Join Marcelo Fontana and Wave Contemporary to celebrate the opening of Invite Hope.
Central Library is transforming into a space for poetic resistance. Marcelo Fontana and Wave Contemporary invite the viewer to see hope as an active power rather than a passive wish. Eighteen artists will create small and shareable acts of hope displayed in the Collins Gallery. The title for the exhibition comes from a Maya Angelou quote: “Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.” This is part of the 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial: The Price of the Ticket, a survey of works by artists who are defining and advancing Oregon’s contemporary art landscape. Invite Hope is curated by TK Smith.
The 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial: 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. This show is 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 to combat the restriction of those rights and the denial of full citizenship, often fought by the most vulnerable of us.
