Years in the making, Oregon State University’s visual and performing arts center is finally ready for visitors.

The Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts, also known as PRAx, is set to open its doors Saturday, April 6, for an open house featuring an interactive music exhibit, immersive art installations and live performances from indigenous artists.

Those attractions, representing intersections of art, science and technology, are central to PRAx’s mission, according to the center’s director, Peter Betjemann.

It’s also what puts the “x” in PRAx, which signifies the center’s focus on crossing disciplines and experimentation.

Betjemann is most excited to see visitors witness those overlaps and experience the center’s diverse offerings, as well as celebrate the city’s arts scene.

“We want PRAx to help amplify the strength of the Corvallis arts ecosystem, which is really deep,” he said.

Breaking new ground

While “x” marks the sweet spot between art and technology, the first three letters of PRAx are a nod to the patron responsible for paying a hefty portion of the building’s $75 million price tag: OSU alumna and longtime donor Patricia Valian Reser of Reser’s Fine foods.

The university first announced plans for PRAx in 2017, promising the facility would enhance and complement the existing LaSells Stewart Art Center on campus.

Reser had previously contributed an anonymous $5 million donation to OSU for an arts endowment in 2013 and then a further $25 million in 2017 for the construction of the 49,000-square-foot arts facility, located on the corner of SW 15th Street and Washington Way.

According to a 2022 OSU news release, that anonymous donation spurred $5 million in giving from other donors. The rest of the building’s funding came from state-approved bonds, and a further $6 million endowment from Reser. The facility broke ground in 2021.

In light of those donations, the university named the center after Reser in her honor in 2022 while also acknowledging her previously anonymous contributions.

For Betjemann, who’s the Patricia Valian Reser executive director of PRAx, those donations were an extraordinary gift that built an art space on campus from the ground up for students and the public. He said it’s also providing a center of gravity for the city’s vibrant arts and culture scene.

Art meets science

Saturday’s open house lasts from noon to 7 p.m. and gives visitors a first look at the center’s inaugural exhibits.

Visitors, for instance, can gaze up at the center’s only permanent installation: a large, amorphous, 3D-printed sculpture suspended from the lobby ceiling like a light fixture.

The piece was created by internationally renowned media artist Refik Anadol, whose work has previously appeared on the immense screens of the Las Vegas Sphere, the city’s hypnotic orb-shaped arena.

This piece is obviously much smaller but no less experimental and was funded through the Oregon Art Commission’s Percent for Art in Public Places program. It’s also a product of biological data and artificial intelligence.

That’s because the sculpture’s shape was created by an AI program, which used 10,000 hours of bird song recorded from microphones placed by OSU and U.S. Forest Service researchers in the university’s H.J. Andrews experimental forest.

Oregon landscapes overlay the sculpture from nearby projectors, creating colorfully bright and indistinct images on its surface. It’s a prime example of PRAx’s interdisciplinary emphasis, according to Betjemann.

“Art, science and technology come together in our lobby chandelier,” he said.

A similar fusion can be seen in the center’s temporary installations, such as Brazilian-American artist Rick Silva’s “Field Guide to Birds of a Parallel Future,” a series of light boxes seemingly offering a view of birds from another dimension.

Portland-based artist Fernanda D’Agostino will also be showcasing her visually and sonically immersive projection-based piece during the open house at the center’s black box theater.

It’s partially informed by images of sea creatures and hydrothermal vents from OSU research labs, according to Betjemann.

D’Agostino also asked professional dancers to embody the ocean in movement and gesture, and her art installation projects their images onto large theater scrims. Those projections are accompanied by an audio track created by Crystal Cortez, a Portland-based sound artist.

And then there’s the center’s inaugural and interactive “Sonic Booms” exhibit which runs at PRAx till Aug. 1.

The exhibit guides visitors through the technological evolution of pop music with a gallery of instruments ranging from the old-timey player piano to the otherworldly theremin. Visitors can even try their hands at playing the latter.

Range of programming

Saturday’s open house also aims to trumpet PRAx’s music and performance venues, including its black box theater and a state-of-the-art concert hall.

Opening festivities include a special evening headliner performance from renowned Navajo jazz musician Delbert Anderson and his quartet, beginning at 5 p.m. He’ll be accompanied by Nez Perce vocalist Julia Keefe, as well as OSU’s Jazz ensemble at the center’s 490-seat concert hall.

That event launches the center’s Indigenous Jazz series curated by Keefe, which shines an intimate light on Native American jazz musicians.

PRAx’s open house will also host a daytime concert at 1 p.m. from Jan Michael Looking Wolf and his band Native Rose. Wolf, an enrolled Kalapuya tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, is also a Native American flute instructor at OSU.

Those opening day performances signal the center’s commitment to a diversity of artistic programming, according to Betjemann.

This spring, the executive director said PRAx is booking a variety of performances, artists, musicians and screenings with an eye toward integrated art experiences.

For Betjemann, part of the power of abstract pieces like Anadol’s AI data sculpture or D’Agostino’s oceanic-themed installation is their ability to reach people who may not normally gravitate toward art.

Whether you’re a sculptor, bird watcher, marine biologist, data scientist, or a fan of jazz, orchestral or pop music, there’s something for everyone.

“The goal within a year is that everyone in Corvallis has come to see something at PRAx,” Betjemann said.

Admission to the PRAx open house daytime events is free and $10 for the evening concerts. Tickets can be purchased at the PRAx website.