Past
WEST COAST PREMIERE: A Smeary Spot, 2015 is a 53 minute 4-channel video installation drawing on theater and documentary methods to rework the genre of science fiction. The title, A Smeary Spot is a references to the sun borrowed from feminist sci-fi writer Johanna Russ. The sun, a dense concentration of heat and light, is an organizing principle of time, place and ego. What potential emerges when we glance away from the source and settle into the blurry residue of the afterimage? This work re-orients the audience within a speculative present. Shot in two locations: on public lands in the deserts of southern Utah and inside a black box theater, where performers deliver recitations of appropriated and altered texts that compose a loose manifesto on being. Inside this cinematic experience is a surreal narrative of bodies in transition (both movement and definition) that act out, delivering curious combinations of language, materiality and gestures. Among these bodies, the land, the water, the refuse pile and the theater are not simply grounds, resources, waste or stages upon which these actions occur, they are sprawling protagonists, like the sun—permeating and persistent.
Learn moreThere’s no place like home… gather with us at the PICA family table with friends and artists for an unforgettable feast from Stacey Givens of The Side Yard Farm.
Learn moreStrut out your powerful Runway, Waacking, goddess realness! This 90 min "pumps optional" adventure through dance will leave you feeling physically empowered with a new sense of self confidence. Learn exciting Heels & Waacking foundation paired with sexy beats and exciting exercises to get you ready for the Waacking battle at Critical Mascara, or just acquire some new moves to impress friends at the club! With favorite local artists and performer, Isaiah Tillman, and renowned Waacking dancer, choreographer, and artist Kumari Suraj.
Learn moreDan Seward, also known as Bunnybrains, is a musician, curator and promoter in Hudson, New York, where he runs the celebrated (and somewhat nomadic) record store, John Doe Records. This exhibition focuses on Bunnybrains thirty plus years as a transgressive, mutable, collaborative, performative project and what it means to illustrate the life of a true muse. From live broadcasts of Bunnybrains radio show Battlefield Earth, participatory workshops, rotating guest exhibitions, spontaneous happenings and performances, the artist shares their space with you in an effort to vivify "Bunnybrains is all".
Learn morePICA’s new Creative Exchange Lab has been designed to promote artistic exchange, instigate peer to peer dialogue, and foster the development of new works with a focus on serving artists working at the intersection of different disciplines. The residency program is comprised of two labs annually taking place each Spring and Fall. For more information on the Creative Exchange Lab artist residency program please visit the Creative Exchange Lab program page.
Learn moreH.P. Lovecraft’s Commonplace book, published after the author’s death, consists of 221 short ideas and sketches for weird fiction. In their lack of narrative outlines and prosaic structure, they appear almost more potent than they would be as long- form formal works. Karl Larsson’s Commonplace takes Lovecraft’s book as a starting point where fragments of horror, poetry, craft, CAD, waste, design, play, and climate change assemble in a book and an exhibition for TBA:15 where the unfinished idea, the formless form, and fear of what can never be fully grasped works as a methodological engine.
Learn moreAncient Japanese haiku describes the sea as "hinemosu notari notarikana… all day and night it moves slow and calmly," with the shapes of waves never ceasing to shift and turn. In his work Nami, meaning waves, legendary sound artist Akio Suzuki translates this idea as sound installation.
Learn moreTannaz Farsi renders in light text by Bertolt Brecht with 5000 LEDs programmed to brighten and intensify parts of this well-known author’s writing. The decentralized method of reading and understanding this text disrupts narrative, highlighting words as “vehicles of ideas” and with compelling simplicity suggests a thesis on the relationship of visibility to power.
Learn moreA continuation of Jenkins’ experiments with light and architecture, this installation is constructed and composed using a system of tarps and ducts to effect and capture the light. The work evokes mass infrastructures but is made of readily available consumer materials and deployed in contradictory spaces that raise questions of individual agency in relation to the complex historical, financial, and social structures that form spaces for living and working.
Learn moreNIGHT TRIPPER is at once an outdoor ritual, social event, forest walk, and concert that unfolds in the theatre of the outdoors at the first glow of dusk. The piece features dancers, art objects, a local choir, and potent forest spirits. Ancient mythology meets a vision of contemporary life where dreams and reality merge into an otherworldly tale. NIGHT TRIPPER explores the idea of nature as a place of healing, destruction, immanence, and transcendence.
