A Robot Arm Offers Colorful Macarons at Shifting Realities in Portland

When a colleague and friend asked if I wanted to check out the preview for Shifting Realities, “a 100-minute immersive art experience … where a robotic arm serves racetrack-inspired art macarons” opening at Porsche Studio Portland in the Pearl, I was intrigued. I love the intersection of art and food, and I love macarons, so I was all “heck yeah!” Here are some of my observations, plus info on how you can experience it yourself.

Shifting Realities: The Basics

Shifting Realities™️ runs Monday, June 1 to Monday, August 31 at the Porsche Studio Portland at 1432 NW Johnson Street in the Pearl District. What is Porsche Studio Portland? LRS Architects, who worked on this space, describe it like this:

“Porsche Studio is a cutting-edge retail space designed to showcase the heritage and legacy of innovation that defines the Porsche brand. The first of its kind in the United States, Porsche Studio captures the vibe of an international art gallery, with glass garage-style doors and windows that put design on display. Located within a beautifully renovated industrial warehouse in Portland’s Pearl District, the design invites onlookers in to a voluminous yet intimate experiential space unlike anything else in this vibrant, pedestrian-friendly arts and culture district.”

Shifting Realities Tickets

Tickets (excluding fees) are $39 for adults, children ages 6 to 15 are $24. There are premium time slots and add-ons available—VIP for $99 each and VIP+ for $249 each. Private bookings—which means you get the full venue for three hours—start at $3,800 for groups of up to 40.

You can buy your tickets here. As of the writing of this article, the first day tickets are available is Thursday, June 4.

What Your Ticket Gets You

Your ticket gets you into this 100-minute immersive experience through nine installations. There are large swaths of digital imagery and loud electronic music. Zone 4 involves the option to adorn a haptic vest over your clothes, but for me the “boots-n-cats” and other percussive elements of the techno music swirling around the room got into my body on its own; YMMV.

The experience ends in a zone called the Flavor Bar. This is where a robotic arm takes macarons from La Provence and decorates them: “Porsche in Macaron Form” is how they envision them. The staff member we encountered said they are painted in “Porsche colors.” There’s also a bar serving “racing cocktails.” LucidWild and Henderson Ave wines are also participating.

There are NA options, but they are in the form of still water, flavored seltzers, and conventional soda pop. I would encourage them to up their NA game as the summer goes on.

The Shifting Realities Ribbon Cutting and Preview

Judith and I arrived and hung out for a bit, checking out the merch, the 2025 Porsche they had on display, and had some snacks. They had a very nice table piled with tasty and familiar things.

Eventually we were all asked to all find our way outside for the ribbon cutting. A fire truck was there with firemen. There were speeches. Here’s some of what was said—remarks from Bruce Studer representing the Pearl District’s neighborhood association, Charity Hunt of Porsche, and the artist Kelly Max. (Links go directly to their respective remarks. You can also skip them and go straight to the photos.)

Bruce Studer

Bruce is president of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association. (Note: Some NAs have chairs, some have presidents.) He talked about how events like this positively contribute to revitalization of the Pearl District. The folks at Pearl District Portfolio wrote that efforts like these to re-ignite the Pearl are, “to make the Pearl vibrant, more active, and more alive than it has been in years.”

“Transformation takes a stunning new form,” said Bruce. “Shifting Realities, is not just an art exhibit. It’s a statement that the Pearl is back, it’s alive, it’s gold, and it’s open for something extraordinary!”

He continued, “And Kelly Max, the visionary creator behind this work, thank you. Your art challenges us to see the world differently, question the boundaries between what’s real and what’s possible. This is exactly the spirit that neighborhood needs right now, and we are honored that you chose the Pearl as your canvas.

“To Charity Hunt and the Porsche Studio Portland team, your commitment to bring world class cultural experiences to our community goes far beyond selling cars. You are investing in the soul of our neighborhood. You are a partner in what we and the Pearl District Neighborhood Association call ‘Re-Ignite the Pearl,’ our collective effort to bring energy, creativity, and pride back to every quarter of the District. This exhibit runs through August 31st—three whole months of art, conversation, and connection, right here on this street.

“Tell your neighbors, bring your friends, come back more than once, because this is what the Pearl does best. It gathers people, sparks ideas, and remind us that great cities are built not just with buildings, but with moments like these.”

Charity Hunt

Charity is the Porsche Studio Portland Manager.

