Portland Aquarium (art installation)

Portland Aquarium
The installation's logo
ArtistMike Bennett
Year2025 (2025)
SubjectMarine life
Location
Websitemikebennettstudios.com/portland-aquarium

Portland Aquarium is an art installation by American artist Mike Bennett, established in Portland, Oregon, on June 6, 2025. The educational and immersive exhibit opened at Southwest Alder and Broadway in downtown Portland in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Elakha Alliance and Big Fish Lab. Portland Aquarium features approximately 100 cartoon paintings of various sea animals on plywood, some of which are animated. Visitors are provided a field guide developed by a marine biologist, which also has illustrations of marine life by Bennett, and navigate a fictional environment with a story line and music provided by composer RAC (André Allen Anjos). The exhibit is slated to close on October 4, 2026.

Description

Mike Bennett's educational and immersive art installation Portland Aquarium operates in a 5,000-square-foot space at the intersection of Southwest Alder Street and Broadway in downtown Portland.[1][2] Racket Magazine has called the exhibit a "fantastical undersea journey" and described the fictional Bennett's Bay as a world "with oversized sea creatures, vibrant coral-scapes, animated tide pools" and "more interactive storytelling than your average kids' cartoon".[3] Visitors receive a 24-page field guide called the Explorer Compendium that is developed by marine biologist Chanel Hason to accompany the exhibit,[4] which also features works by composer RAC (André Allen Anjos)[5] and a scavenger hunt.[6]

Cartoons are painted on the exhibit's exterior. Once inside, visitors enter the fictional research station Cascadia Marine Lab and meet the character Wade C. Bennett, a professor who is portrayed by Mike Bennett. The exhibit's storyline has guests work as field observers to identify species in six biomes using the provided field guides and to assist Wade C. Bennett, who is stranded at the bottom of the ocean after attempting to photograph a giant squid.[5] The field guide has facts as well as cartoon illustrations by Mike Bennett.[4] RAC's soundtrack features unique music for each biome. Portland Aquarium is Bennett's first project to include both animation and painted floors.[6] General admission is $14; entry is $10 for children aged 2 to 12 and no cost for children under the age of 2.[7]

Visuals

May 2025 photograph of the building at the intersection of Southwest Alder and Broadway with window displays by Mike Bennett Studios; previously the building housed Public Domain Coffee

The exhibit features approximately 100 cartoon paintings of marine species, including 20-foot-long whales, bubblegum pink-colored blobfish, deep-sea fish, great white sharks, gulls, jellyfish, and sea otters.[2][5] Some artworks are hand-painted, and others are digitally printed on plywood.[3] The gulls, which have flapping wings, are among animated artworks. There is also a missing goldfish named Gilly in each biome.[5][6] Among biomes is the Open Ocean, which focuses on some of the ocean's largest animals, and the Wreck, which highlights deep-sea carnivores and other animals.[2] Bennett created one part of the exhibit, a blue wall with red coral, based on a book about the ocean that he has read to his daughter.[3]

History

In March 2025, Willamette Week described Bennett's plans to open an "immersive educational play space for families" where Public Domain Coffee had operated a coffee shop. Bennett had recently signed a lease for the space and said the site would host "half-science, half-arts/DIY projects" and a gift shop with artworks from his various projects.[8][9] The Portland Business Journal also reported on Mike Bennett Studios' planned relocation to the building that housed Public Domain and a shop operated by Sprint Corporation. The newspaper said the studio would have an "arts-forward education space" promoting a "rotating educational, immersive art experience" and a gift shop.[10]

Entrance to the exhibit from the lobby

Bennett and his business partner Teddy Albertson had been searching for a permanent space in downtown Portland since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The duo had also collaborated on other pop-up installations including Dinolandia (2022).[8] The Portland Business Journal said the studio's move was an effort to revitalize downtown Portland.[11] Bennett had completed approximately 50 artworks for the first exhibit at the new location by March 2025. He planned to reveal the project's theme in April and open to the public in June.[8] Portland Aquarium opened on June 6, 2025, in a space that had been vacant for approximately five years. Previously, Bennett had installed A, B, Sea, an art exhibit featuring marine life, outside his home in 2021.[5][12] A, B, Sea sought to teach children about the alphabet and the ocean during the pandemic. It was attended by approximately 1,000 people and inspired Bennett to install art in public spaces.[5]

