Past
Klyph once again curates a night of hip-hop music for the TBA festival featuring artists representing Portland, Oregon. A night celebrating hip-hop and social consciousness with performances by Champagne Duane, Wynne and special guests DJ O.G. One.
Learn moreSounds et al presents Apperceptive Moment. Sound artists Ben Glas, Dolphin Midwives, Samson Stilwell and Amenta Abioto mix sound, visuals and movement into a cohesive exploration of the senses. The experimental performance will engage with acoustics, psychoacoustics, physical interaction with sound, movement, music and noise, to lead the audience on a journey through time and space.
Learn moreDrawing on his versatile 3+ octave voice, videos, monologues, and songs, Joseph Keckler delivers highlights of his work in an evening of wild miniature operas about contemporary life, haunted torch songs, and narratives infused with humor and longing.
Learn moreFin de Cinema is a recurring live film score series curated by Gina Altamura of Portland music venue & nightclub, Holocene. Fin de Cinema was established in 2009, and allows Portland-based pop and experimental musicians to re-interpret the soundtracks to classic art films. Fin de Cinema is debuting Andrei Tarkovksy’s The Mirror (1975) with a reimagined live score composed and performed by Golden Retriever, Brown Calculus (Members of Tribe Mars), Palm Dat and Noah Bernstein (members of Shy Girls), and Dylan Stark.
Learn moreRECORD RELEASE SHOW: EMA (Erika M. Anderson) has been part of the West Coast noise and experimental music / performance scene for over 10 years. Originally from South Dakota, Anderson moved to LA and began playing with noise folk legends Amps For Christ before forming the group Gowns with Ezra Buchla. Gowns released the ground-breaking Red State in 2007, combining noise and drone elements with lyrical singing and melodies in ways that were rare at that time. After the breakup of Gowns, EMA released her breakout solo record Past Life Martyred Saints in 2011, which topped many critics "Best Of" lists that year. Since then she has continued to refine her unique sonic palette of synth drones, spoken narrative, and heavy guitar hooks. In 2015, she expanded into durational performance and installation, including performances at MoMA PS1 and The Barbican Centre that involved virtual reality. In August 2017, she released her latest record Exile In The Outer Ring. This TBA late night performance will be the first stop on her international tour supporting the record. DJ madison moore closes the night with all-encompassing bass and queer techno vibes.
Learn moreCritical Mascara: Portland’s “Post-Realness Drag Extravaganza” returns to PICA’s TBA stage for its 5th and FINAL installment.
Learn moreReturning for the second consecutive year, No No Soliciting will feature several of Portland's most talented and respected musiciansand songwriters performing songs specifically written for the event. Each songwriter will take several different directives from the audience regarding form, key, tempo, melody, instrumentation, and lyrical content to compose a song in 15 minutes. Once the song is written, they will return to the ensemble, walk the band and audience through the composition, and then perform the song while the next songwriter is composing the new next song.
Learn moreImmediately following P-Orridge’s performance the dance floor will open up for an evening of celebration and music curated by Y.G.B.Portland. Bomba con Buya, a Chicago-based ensemble that aims to preserve and advance Bomba, Puerto Rico's oldest surviving dance form, will invigorate the audience with Buya (translated to mean good spirit in Taino, the language spoken among the island's indigenous population). Atlanta-based artist and DJ, Father Fannie, closes the evening with their set.
Learn moreIndustrial music pioneer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge inaugurates our 15th TBA festival in our new East Side home. P-Orridge is an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and performance and visual artist who has been regarded as a provocateur and an icon of the British avant-garde since the early 1970s. S/he’ll be opening the festival with a sonic and visual performance ritual that should not be missed.
Learn moreGet the first look at TBA:17 as we kick off the festival with our annual Opening Night Dinner. Enjoy a sneak peak of the festival by dining with local, national, and international artists and curators. This year's dinner by Field Day Feasts and Gatherings will have an elevated block party feel outside of our new home at 15 NE Hancock. This year's dinner will feature everything from this season's Pacific Northwest bounty. Join us to raise our glasses together to toast TBA:17 and new beginnings at PICA.
Learn moreIndie electronic musician and vocalist Shannon Funchess has had her feet firmly planted in the fertile underground scene for two and a half decades. Also a DJ and sometime dancer for the likes of The Knife, Funchess is a multidisciplinary performance artist with a gravitation toward the synthesis of dark, angular sound, and visual bisection.
Learn moreDeep Under Ground (DUG) and Young Gifted & Brown (YGB) have been curating safe spaces for brown folks to congregate, express themselves, share stories, love one another, and move their bodies since early & mid-2015.
Learn moreReferencing the psychedelic light shows of the ’60s and ’70s as well as the harsh noise performances of contemporary avant-garde rebels like Bruce McClure, the Cinema Project collective, along with Portland-based musician Matt Carlson and friends, will create a momentary light and sound environment—a temporary dynamic installation in which to immerse audience members both wandering and still. Several 16mm projectors will run simultaneously and light beams will appear in the round. Moving images of man, woman, animal, landscape, or simply sheer color and light from analog loops and reels will overlap and penetrate one another, covering any and all surfaces possible, and manipulated live by human hands. The mechanics of cinematic experience will be laid bare and at times it will be very very loud.
