Past
BEACON SOUND brings to TBA:15 an experimental night of music featuring performances by Benoit Pioulard, Bardo:Basho, and Apartment Fox. Together these artists, occupy a different yet complimentary place near the nexus of experimental, electronic, and ambient music. The night will be tied up by DJs Liz Harris and Beacon Sound.
Learn moreDisoriented Comedy is the first-ever nationally-touring stand-up comedy showcase featuring the fresh voices of a (mostly) female, Asian American lineup. Since 2012, Disoriented Comedy has presented over 40 standup comedy and storytelling shows at independent theaters and clubs throughout the country. Beyond Asian American female-identified comics, Disoriented Comedy features up-and-coming talent of diverse races, sexuality, and gender rarely seen on mainstream comedy stages.
Learn moreTBA favorite Ten Tiny Dances (TTD) returns to the Festival this year! An experiment in confined space, TTD is dedicated to fostering inventive dance / performance art and providing an exhilarating performance experience for a diverse audience, all on a 4×4-foot stage. Since 2002, the small stage of TTD has been the crucible for an ever expanding catalogue of creation and performance: Over 300 artists, 24 engaging venues, and 9 cities across the country.
Learn moreS1 is an artist-run project space in Northeast Portland. Since the summer of 2014, S1’s dedicated staff works closely with local, national, and international artists to organize visual art exhibitions, performances, and late-night dance parties. For one night, S1 pulls its diverse artists and projects out of the basement for S1 Presents at THE WORKS. S1 Presents will feature DJ sets, live performances, installations, and interactive video art. Celebrated avant-pop explorer Zola Jesus performs a rare DJ set, Coast2C displays her voracious enthusiasm for worldly electronic music with an expansive dance journey, and US Hard / Contemporary performs live, taking command of his machines to summon focused experiments in minimal beat music. Visual artists from around the globe—selected by S1’s curatorial staff—will be featured on and off stage for an immersive experience.
Learn moreCritical Mascara: A Post-Realness Drag Extravaganza is a competition celebrating community and creativity. Inspired by the legacy of vogue balls, house culture, and irreverent activism, Critical Mascara is an expression of the new wave of queer liberation aesthetics. Hosted by Pepper Pepper, Critical Mascara is a showcase of regional talent, a competition engaging local artists, and one hell of a party, Critical Mascara is glamour in action.
Learn moreMusicians rooted in punk feminism will perform a selection of songs expanding the notion of Riot Grrrl "hits," ranging from Canadian indie pop Cub to S.F. queercore Tribe 8. The audience can sing along to karaoke style videos made for this occasion by Dana Bishop-Root & Ginger Brooks Takahashi of General Sisters and Deirdre Logue & Allyson Mitchell of FAG Feminist Art Gallery. Live Riot pulls into focus the politics that arise when revisiting the lyrics and spirit of these fearless and danceable songs. Following the show Ginger will DJ the night away as you dance it out. Singing, we must rage!
Learn moreOPENING NIGHT: The influential and relentlessly relevant rock band of mythical standing Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks kick off TBA:15 with a free concert for all! Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks are veteran Portland-based musicians Joanna Bolme, Mike Clark, Jake Morris, and frontman Stephen Malkmus.
Learn moreOPENING NIGHT DINNER AT THE WORKS! To kick off the first night of TBA:15, this year's Opening Night Dinner guests will enjoy a sneak peek of the Festival's visual art program and a champagne toast before being whisked away to dine at our TBA:15 central hub. This year’s dinner will highlight everything from the season’s bounty, expertly prepared with love by the accomplished chefs of Feastworks. Gather at the PICA family table with friends and artists for a radiant late summer feast that is not to be missed!
Learn moreYour forecast for the final day of TBA: Spicy, salty, and refreshing and bright with a Bloody Mary or seven...
Learn moreClosing night at THE WORKS lights up the sky with an explosion of a million stars. Enter the sensorial and phantasmagoric world of Evelyn.
Learn moreOneohtrix Point Never, aka acclaimed experimental composer Daniel Lopatin, takes the audience on an odyssey through his latest work R Plus Seven. Hypnotic and unexpected in equal measure, R Plus Seven is full of satisfyingly complex sonic puzzles.
