TBA, annual contemporary arts fest, spreads tentacles across town

It happens Sept. 8-18

Will there be naked people writhing in food? Of course.

TBA:16, technically the 14th annual Time-Based Art festival, runs Sept 8-18 in various venues around Portland. And Portland is lucky to have it. Stop telling grandma how good the edibles and comestibles are in Portland until you’ve described this annual binge-watch of dancers, painters, social practice artists and foundation-funded freaks.

“Kristy Edmunds (TBA’s founder) told me that a festival has made it when you don’t recognize all the audience, and that’s come true,” Kristan Kennedy, the longtime Portland Institute for Contemporary Art visual art curator, tells the Tribune.

“These last few years I look around and think ‘Who are these people?’” Kennedy is no anti-newb nimby — she loves the way new and old Portlanders are attracted to TBA.

“I am also amazed how many curators from around the country just show up. We used to know everyone who was coming but now ...”

“At TBA you could see as much high-level performance in 10 days as some curators see in a year,” adds her colleague, Erin Boberg Doughton, PICA’s performing arts program director.

The pair of them have seen it all and done it all — artists still crash on their floors, borrow equipment or cry on their shoulders. TBA doesn’t alienate artists like many festivals, which are simply hotel, venue and done. Artists are encouraged to stick around, give talks, see other work and attend The Works (see sidebar).

Says Boberg Doughton: “The festival catalog gives equal weight to artists whether they are starting out or a household name. When you see images of the festival around town, you might see anyone from the lineup.”

“(The acronym) TBA also takes advantage of ‘to be announced,’” Boberg Doughton says. “We wanted to create a festival where the audience would experience artists on their own terms without a lot of expectations. The audiences are very curious, and the artists are less interested in labeling their work as theater, dance and performance art, and more with being with the audience for the next hour.”

TBA has always been a friend of the cash-poor, time-rich art lover. Volunteers get to see shows for free. It takes an army in black T-shirts to shepherd ticket holders in and out of the scattered venues, which include the new PICA headquarters (PICA at Hancock) as well as Lincoln Hall, Reed College, BodyVox, Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Portland Art Museum. Most individual shows are around $20. The most common passes cost $150 (for six main stage shows) and $250 for all access.

So how best to take advantage of this temporary national treasure? Treat it like a campaign: Mobile app, bike, standby tickets, hydrate, open wallet, open mind.

For complete information and the TBA lineup, see http://www.pica.org. A few highlights:

Keijaun Thomas — “Distance is Not Separation,” 8:30 p.m., Sept. 11-13, PICA at Hancock, 15 N.E. Hancock St.

This year’s catalog cover person is Keijaun (pronounced Kee-wan) Thomas.

“They are investigating a transforming body, and they used to be a football player, and they are moving through a lot of sports metaphors while commentating on what it’s like to be a black, femme body in the world right now,” says Kennedy, an expert at the preferred pronouns of nonbinary individuals.

“Keijaun’s preferred pronouns are he, she and they,” she clarifies.

Asked how long the show is, Kennedy says, “that’s debatable. You’re really in it with Keijuan. You enter the space with Keijaun and leave with Keijaun.” Expect more than an hour anyway.

The Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble — “The Art of Luv (Part 1): Elliot,” 7 p.m. Sept. 10-13, Reed College, 3203 S.E. Woodstock Blvd.

One act in gold makeup you may see on posters around town is The Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble. They do “devised theater” that is without a script. This New York-based company jumps off from the news stories about Elliot Rodger, who taped himself wondering why he didn’t have a girlfriend before going on a killing spree with a car in Santa Barbara in May 2014.

“It’s not karaoke, the show is a ritual,” Boberg Doughton says. “It’s about taking someone’s words, and presenting them without believing it.”

“In TBA, it’s not always the thing it’s expected to be,” Kennedy adds. “If the book says karaoke, it won’t be about karaoke in its literal sense. It’s going to be pushed to a new definition.”

Morgan Thorson — “Still Life,” all ages, noon-5 p.m. Sept. 9-13, Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave.

Morgan Thorson will perform “Still Life” at the Portland Art Museum in a West Coast premiere. It is an ensemble dance cycle that explores the geological time and brevity of a single human life, with museum artifacts and dioramas. The piece, the promotion says, “enacts the death of choreography by erasing elements of the performance; with each repetition of the cycle, something is lost — a dancer, a sequence, or sound.”

This is long-form choreography. The audience can come and go as they please.

Narcissister — “Narcissistic Advance,” 8:30 p.m. Sept. 9, PICA at Hancock

Narcissister works with masks to examine feminist identity.

“We just said, ‘Hey, do what you want to do.’ We received some things in the mail,” Boberg Doughton says. “We haven’t seen the show yet, so we’ll be there with the audience.” Expect plastic, lace, sensationalism and our obsession with celebrity.

Kelly Pratt and Juliana Huxtable — “Birth>Rebirth,” free opening night party, 8:30 p.m. Sept. 8, PICA at Hancock

Kelly Pratt is a local musician who was in the band Beirut and has recorded with David Byrne and Arcade Fire. “Birth>Rebirth” is a new composition for over 100 musicians playing brass instruments.

The evening rolls over into a performance art party designed by Juliana Huxtable.

“Juliana is an artist and DJ who is bringing her collaborators, and they’re doing whatever they want. It’s going to be a raucous party from the center of performance art, visual art and party DJ culture,” Kennedy says. She expects it to be a “cacophony of activity with the music and the visuals and the food and the bar.” The Works will be all-ages every night for the first time, since PICA controls the space and can work with the OLCC rules.

Geumhyung Jeong — “7 Ways,” 8:30 p.m. Sept. 16-17, New Expressive Works, 810 S.E. Belmont St.

Geumhyung Jeong (pronounced Gum-yung Jung) is a South Korean artist who explores humanity by dancing duets with mundane objects such as household appliances and mannequins. Look for “intense and risky interaction with her own body, combining dance, puppetry and a technical mastery of theatrical conventions,” the promotion says

Christian Rizzo — “d’aprés une histoire vraie,” 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9-10, PSU Lincoln Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.

Rizzo is a French choreographer who had a memory of being in a party in Istanbul, Turkey, and seeing a bunch of men get together and do a folk dance. He and his company will put their spin on it.