Learn moreBlind Coven will feature Portland-based songwriter, songstress, and actor Amenta Abioto. Abioto’s work is on the cutting edge of all that is musical, theatrical, and literary. Her music is boldly mystical and soul-fired, and her raw improvisational live performances invoke elements of both theatrical surprise and magic through ancient African diasporic sounds and stories. She brings to the music scene funky academia while skipping vocally from soul-shaking gospel and smooth jazz to hip hop rhythms wrapped in West African beats. The performance will feature a boutique designed 10-channel surround sound system as well as correlating lighting and visuals from artist DB Amorin.
Learn moreWelcome to the Neighborhood Live! expands the reach of the weekly radio broadcast bringing the very best from the northwest to the stage! DJ Klyph curates a night of hip hop featuring some of Portland’s finest including DJ/Producer/MC Omega Watts of Mello Orange, Oakland transport MC Brookfield Duece, NW MC Matty, and Producer Trox, plus familiar elements of the WTTN broadcast. Expect a great night of music and surprises.
Learn moreIt’s time we said it, 2016 has been rough. Every passing month has added yet another weight on our collective heads making it harder and harder to keep them up. We’re in the middle of a contentious election year that feels like never-ending satire. We’re getting yelled at by talking heads spouting propaganda, grandiose statements, and empty promises. All while our social media reverberates a never ending echo chamber of opinions on pretty much everything from systemic racism to Pokemon Go.
Learn moreNo No Soliciting will feature several of Portland’s most talented and respected musicians and songwriters performing songs specifically written for the event. Each songwriter will take several different directives from the audience regarding form, key, tempo, melody, instrumentation, and lyrical content to compose a song in 15 minutes. Once the song is written, they will return to the ensemble, walk the band and audience through the composition, and then perform the song while the following songwriter is composing the next song.
Learn moreCritical Mascara, “A Post-Realness Drag Extravaganza,” returns for its fourth year serving a wild hybrid of dance, vogue, and drag competition unlike any other! Critical Mascara celebrates community and creativity through competition and now collaboration. Producer and Hostess Pepper Pepper with DJ Zaq Desfleurs are joined by celebrated choreographer Kumari Suraj as MC and Portland’s luminaire Isaiah Esquire. Together they curate and judge the Pacific Northwest’s largest, queerest, and most fabulous extravaganza.
Learn moreThe Portland Museum of Modern Art curates a night of powerful and joyful performances. PMOMA creator Libby Werbel presents a selection of performers who will activate the PMOMA exhibition in Pioneer Courthouse Square throughout the weekend. Tropic Green (Oakland, CA) incorporates reggae, house, spirituals, and Afrofuturist themes in her rhythmic performances, Dynasty Handbag (Los Angeles, CA; previously part of TBA:15) emcees with her absurd mix of improv, comedy, and movement, and radical trio Strange Babes (Portland, OR) offers an eclectic DJ set. Video works by Julia Calabrese. PMOMA at the WORKS is a wild sampling of what PMOMA has in store for a jam-packed weekend in the Square. Surprise performances will abound!
Learn moreJuliana Huxtable will treat opening night audiences to a dynamic experience sonically and visually. The night will play between text, sound and video, questioning the parameters between club and gallery. In her work, Huxtable explores the intersections of race, gender, queerness, and identity. She uses a diverse set of means to engage these issues, including self-portraiture, text-based prints, performance, nightlife, music, writing, and social media. Huxtable’s work has been featured in group presentations at MoMA PS1, New York (2014); White Columns Annual, White Columns, New York (2014); “Take Ecstasy with Me,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2014); Frieze Projects, London (2014); and2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2015); among other venues.
Learn morePICA COMMISSION: Commissioned for the opening night of TBA:16, Fanfare: Birth > Rebirth is a celebration of new life. With each beginning comes an infinite amount of possibilities to change ideas, lives, and events. Commemorating the opening of PICA’s new home, 15 NE Hancock, the fanfare will be performed by an ensemble comprised of hundreds of local non-professional brass and woodwind players of all ages directed by Kelly Pratt. Within the piece, there will be several sections open to improvisation to reflect the shifting dynamics of the audience and ensemble.
Learn more1995 was a fruitful year in Portland. Punk and indie bands filled clubs like Satyricon and La Luna; DIY ruled and PICA was born. For the closing night of TBA, we'll celebrate the spirit of 1995 with with songs, stories, and videos inspired by the pioneering music and artists of the era, followed by a 1995-focused edition of SNAP! 90's DANCE PARTY, and 1995-priced drink specials at the bar! Co-produced by Claudia Meza.
Learn moreDecibel Festival is proud to be curating three compelling audio/visual performances, each channeling a unique creative output spanning from esoteric to visceral. Seattle's Raica aka Chloe Harris will be debuting her new collaborative piece with the Coldbrew Collective, which combines analog hardware with computer-driven generative visuals. Portland's own Strategy will be performing his acclaimed 2015 album Noise Tape Full which "implants dub's DNA in a whole new host" according to Pitchfork. Rounding out the program will be the UK-based abstract R&B composer Lapalux, who has the distinct honor of being the only European artist on Flying Lotus' seminal Brainfeeder imprint.
Learn moreWelcome to the Neighborhood Live! expands the reach of the weekly radio broadcast bringing the very best from the northwest to the stage! DJ Klyph curates a night of Hip Hop featuring some of Portland’s finest.
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