Marco Brambilla: Maximalist Dreamscapes

Downtown

When

Ongoing

Days vary, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Where

Portland Art Museum

1219 SW Park Ave
Portland, OR 97205

Heaven’s Gate (2021)
High-definition 3D 8K video with sound, color; 5 min., 45 sec., loop

A lavish and satirical take on the silver-screen spectacle of Hollywood dreams and excesses, Heaven’s Gate both celebrates collective storytelling and satirizes saturated glamour and stereotypes. The continuously looping video ascends through the seven levels of purgatory, each stage its own unique landscape of visual samples lifted from iconic moments in cinematic history.

Anthology (2025)
Photo–montage printed on wallpaper

Anthology mirrors the way we recall films: as iconic moments, cinematic scenes and emotional cues. By intuitively forming associations between set pieces and characters, Marco Brambilla constructs a compelling “memory timeline”, a series of powerful still images that represent narrative fragments, punctuating the rhythm of cinema across genres and eras.

These curated images resonate not because of their plot context but due to their visual and emotional impact.  Chosen for their ability to stand apart, they act as pauses or reflections within the flow of a film’s narrative, exploring how singular moments in film can encapsulate entire stories. Characters and scenes become a visual grammar—pauses, interruptions, and exclamations— underscoring the evolving relationship between image, time, and viewer interpretation in cinema history.