Hammock

Fans hang out on the hammocks on Day 3 of the Pickathon music festival in Happy Valley, Ore., Sun, Aug 4, 2013.

(Thomas Boyd)

Update: This story has been updated with specific details about the project's funding.

An artist in Woodstock wants her neighbors to curl up in hammocks and pillow forts set up in the alleyways next month and daydream about land use -- all as part of a participatory art project.

What could be more Portland?

Community nap day

What:

Nap, daydream or talk quietly with neighbors.

When:

Sept. 6, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Where:

The alleyway between Southeast Reedway and Ramona streets from 57th to 60th avenues

Who:

The event is mainly for Woodstock residents, but other Portlanders are welcome to participate

Krista Connerly is one of six artists in the Resident Residency coalition, which is funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The money comes via the Precipice Fund administered by the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art.

The project calls artists to get involved in their respective neighborhood associations and develop participatory public artworks.

Connerly has become fascinated with land use and the rapid change in her Southeast Portland neighborhood since joining the Woodstock association in January. Now, she said, is the perfect time to encourage her neighbors to think about how they want the neighborhood to look.

The 39-year-old is particularly interested in alleys. She sees the unpaved lanes through the eyes of her childhood self, as pockets of wilderness where magic and danger light up the imagination.

"They're like the forest in German fairy tales," Connerly said. The alleyways seem like the last unplanned strips of wilderness, she said. "It's nice to know there is something that's a little more wild."

She wants to encourage her neighbors to think and talk about the future of Woodstock while keeping the alleys in mind. So, she said, she's inviting them to experience respite in the "wild" lanes from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 6.

"People don't necessarily have to fall asleep," Connerly said. "It's a time to daydream. You need to know yourself in order to know what you want for your community."

The artist plans to provide about 20 hammocks and other sleeping spaces, such as forts built with pillows and blankets. Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own supplies, but leave their cell phones at home or at least set to silent mode.

The Saturday afternoon is meant to be an escape from daily bustle, she said.

"This is a low-stakes way to get them out, get them talking to each other, but also to relax and think," she said.

Connerly's project is part of an emerging trend in the art world, said Roya Amirsoleymani, the community engagement manager at PICA. The movement has many names: Participatory art, public practice, art in the public space. Amirsoleymani calls it "social practice."

"What all of these terms point to is a trend in art making and art thinking by artists to pull away from strict disciplines that are object-based," she said.

It's the experience -- not a tangible, visual or audible product -- that matters.

Resident Residency has produced a number of other participatory projects, including a walking tour, storytelling event and (coming soon) a tug-of-war competition. Organizer Katy Asher said she thinks of social practice as an extension of performance art.

"Art changes people's perception of the place where they live or how they experience the world," she said. "You might have that experience looking at a painting or drawing or sculpture, or you might have it through a more visceral experience."

-- Melissa Binder