If you’ve been keeping up with Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA) and their long-running fall festival of time-based works, it will not shock you to hear that they changed the format again. PICA staff are always quick to point out that the 10-day fest, which we had last year and which we might think of as standard, was never the norm. The whole point is to play with time.
On a purely anecdotal level, I’ve noticed an uptick in interest from out-of-town acquaintances who see a single-weekend schedule as an excuse to visit Portland, and five days of weird art and performance as the perfect amount.
The 2026 Time-Based Art Festival (TBA) slams the work of 52 artists into September 9-13—five wild days of app-guided supermarket dances, experimental movement super groups, and presentations on sexy ex-boyfriend look-alikes. Okay, those are all three pretty specific examples—there will also be artist chats and pancakes. Here are a few more things that might catch your eye:
The Familiar
yuniya edi kwon and Holland Andrews
It’s been years since Holland Andrews left Portland for Brooklyn and dropped their Like a Villain moniker, but we’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy their semi-regular, collaborative returns—those who saw Will Rawls’ [siccer] in 2023 will recall Andrews’ tremendous yet perfectly complimentary vocal contributions. Everything I’ve ever heard them make has been worth my time. This year, TBA hosts the world premiere of How Does It Feel to Look at Nothing which Andrews co-created with yuniya edi kwon. The entwined work of ritual and otherworldly song seeks to express their experiences as married queer trans people of color, considering love and potential parenthood at a time of rising American fascism. The program calls it a “pre-origin story of a Deity of Nothingness,” and I would like to join that cult. (Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, Sept 11-12, 8 pm; Sept 13, 2 pm, $25-$50 sliding scale, more info, all ages)
Allie Hankins
In last year’s Queer Issue we profiled Allie Hankins’ By My Own Hand: Melody, the fourth part in her series on “methods of manipulation”—in this case, by Hankins upon the audience. Originally she described her five methods as ghosting, transparency, the ache, melody, and saxophones. “But we’re not calling part five saxophones,” she told the Mercury in that interview. Since each iteration of the series carries the remnants of her former performances, Hankins keeps recordings of By My Own Hand parts one through four on her website. She wants folks to have access to it. For By My Own Hand, Part 5: Invisible Touch, Hankins has handed the actual performance of the piece to essentially an experimental dance super group of trusted colleagues: Linda Austin, claire barrera, keyon gaskin, Takahiro Yamamoto, and Lu Yim. I can almost guarantee this will be funny, as humor is a staple of Hankins’ work. (PICA Annex, 15 NE Hancock, Sept 10-12, 6 pm; Sept 13, 4 pm, $25-$50 sliding scale, more info, all ages)
The Strange
Alex Tatarsky
Described by the New York Times as “a thrilling and frenetic mental breakdown of a show,” Alex Tatarsky’s Sad Boys in Harpy Land is a clown act with the antagonism turned inward and a script so reference-heavy that the show is co-presented and hosted by Reed College’s departments of theater and Russian. Tatarsky is a Reed alumnus and they’ll also get down in the dramaturgy at an artist chat (PICA, Sept 12) with local theater historian Kate Bredeson. (Greenwood Theatre at Reed College, 3017 SE Woodstock, Sept 11-12, 8 pm; Sept 13, 6 pm, $25-$50 sliding scale, more info, all ages)
Clayton Lee
Finally, some art for balding white guys! The Goldberg Variations is a confessional style monologue wherein performance artist Clayton Lee unpacks his longstanding fascination with professional wrestler Bill Goldberg across an oral history of his past boyfriends, who all happen to look like Goldberg. This presentation is the work’s West Coast premiere, but it’s already been very well received in other cities. The one negative review we found just made it sound funny, sexy, and unmissable. “Please come prepared to be surprised,” said PICA’s artistic director and curator of visual art Kristan Kennedy of this work. “Don’t bring anybody who’s a prude.” (PICA, 15 NE Hancock, Sept 11-12, 8 pm, $25-$50, sliding scale, more info, 18+)
The Incorporeal
Rimini Protokoll
At the risk of being a snitch, you can download Rimini Protokoll’s The Walks right now for $4 instead of $8. It’s a total pandemic baby and was originally released in 2021. But if you’re attending the whole fest, there’s a good chance this will be included with your pass, and it’s easy to imagine going on one of the app’s narrated walks between shows—perhaps with a new acquaintance. “Supermarket,” in particular, comes with two audio tracks and is meant to be listened to “in twos.” There are 10 walks total, loosely set in places like a park, a pedestrian crossing, and a cemetery. While PICA arbitrarily assigned a particular time (Sept 13, 5 pm) so it could sell tickets, this was always intended to be a piece audiences could enjoy at their leisure. (your phone, at all hours, Sept 9-13, $8, more info, all ages)
Elbow Room
Slightly more IRL is Elbow Room’s Dialtones. Delivered via a repurposed telephone booth—called “Telbow”—on PICA’s first floor, the piece consists of an assortment of recordings that play whenever a listener picks up the booth’s handset: music, poems, secrets. “One time it was just screaming,” Kennedy said. In past years, PICA has closed out TBA with a bingo night fundraiser for Elbow Room, a local nonprofit that supports artists with disabilities in furthering their art practices. This year the fundraiser is a day-one affair. “They’re a big part of [PICA’s] family,” Kennedy explained. Good Dang Weeknight will be hosted again by Kye Alive (of Club Alive) with bingo and a live set by Magic Luscious Spirit Sounds. (PICA, 15 NE Hancock, Wed Sept 9, 6 pm, $20-$50 sliding scale; FREE at 8 pm, more info, all ages.)
Conflict of interest alert! The Mercury is a sponsor of TBA this year, and since the Fall Arts Issue comes out on Wednesday, September 9, we’ll have a stack of issues at the opening night party and be selling subscriptions—50 percent of the proceeds will go to PICA!
Time-Based Art Festival is held at PICA, 15 NE Hancock, and a number of other locations around Portland—including on your phone—Sept 9-13, more info at pica.org
