Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) presents TBA.12 Time-Based Art Festival, on September 6–16, 2012.
Morgan Ritter, The Thoughtful Digestion of Unique Objects, Complex Subjects, & Composited Projects.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
TBA is a convergence of contemporary performance and visual art in Portland, Oregon, gathering dozens of emerging talents and legacy artists from around the world who challenge traditional forms and work across mediums. TBA activates the city landscape with projects that bring artists and audiences into close proximity. Itinerant programs fill warehouses, theaters, and city streets with exhibits and performances, while a full schedule of workshops, talks, and late-night socializing offers outlets for interaction at all hours of the day.
The performances, curated by Artistic Director Angela Mattox, reflect both grand narratives of democracy, community, and freedom of speech, as well as deeply personal issues around identity, home, and exile. Among the many ideas carried between works in the Festival, there is a strong through-line that looks at art as a mode for social and political critique. Keith Hennessy investigates the economic collapse through an improvisatory ensemble dance; Big Art Group projects a Real-Time Film re-imagining of the Oresteia with a chorus of local video interviews; Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol explores the water issues and revolutionary history of Mexico City; and Laurie Anderson presents the final chapter of her solo story trilogy, examining America one year after Occupy and a decade after 9/11.
TBA:12 welcomes back alumni artists including Faustin Linyekula, Gob Squad, Kota Yamazaki, and Miguel Gutierrez, while presenting the first local engagements by chelfitsch, Sam Green & Yo La Tengo, Nora Chipaumire, and the experimental musicians of Voices & Echoes, curated by Aki Onda. Between these and other artists, the projects in this year’s Festival hail from Mexico, Japan, Croatia and Serbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, France, Germany, Zimbabwe, and across the US.
Festival performances occur on stage, but also expand beyond the theater to embedded locations across Portland. Claudia Meza leads a Cage-ian audio tour of sonic sites across Portland; Andrew Dickson hosts life-coaching sessions in a hotel conference room; a trio of artists from the Balkans round out an evening of site-specific performances from Perforacije; and pairs of audience members in the public library will follow Ant Hampton & Tim Etchells‘ Autoteatro drama via headphone instructions.
On view through September 29th, End Things is a collection of installations, provocations, and happenings by visual artists, curated by Kristan Kennedy for TBA. The artists included in End Things share a confident multi-disciplinarity and a unique sensitivity to the importance of objects; call it an Internet-age animism, if you will. Projects range from Morgan Ritter‘s “charged objects” formed from site-specific clay hand-dug at Oregon sites; to Alex Cecchetti‘s “relay performance,” illustrated each successive night with drawings and sculptures; to Erika Vogt‘s interactive castings, suspended by pulleys. The galleries will also feature work by Isabelle Cornaro, Claudia Meza, and Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan.
TBA also includes 10 nights of after-hours activity at THE WORKS, our Festival social hub at the historic Washington High School. With an outdoor beer garden run by local chefs, THE WORKS is the place for audiences to convene and share conversations and drinks with each other, curators, and with TBA artists. Featuring music, dance, film, and performances from artists including Venus X, CHRISTEENE, David Commander, Laura Heit, BRAINSTORM/Sahel Sounds, Parenthetical Girls, Alexis Blair Penney, Thu Tran, and Fade to Mind collective.
Plan your TBA today
The full schedule of performing and visual artists at TBA:12 is online at www.pica.org and m.pica.org on your smartphone. Learn about artists and projects, and join us as a member or volunteer. TBA Festival Passes and tickets are available now; out-of-town visitors receive special discounts. Visit www.pica.org or call 503 224 PICA.
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
415 SW 10th Ave (Suite 300)
Portland, OR 97205
T 503 242 1419
www.pica.org
