PICA: An Inside Look
PICA’s Impact Report, a one-stop-shop and overview of a year’s worth of activities at Portland’s leading presenter of contemporary art.
Sasha Wortzel, Dreams of Unknown Islands (2022-10-05) by Sasha Wortzel and photo by Mario GallucciPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
What a year!
Did you know that in 2022 alone, PICA worked with 127 artists and collaborators? Or that we had a whopping 23 artists-in-residence and awarded over 56 grants?! Please allow us to introduce PICA’s Impact Report, a one-stop-shop and overview of a year’s worth of activities.
More than just an arts organization
PICA believes that artists show us what's possible, which empowers our vision to be international, intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and forward thinking. This has allowed us to create a wide variety of amazing, dynamic, and impactful programs over the course of our tenure.
Remembering to Remember: Experiments in Sound (2023) by Artists include Adee Roberson, Alison O’Daniel, bone lattice, Crystal Quartez, Hiro Kone, Kite & Robbie Wing, Lucy Liyou, Nivhek, Nyokabi Kariũki, Reese Bowes, Saint Abdullah, Sholeh Asgary, Synth Library Portland, Takashi Makino, and Tomoko Sauvage. Photo by Mario GallucciPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
PICA's budget and spending
PICA’s platform is more than just a stage, a building, or a calendar filled with events. We pride ourselves in taking care of the funds we have and spend our budget with PICA’s values and mission in mind. We invite you to explore some of our funded programming showcased below!
Come on In (2022) by Faye Driscoll and photo by Mario GallucciPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
Come on In by Faye Driscoll
Come On In, Faye Driscoll's first solo exhibition, removed the performers and the theater entirely, giving the work to the body of the gallery-goer, leading us into an internal dance of our senses: of self and other, body and world, desire and abjection, communion and loss.
"ENCHIRIDION: aisle, spline, resort" by sidony o'nealPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
ENCHIRIDION: aisle, spline, resort by sidony o'neal
This was sidony o’neal’s first major solo exhibition in North America, which was curated by Kristan Kennedy, Artistic Director and Curator of Visual Art, PICA.
2022 Time-Based Art Festival
For our TBA:22, we returned to an entirely in-person Festival. PICA hosted over 71 artists, collectives, and cultural bearers, for performances, exhibitions, artist lectures, dance parties, and more.
NIGHT SCHOOL
We also introduced a new TBA program, NIGHT SCHOOL, a series of performance-lectures that celebrated experimental and creative research, blurred the boundaries between art and academia, and disrupted established forms of knowledge.
ASUNA (2022) by ASUNA, 2022, PICA, Photo Credit Princess BoutonPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
1OO KEYBOARDS
As part of our overall programming, we were pleased to host Japanese sound artist ASUNA and his mesmerizing live music performance/installation using 100 colorful keyboards placed in a circular pattern on PICA’s floor.
NOTHINGBEING, a virtual symposium (2022) by Takahiro Yamamoto and photo by DJ SchallerPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
NOTHINGBEING | A Virtual Symposium
Based on the philosophical and creative research for the live performance NOTHINGBEING, this two-hour symposium featured the performance’s primary collaborators, David Thomson, Anna Martine Whitehead, Samita Sinha, and Takahiro Yamamoto.
Creative Exchange Lab
Our biannual artist residency Creative Exchange Lab (CXL), which has been designed to foster the development of new work, had Spring and Fall sessions. The CXL offers essential, generative time for research and experimentation, as well as artistic collaboration.
Clown Down 2: Clown Out of Water by Anthony Hudson / Carla Rossi and Photo Credit Tojo AndrianarivoPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
Residencies and commissioning
2022 artists in residence include: garima thakur, Tabitha Nikolai, sidony o’neal, Maya Vivas, Patricia Vazquez Gomez, and Jose de Jesus Gonzalez Campos, Takahiro Yamamoto and Anthony Hudson. Co-commissioner of new works by Will Rawls, Anna Martine Whitehead, and Autumn Knight.
SPACE Program (Supporting Partners, Artists, & Community)
Through COVID we pivoted and allowed our building to serve artists and small groups for creative residencies, pilot projects, and mutual aid. The pandemic revealed the urgent—and continuing—need for an accessible space to work and gather safely.
First Nations Performing Arts (FNPA) (2022) by First Nations Performing Arts (FNPA) and photo by Robert FranklinPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
Fiscal sponsorship
We champion our organization's duty to bridge the gap between funding entities and partner organizations, and artists. We devote time, staff, capacity, and resources to help our partners navigate grant applications and secure vital monetary support to advance their practices.
Remembering to Remember: Experiments in Sound (2023) by Artists include Adee Roberson, Alison O’Daniel, bone lattice, Crystal Quartez, Hiro Kone, Kite & Robbie Wing, Lucy Liyou, Nivhek, Nyokabi Kariũki, Reese Bowes, Saint Abdullah, Sholeh Asgary, Synth Library Portland, Takashi Makino, and Tomoko Sauvage. Photo by Mario GallucciPortland Institute for Contemporary Art
Learn more!
To learn so much more about all of PICA's activities and the latest upcoming programming, please visit at pica.org.
Thanks to our some of our active fiscal partners, A Black Art Ecology of Portland (BAEP), Art Talk Bus Stop, First Nations Performing Arts, and Shaun Keylock Company.
