Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland

If creativity is Portland’s currency, then the coming weeks are an embarrassment of riches, with back-to-back-to-back festivals that celebrate the many expressions of Portland’s creative culture: indie music (MusicFestNW, Sept. 5-9), contemporary art (Time-Based Art Festival, Sept. 6-16) and food and drink (Feast Portland, Sept. 20-23) — not to mention art & technology (XOXO, Sept. 13-16) and all manner of DIY (Mini Maker Faire, Sept. 15-16).

The latest addition to that esteemed lineup — and, in true Portland style, flying slightly below the radar — is Design Week Portland (Oct. 9-13), a preview of which is included here. Be warned: The language careens from earthy to ethereal, rough-hewn to reflective. You know, kind of like the city itself.

Portland’s Time-Based Art Festival (which everyone simply calls TBA) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, which means 10 years of bringing challenging, perplexing, satisfying and even exhilarating art to the city. TBA is the city’s best window into the restless, ever-evolving world of the avant-garde, both American and international, especially in the performing arts but also the visual, and from Sept. 6-16 it changes the flavor of the culture here.

Centered again this year at its hub in the old Washington High School on the city’s east side, TBA spreads to performing spaces across the city with multiple events on any given day, from full-scale productions to lectures and workshops. This year’s festival is headlined by performance pioneer Laurie Anderson, but before she performs on the festival’s closing day, lots of other opportunities for puzzlement and inspiration beckon:

Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, El Rumor del Incendio

Opening Night – Sept. 6
Washington High School (Southeast Stark and 13th Avenue)

The festival begins with an outdoor performance and video projection spectacle courtesy of New York’s Big Art Group, and the opening of both the festival’s visual arts show and its late-night cabaret, The Works.

Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol – Sept. 7-9 and 10-12
Winningstad Theatre (1111 S.W. Broadway) and BodyVox (1201 NW 17th Ave.)

This Mexico City collective, dedicated to fashioning history into performances for the contemporary stage, performs a “documentary play” about the reform movement in Mexico in the ‘60s, then reprises its account of the disappearance of Mexico City’s water resources since the time of the Conquistadors. (more…)

For 10 days (Sept. 8-18), Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s TBA:11 brings cutting-edge dance, performance and visual art to the city. The action centers on the east side’s Washington High School, and happens in performance spaces, non-traditional venues and the streets throughout Portland. This year’s schedule features an international roster of emerging and established artists, including some from France, Korea, Brazil and Japan, alongside a handful of Portland-based artists.

Here are some of the highlights:

Jesse Sugarmann, "Red Storm Rising (live in LA)," photo courtesy of the artist

Visual Arts Opening – Thursday, Sept. 8
Washington High School, Southeast Stark and 13th

Centered on ideas of building up and tearing down, TBA:11 On Sight features smart works by international art stars such as the Parisian collective Claire Fontaine and Korea’s YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, as well as regional artists like Jesse Sugarmann, whose “Lido (The Pride is Back)” is a slow-motion car wreck involving stacks of blow-up air beds and Chrysler minivans. (more…)