Learn moreFor this culminating conversation, join PICA's Creative Exchange Lab artists will share their experiences and interpretations of the festival and residency, including TBA as a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, critical inquiry, creative research, and community. Moderated by Kristan Kennedy, Visual Art Curator, PICA.
Learn more2015 marks 20 years of PICA. Join us along the TBA Festival Flight: Local Legacies & Landscapes to reflect on our current context, and shifts in the local landscape, with a focus on how to continue nurturing thought-provoking contemporary art in Portland and ensure that our artists thrive.
Learn moreOne of two TBA Festival Flights, Identity & The Body reflects a range of artists from diverse disciplines who work across dance/choreography and interdisciplinary performance to engage the embodied politics and poetics of race, ethnicity, gender, culture, and their intersections.
Learn moreBorn from Bronx street gang culture in the 1970's, Breaking became a worldwide dance style by the ‘80's. Fever One of NYC's legendary Rocksteady Crew has lectured on Hip Hop history, theory, and culture and taught Breaking around the world, including top universities. Wear comfortable clothes and be ready to explore hip hop history as well as Breaking basics. Movement; All Levels.
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 moreDakhaBrakha is a force of intricate vocal harmonies, pounding drums, and murmuring cello that builds to an anthem and invocation of visual spectacle. Droning vocals, crimson beads, and punk sensibilities serve as backdrop for their their mission to bring the music of Ukraine to the world. DakhaBrakha is intimately tied to their homeland—crafting new sonic worlds for traditional songs with one foot in urban avant-garde theatre and one foot in Ukrainian village life. Accompanied by a sweeping range of instrumentation, DakhaBrakha crafts a powerful performance at the crossroads of Ukrainian folklore, politics, pop, punk, and theatre.
Learn morePICA’s signature public engagement program continues to cross disciplines and explore new thematic territory with five Festival Field Guides facilitated by leading local and visiting artists and scholars. Each small-group session creates context around contemporary performance and a particular artist’s social, political, cultural, and aesthetic influences through a pre-show workshop with lecture and lively discussion; group viewing of a TBA performance; and post-show conversation over food and drink. For this session join Lisa Jarrett, Artist and DePriest Visiting Professor of Art & Ethnic Studies at Portland State University, in exploring artist Dana Michel's practice and her work Yellow Towel. Online artist interviews and media supplement learning and engagement. Anyone curious about contemporary art welcome. Bring a friend!
Learn moreIn light of rapid economic development in West Coast cities, how are local artists and cultural institutions faring? What opportunities and challenges have arisen? How do race, class, and other factors influence our experiences? How do intergenerational artists and arts leaders recount Portland’s past and imagine its future? What can we learn from other cities’ shifting landscapes? Featuring Victoria Frey (PICA, Portland); Andre Middleton (Black Creative Collective and RACC, Portland); Julie Phelps (CounterPulse, San Francisco) and more. Moderated by Ethan Seltzer, Professor of Urban Studies & Planning, Portland State University.
Learn moreDana Michel discusses complex performance work Yellow Towel and its explorations of race, gender, body politics, and their intersections. With Lisa Jarrett, Artist and DePriest Visiting Professor of Art and Ethnic Studies, Portland State University.
Learn moreJoin PICA and Know Your City as we look back on PICA’s 20-year history through a tour of central Portland! Together, we’ll see sites that shaped our colorful past; share memories of intimate moments and outrageous spectacles; and consider the city’s arts, urban, and economic landscape through the lens of PICA’s pioneering itinerant model. We’ll visit our place of origin; venues for groundbreaking exhibitions and performances; infamous parties and costume balls; early TBA sites transformed from raw warehouses to magical festival hubs; and more. Guest speakers will share unforgettable stories of how PICA and Portland have evolved—and what it means to our future as artists, an arts institution, and a city.
Learn morePhilippe Quesne and Vivarium Studios creates a technical theatre lab that modifies genre conventions to generate an ambiguous universe. The work eschews mastery in favor of curiosity through humor, malaise, questioning, and an upended world vision. In this workshop, we will consider the importance of space and set through Quesne’s rigorous practice. Theatre Performance; All Levels.
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.
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