“We just want to say thank you for taking the time to come here and celebrate this very exciting opportunity,” said Charity. “I remember when I first met you, Kelly, and you were trying to tell me about the show and the project—I had no idea what to expect and I wasn’t sure.

She continued, “But honestly, it’s been such a great opportunity for me to see everything that you’ve built from the ground up, to watch it grow from the mushrooms to the … I don’t want to say too much … the robot arm. But it’s been great seeing this amazing creative experience for everyone to enjoy.

“The last three years, we really wanted to work on building a cultural platform in Portland and I really feel like this is the best way to do it. Creative, community, and we just want this to be a place where everybody comes and celebrates it.”

Kelly Max

Kelly Max is the artist that conceived the idea behind Shifting Realities, and he was joined by Aleks Davidovich, Co-Founder of OWOW Studio. The rest of the team can be found here.

“I’m absolutely awed at the amount of people who came out today to get a little bit of a taste what Shifting Realities will be, and you’ll have a really good time together,” remarked Kelly. He also thanked Charity for championing this project.

He continued, “In January 2025, we decided that we would put pen to paper with Sunset Imports Porsche Beaverton Audi and the whole group, and think if we could come up with a concept that could re-ignite and do something for the Pearl, or the Studio—and also for us, as a creative outlet, to bring people something that they might have not seen before.

“At end of April 2025 we decided that we’re going to do it. And it was never an easy path. It was always like, ‘OK, there’s a lot that has to happen.’ You need a lot of partners. You need a lot of people who believe in you. You really need people for art that say something new. “And when you create art with very expensive technology, it’s even harder.

“And so I want to give a really, really huge shout out to Sunset Imports, Porsche Audi Beaverton, and the Porsche Portland family, who believed that this could be magical. And I can’t believe that literally 18 months later, I’m standing here with this group.”

“The amount of energy and the amount of feedback that I’ve received is the message of, ‘We can do better. We want to make the city better. We live here. We want to bring more light into the city. We can all focus on the hard parts, but we want to bring light into the city!'”

He also mentioned Ritz-Carlton Portland and the Ritz-Carlton Residences, both as partners and sponsors. At the Meadowrue, they created a Shift Up martini in honor of Shifting Realities. Cascada also got a shoutout; they are their other hospitality partner, on the wellness side.

He mentioned additional partners LucidWild, Henderson Ave wines, Great Notion Beer, and Soho House Portland. He also thanked Aleks Davidovich, the other founder of this project.

He said, “Aleks has been the rock on my side, and he’s believed in this. We screamed at each other, we fought at each other and we loved at each other. We did all the things, and thank you, Aleks.” Everyone gave him a round of applause. Rachel Saslow at Willamette Week wrote, “The installation was developed by a team of about 10 artists from across the country, including Portland.”

The Actual Ribbon Cutting

Kelly Max led this. “OK, let’s not wait any longer!” he exclaimed. “We have sound chambers and car painting and kaleidoscopes and mushroom worlds—-and that all sounds great, and nobody has a clue what this is, and it’s an invitation of the artist who brought this to life under our creative direction.”

They had many ribbons and many scissors. Alex, Frank, Charity, Bruce, a firefighter in charge, someone from Oregon Ballet Theater, and a few children also participated.

Then the ribbon as was cut and we all headed inside.

Scenes From Shifting Realities

Flavor Bar

This was the place where the robot arm served the macarons from La Provence. They macarons were very nice—mine had a nicely tart lemon center. Judith enjoyed the chocolate one she ate. Below is an example of the macarons–plain ones on the left and ones with color on the right. Someone in the room told me that the robot arm drizzled some of the macarons with some of the relevant colors.

Aside from the macarons, there’s a bar where you can enjoy libations and take a load off in the various kinds of seating (couches, chairs, etc).

On our way out we saw this.

A touch of “Un Chien Andalou,” perhaps? There was also a little alcove of merch with which you can create your own graphic, and another room called The Paddock where people drove cars on a video screen.

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After the event we were hungry, so we went to Jojo for some food.

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Shifting Realities has a lot to offer and is something that definitely stimulates the senses. There’s something about being in a room with loud techno music that for me brings back great memories in both art school and at places like First Avenue. It was cool to see how awed folks were as they passed through the different zones. If you go, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the visit.

Congrats to the entire team on putting together a fun immersive experience like this. Plus those macarons are tasty. I hope you get a chance to check it out.

Shifting Realities
June 1 to August 21, 2026
Porsche Studio Portland
1432 NW Johnson Street, Portland
Shifting Realities website | Instagram