulation system.The Portland-Milwaukie line Light Rail Project is now in the design phase (completed 2016.)
Point Name: Utmost Middle
Meridian: Heart
Location: NW 4th & Couch Old Town/Chinatown
photo: Yalcin Erhan
Point Name: Pending Promises
Meridian: Small Intestine
Location: SE 122nd Ave. & Reedway
East Portland has been promised greater inclusion in the City of Portland and better services and infrastructure (such as sidewalks and crosswalks) that most neighborhoods take for granted. If the goal is equal opportunity for all Portlanders, then fulfilling these basic needs is a good place to start.
