Past
The Drift is a visual archive of the future, where the politics and excuses for failed Indigenous repatriation are bypassed through an inexplicable force that returns all that is lost and stolen.
Learn moreA Letter from Souls of The Dead will be presented at PICA from July 10, 2021 to September 4, 2021. On the opening day of the exhibition Saturday, July 10, there will be intermittent performances by Aki Onda and Portland-based sound artist Marcus Fischer.
Learn moreIt is with joy and gratitude that we announce the launch of a new season of programming for Knowledge of Wounds 2021-22, and with it, the kindling of our evolving digital container, www.knowledge of wounds.com. In observance of the 2021 Solstice, we extend an invitation to join us by this virtual fireside for the unveiling of the full KoW 2021-22 program, a series of Indigenous-led events which will continue to unfold in this space over the course of an entire celestial year.
Learn morePart of a long-term documentary project by interdisciplinary artist Carlos Motta— in collaboration with artists Heldáy de la Cruz, Julio Salgado, and Edna Vázquez– We Got Each Other’s Back is a three-part, multi-channel video installation featuring portraits of queer artists and activists in the United States who are or have been openly undocumented, and who are producing work to denounce historic and present-day broken US immigration policies. Free and open to all / masks required
Learn moreA DISCURSIVE PROGRAM OF FILM & VIDEO
Learn moreAki Onda Stack Until It Falls Down
Learn moreEiko Otake collaborates with artists of diverse backgrounds and disciplines, both living and dead, for her evolving Duet Project. Eiko is accompanied by Ishmael Houston -Jones, Marc Mccloughan, Alexis Moh.
Learn moreStarring Anthony Hudson—the human vessel for Portland’s premiere drag clown Carla Rossi—Looking for Tiger Lily (Solo) utilizes song, dance, drag, and video to put a queer spin on the ancestral tradition of storytelling. Asking what it means for a queer, mixed Native person to experience their heritage through white normative culture as they recount growing up watching the 1960 production of Peter Pan featuring Sondra Lee’s blonde, blue-eyed, 'Indian Princess' Tiger Lily, Anthony (and Carla) draws from a songbook stretching across Disney’s Pocahontas to Cher’s "Half- Breed." Not just autobiography, Looking for Tiger Lily (Solo) is a coming-of-age story that's more than cowboys versus Indians.
Learn moreSan Cha is a singer-songwriter, based in the City of Angels, increasingly known for her visceral and explosive live performances. Her name, derived from the Spanish word sancha, which translates to ‘mistress’, is a mischievous reference to the title of ‘San’, given to male saints in the Catholic tradition. Fans of cumbia and punk, bolero and electro, flock to see San Cha’s emotional renditions of traditional Mexican rancheras and original songs that queer conventions of identity, power and love. Her striking stage presence is accompanied by the one-of-a-kind garments she adorns, aesthetic reflections of the years spent performing in drag and club scenes in the Bay. San Cha was most recently the headlining act at the kickoff of the 2019 Red Bull Music Festival, with upcoming performances at the Levitt Pavilion, Getty Museum and Santa Monica Pier. Partner Program Presented by lumber room Curated by Libby Werbel In conjunction with their exhibition Kate Newby A puzzling light and moving. Limited seating, no reservations, doors at 6:30
Learn moreCo-Presented with c3:initiative Cannupa Hanska Luger site specific performance at c3:initiative. AFRAID NOT performative action by artist Cannupa Hanska Luger will tie a physical line from the tools of ar-ti-fa-ct to their task.
Learn moreunearth mines histories of desire and loss, recasting the black box theater as parietal underground.
Learn moreJoin PICA and Outside the Frame for a closing celebration of Abigail DeVille's The American Future, as we co-present a free screening of short films by houseless youth, including the premiere of a new project. A panel discussion with participating youth filmmakers will follow. Light snacks will be served. This event is a public program affiliated with Abigail DeVille's exhibition The American Future, on view at PICA through January 12, 2019.
Learn moreThe American Future by Abigail DeVille is a monumental installation, or as the artist puts it, "a model for reflection” comprised of foraged materials, publications, time, labor, up-rooted histories, politics, poetry, and research. In an attempt to form a new kind of space or landscape, DeVille takes us on a trip through time from 1804–2018.
Learn morePortland-based curatorial initiative Nat Turner Project presents The Black Condition, Live!, the materializing of a multimedia lyric essay by Los Angeles-based artist jayy dodd. This audio-visual performance retells an account of fetishization, technology & obsession. Spectators, acclimate at your own risk.
Learn moreUtopian Visions Art Fair (UVAF) is a platform for artists, gallerists, and curators to present projects that are speculative and working towards possible futures.
Learn moreCloth making—among the oldest forms of human cultural production—provides inspiration for Ann Hamilton’s multi-venue project, habitus, located at three sites: The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Municipal Pier 9, and on social media. habitus weaves the mediums of text, textile, and image together for an imaginative and tactile exchange between artist and audience. As cloth swaddles us at birth and covers us in sleep; as a folded blanket can tell a story of trade; as a flag carries the symbol of a nation, Hamilton’s multi-venue exhibition invites us to touch and be touched by the fabric of human experience.
Learn moreI Wanna Be Well is the first retrospective of the work of renowned American artist, activist, writer, and educator Gregg Bordowitz.
Learn moreBETWEEN. highlights artists working within the queer and trans diaspora, and the unique voices coming from between or beyond the binary. This exhibition aims to queer the curatorial process, taking into account current visibility politics and presenting the work of LGBTQIA2S+ artists in ways that challenge normative art world conventions.
Learn moreAs part of an installation in PICA’s annex, Sara Magenheimer presents her new video, Best is Man’s Breath Quality, in which an ancient jellyfish suggests how new positions can inform our capabilities to heal. His deep-ocean vantage allows him to comment (through an authoritative voice-over) on a truer spectrum of human behavior seen up above; and his capacity for inflicting pain on human bodies finds parallels in our capacity to embody the more nebulous and unruly forces in life. With performances featuring singing and narration, Magenheimer explores how language mutates and reproduces itself in culture.
Learn moreSarah AbuAbdallah will be in embedded within the festival, producing new work, screening video, reading texts and generating performance work addressing the confines and freedoms of contemporary life in Saudi Arabia, addressing the boundaries of family, friends, and society at large for women, technology, humanity, magic, poetry and language. ZeroZero is a dreamscape created by video projection and live reading and performance. “00” is a name of a cat the artist dreamt of chasing, and using the cat's story as an entry point to speak of loss, dreams, and belonging.
Learn moreUS PREMIERE: Through painting, performance and video, Manuel Solano’s work references pop culture and personal memories to inform on Manuel’s own queer identity and bittersweet experiences. After becoming blind for life in 2014 as a result of an HIV-related infection, Manuel’s practice shifted dramatically. In a series of simple performances, the artist tells stories from his life and attempts to play one good song. Solano has exhibited internationally at Museo Carrillo Gil, Zona MACO and is represented by Galería Karen Huber, Mexico City. In 2016, Solano was in residence at PICA as part of the Creative Exchange Lab Program.
Learn more“Nothing without the sound / won’t show me things / I need to hear you talking.” —Fred Moten
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