Interior lobby, 2025

For Portland Aquarium, he collaborated with the local nonprofit organization Elakha Alliance (EA), which sought to reintroduce sea otters to the Oregon Coast,[3] and Big Fish Lab to develop and install the exhibit over four months. EA marine biologist Chanel Hason directed Bennett's art "to more accurately represent the animals, while still giving him leeway to be playful", according to the Portland Tribune.[5] Volunteers recruited on social media assisted Bennett by painting floors and building coral reefs, and some of the volunteers became paid staff.[3] According to KPTV, he chose the location because "Bennett says it's important to have art downtown and he's happy to be the person to bring it here".[1]

The local company Imaginary Planet helped create the animations. For the exhibit's opening weekend, a live shark dissection was hosted in the lobby, as Bennett hoped this would attract families to downtown as well as school groups.[6] Later in the year, Portland Aquarium hosted an event to raise funds for Elakha Alliance. The collaboration featured artworks by Bennett and Kate's Ice Cream's launch of the flavor Ottie's Oreo, which was inspired by the artist's otter character.[13] In June 2026, Portland Aquarium offered half price on admission with proof of same-day receipt from a local business.[14]

In July 2026, Bennett announced that Portland Aquarium would close on October 4.[15]

Reception

Field guide, 2025

Lizzy Acker of The Oregonian said Portland Aquarium is "arguably [Bennett's] best" project to date, as well as his "most polished and most immersive work yet". She wrote that he uses cartoon creatures and "supercharges it", adding that "it's working so well that it feels a little bit like Disneyland". Acker appreciated the animated components and the meditative mood, writing about its sense of calm induced by the sights and sounds of the exhibit's habitats. She also opined that it is "just what Portland needs", calling it "weirder, sillier, and better" than previously housed businesses.[16] Meg Asby of PDX Parent called the field guide "fun and engaging", as well as "a standout piece on its own". She wrote, "Adults and kids alike will totally geek out over it. I cannot recommend it enough."[4] Racket Magazine described the cartoon illustrations in the field guides as "delightfully weird" and said of the exhibit:

As adults, making friends is harder than it used to be. But at Bennett's installations, the barriers drop. Conversations start. Kids teach their parents about cassowaries. Grown-ups laugh at bad jokes hidden on a wall. People slow down and just begin to absorb the world around them. Whether you're a kid, a kid-at-heart, or just someone in desperate need of a serotonin boost, this underwater world is the kind of place Portland didn't know it needed — but Mike Bennett absolutely knew we deserved.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kaplan, Ezra (2025-05-15). "Be Seen. Be Heard: Downtown Portland revitalization". KPTV. Archived from the original on 2025-05-15. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  2. 1 2 3 Vora, Shivani (2026-04-19). "A Time of Growth for Museums for Children". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-07-24.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Diving Deep Into Wonder: The Portland Aquarium". Racket Magazine. 2025-05-11. Archived from the original on 2025-10-04. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Portland Aquarium is the Coolest Seek-and-Find Adventure". PDX Parent. Retrieved 2026-07-24.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Seibold, Hannah (2025-05-29). "Experience the 'Portland Aquarium' — an upcoming art installation". Portland Tribune. Archived from the original on 2025-06-09. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Sneak a Peek at Mike Bennett's New Ocean-Themed Immersive Art Space". Willamette Week. 2025-06-05. Archived from the original on 2025-06-18. Retrieved 2025-07-04.
  7. ↑ Williams, Kale (2025-06-06). "Downtown gets a new "artquarium"". Axios. Retrieved 2025-08-05.
  8. 1 2 3 "Mike Bennett to Open Permanent Downtown Play Space for Kids". Willamette Week. 2025-03-07. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  9. ↑ Andrews, Garrett (2025-04-14). "Portland's Pike Place". Oregon Business. Archived from the original on 2025-05-29. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  10. ↑ Edwards, Sara (March 10, 2025). "Mike Bennett Studios to move to downtown Portland". Portland Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2025-03-11. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  11. ↑ Edwards, Sara (March 21, 2025). "PwC committing to downtown with new office lease". Portland Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2025-03-21. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  12. ↑ Acker, Lizzy (2021-04-19). "Portland artist Mike Bennett is making his yard into a 'magical' aquarium alphabet this spring". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 2021-10-16. Retrieved 2025-06-05.
  13. ↑ "Sweet collaboration supports sea otters through ice cream, art". KOIN. October 7, 2025.
  14. ↑ Pettigrew, Jashayla (June 18, 2026). "2 Portland attractions offer discounts to those supporting local storefronts. Here's how it works". KOIN.
  15. ↑ Seibold, Hannah (2026-07-29). "Mike Bennett announces closure of Portland Aquarium art installation". Portland Tribune. Retrieved 2026-08-01.
  16. ↑ Acker, Lizzy (2025-06-05). "Can a fantastical immersive aquarium bring families back into downtown Portland?". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on 2025-07-20. Retrieved 2025-07-04.
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