Visual Art and Performance

PICA supports artists working in all genres of the performing and visual arts, including dance, theatre, music, installation, exhibition, and hybrid forms. With a focus on provocative and category-defying work, PICA presents innovative artists that address the aesthetics, issues, and ideas of today. From 1995 through 2002, PICA's annual performance series featured performances by artists from a variety of disciplines and geographies, including Miranda July, Donna Uchizono, Philip Glass, Lucy Guerin, dumb type, Diamanda Galas, 33 Fainting Spells, Carl Hancock Rux, Gobsquad, and Elizabeth Streb. In 2003, PICA began curating the annual Time-Based Art Festival, a concentrated month of visual art and performance that fans out to venues and spaces all across Portland, Oregon.

Outside of the TBA Festival, PICA's programming continues year-round with workshops, lectures, residencies, and special events. In recent years, PICA has presented work by Mike Daisey, Cloud Eye Control, Holcombe Waller, Ethan Rose, and Philip Glass to audiences throughout Portland. Through its residency and commissioning programs, PICA provides space, time, and resources to emerging and established artists to support the creation of new work. In partnership with local businesses and organizations, and with funding from the National Performance Network Creation Fund and the Kristy Edmunds Fund for New Work, PICA has been able to commission pieces from artists including Bebe Miller, Miguel Gutierrez, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Allen Johnson, Kalup Linzy, Deborah Hay, Jennifer Monson, Diana Szeinblum, Matthew Day Jackson, Lizzie Fitch, and Ryan Trecartin.

Residencies and Commissions

PICA's Residency Program provides artists in every discipline with dedicated time, materials, and working space during the development stage of a new project. Residencies are awarded to artists whom we have invited to present and who require unique resources and collaboration to realize their vision.

Each artist works closely with the curators to determine the parameters and needs of the residency in advance of their arrival in Portland. These parameters focus primarily on the needs of the project, but are also about how to best connect them to the local community in order to foster dynamic interaction and expose them to the resources and talents specific to the Northwest. Residencies are often the beginning of a long-term relationship with PICA and Portland, eventually resulting in an exhibition or co-commission of a new production upon completion.