Can a fantastical immersive aquarium bring families back into downtown Portland?

Enveloped by an oceanic soundscape, in the dim light of the deep sea, surrounded by strange creatures, it’s easy to forget you are inside an old Sprint store in downtown Portland.

But, on the other hand, you might notice the creatures’ human expressions and thick lines and know exactly where you are. Because, is there anything more Portland than the art of Mike Bennett?

The Portland Aquarium

, which opens Friday, is Bennett’s newest project and arguably his best. It takes what he was already good at – cartoon creatures in magical spaces – and supercharges it, in the center of town.

Bennett is the force behind Portland’s whimsical slow sign revolution. You can find a slow sloth or snail or stegosaurus in his signature style on almost any block in town.

During the pandemic, he earned a name for himself by

transforming his yard into different alphabet-based worlds

(he had to stop at “sea,” though, because too many people showed up).

He

created “Crypto Zoo”

in 2021 and

“Dinolandia”

in 2022 and, in 2023, he turned the temporary Crypto Zoo into

“Wonderwood Springs,”

an immersive fantasy adventure.

And that’s not even half of it. Bennett’s work is all over Portland. At

the zoo

, on

beer cans

. Everywhere.

But the Portland Aquarium brings the known entity of his static creations to glorious life with 100 real creatures. Or at least, art objects based on real creatures.

“This is education forward,” Bennett said of the project shortly before it was set to open. “This is what drives me as an artist.

“I went to school to be a teacher and I never followed through with that. Educating with art is so important to me.”

Bennett hopes the aquarium might attract school groups who can come and learn about sea creatures and marine mammals in the middle of downtown.

And he sees the location as not a hindrance to his work, but one of the features of the new space. He hopes the aquarium will bring families downtown and, while visitors wait for their turn under the sea, they will get a chance to wander around the neighborhood, which continues to blink back to life.

The aquarium isn’t just an old Sprint store. It’s also an old coffee shop, at 603 S.W. Broadway. Oldsters will remember when it was Public Domain coffee shop. Even older oldsters will remember Portland Coffee House.

Now, the coffee shop is completely transformed into an aquarium entrance and gift shop.

Visitors will purchase their admission – $14 for adults, $10 for kids 12 and under and free for kids 2 and under – and enter a virtual queue, which will allow them to explore downtown while they wait to enter with their group.

This will hopefully maintain what is best about Bennett’s aquarium: the meditative mood.

Yes, he worked with scientists to make his art as accurate as it can be, given the cartoon element, and he created a book, which each visitor gets, and there’s a mission for young marine biologists to undertake.

But the best thing about the aquarium is the sense of calm you can feel when you walk through the rooms and habitats and let the soundscape and the lights of Bennett Bay wash over you.

This is his most polished and most immersive work yet. Bennett hasn’t just painted the floor, though he has, for the first time, gotten permission to paint the floor. At the aquarium, he’s also incorporated animatronics and animation to great effect.

It’s working so well that it feels a little bit like Disneyland, right off a MAX line. (It didn’t hurt that during the press preview event, a group of sailors in full uniform, in town for Fleet Week, had filled the entryway. You probably won’t get that when you visit.)

The Portland Aquarium may not be a coffee shop or a cellphone store. But it’s something weirder, sillier and better. And that might be just what Portland needs.

–


Lizzy Acker


covers life and culture and writes


the advice column Why Tho?


Reach her at 503-221-8052,


lacker@oregonian.com


.

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