Learn moreArca is a Venezuelan producer, artist, mixing engineer and DJ now based in Brooklyn, New York. Fresh off of his latest work &&&&&, audio-visual collaborations with Jesse Kanda at MoMA PS1 and producing projects with Kanye West, Arca will set THE WORKS ablaze with his off the grid structures and sound mutations of club music.
Learn moreSQUART! says "Get your ass on stage, be spontaneous, short-circuit the forces of habit and expectation in the face of the dominant order, celebrate this space of not knowing to make something strange together!” —Jeremy Wade, SQUART! Berlin Celebrity Judge, 2014
Learn moreWe cordially invite you to an “elegant” al fresco dinner (in a parking lot), served with the gone-but-not-forgotten flourish of the grand restaurants of yesteryear. For one night, we’ll summon the uncompromising finesse of James and Julia (Beard and Child DUH!), and we’ll capture the style of Sardi’s, Elaine’s, and the Pump Room, where table-side Caesars and flaming desserts were the norm.
Learn moreIn 2013 Portland based artist, photographer, and comic Jason Traeger began documenting Portland Oregon’s internationally recognized stand-up comedy scene in his blog, Portland Stand-up Comedy Photo Album. Over 2,000 posts later, the blog and Traeger’s photos stand as the definitive document of the comedic explosion flowering in Portland. Taking inspiration from his blog, Traeger will host an evening of boundary pushing stand-up comedy featuring some of his favorite funny people from Portland and beyond.
Learn moreNo need to stay fixed to your seat, no need to act as passive viewer, or sit in reverence of the image. Tonight we privilege the soundtrack as a way to suspend the normal functioning of film. In Favor of Skepticism is a re-viewing of materials from the Letterist and Situationist movements in which words will be shifted, translated, and overlayed onto, from, and between language and medium.
Learn moreChristopher Sutton describes his whole life as revolving around his love of music. RE: Disc COVER is part performance, thoughtful dissertation, and dance party based on artist Sutton’s lifelong journey as a collector of 12” vinyl.
Learn moreCRITICAL MASCARA "A Post-Realness Drag Ball" returns to the TBA stage with a much anticipated sequel evening of fabulousness and extravaganza. CRITICAL MASCARA features some of the Pacific Northwest's most courageous and raw talent all competing to win 666$ in a queer driven dance-off drag spectacular! The evening is hosted by, the one and only, Pepper Pepper with celebrity judges, features special guest performers, and wraps up with a raucous late-night dance party for all! Come dressed as your fiercest self!
Learn morePortland electronic music collective and record label Dropping Gems curates a night at The Works featuring London’s Little People, and crewmembers DJAO from Seattle and hometown stalwarts Philip Grass. The artists featured here are known for adding non-traditional live elements to their performances to create an immersive sonic journey. Expect a melting pot of intricate and lush synthesized soundscapes, taking traditional hip-hop melodies, and flipping them upside down.
Learn moreTHEESatisfaction are artists that blend elements of hip-hop, electronic, and dance. They’re positive energy. Black energy, black women leaping oceans and continents at a single bound. With positive strength of purpose. Even crowds with nary a right foot between them find the steps when faced with THEESat’s unorthodox but right-on-time rhythms. Synchronized, sinewy and sensuous, the regal Stas and Cat channel the higher, whipping like waves of space-borne radiation onstage, leaving a trail of glowing observers abuzz like Geiger counters. THEESatisfaction, the Queens Supreme. Bring yourself!
Learn moreOur inner host(ess) with the most(ess) has broken loose, blitzed on wine coolers, with a stack of O.G. Better Homes & Gardens to inspire the party–planning. For TBA, Team Delicious and our cocktail soul mates, Merit Badge, will bring back a bygone era when “entertaining” meant more than a kale salad.
Learn moreDropping Gems takes over THE WORKS with a night of sly samples and sultry, dance-ready beats from DJ Rap Class and singer/producer Natasha Kmeto.
Learn moreCombining science-fiction, electronic pop music, and audience participation, Boy Band Audition is an interactive performance night of dancing, singing, and imagining life after the future is over.
Learn moreInternational singing sensation DUBAIS has decided to end it all and to leave this world. The place in which DUBAIS now exists is neither heaven nor hell; both of those places actually refer to political parties, the Bible was mistranslated. All souls go to one place—the Unterwelt—a place split in two by ideologies and a wall. Using the city of Berlin as a main backdrop, this multi- media modern day pop opera investigates conceptions of morality, divisions of power, and the landscapes of political indifference.
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