Melia Donovan, from "The Clandestine Periphery"

It's time for PICA's annual Time Based Art Festival. In its fifth year, TBA is a 10 day festival (September 6 - 16) that uses visual art, sound, theater, installation, lectures, and everything else under the sun to explore themes in contemporary art.

PORT's very own Melia Donovan will be exhibiting her installation The Clandestine Periphery through October 6 in the lobby of the Wieden + Kennedy building (TBA central box office). The six sequential pinhole photographs, covered with innumerable pinholes, line three walls of the elevator shaft to create an "invisible mural... activated by a glance."



Arnold J. Kemp, detail from "Black Diamond Water"

Another must-see exhibition is PICA artist-in-residence Arnold J. Kemp's Daydream Nation (The Suspiria Version). Daydream Nation is an ongoing project exploring the psychic and political possibilities of abstraction, which is commonly (mis)understood as an artistic refuge from social concern. The Suspiria Version is inspired by horror master Dario Argento's film of the same name, in which a young American becomes trapped in a waking nightmare. This exhibition is on view at PNCA through September 29.

While you're there, don't forget to check out SuperNatural, an exhibition of Portland-area artists juried by Kemp, also on view at PNCA through September 29.

There is also the Lulic/Kreider exhibition at Reed which we blogged about earlier.

Of course, there are many many more things to do and see at TBA this year, so head on over to the schedule for more details.

Volunteers needed! Do you want to see a million things at TBA, but find the passes too cost-prohibitive, or are you just looking for a last-minute way to get involved? A TBA artist is looking for volunteers to participate in a performance that repeats nightly September 12th through 16th. Participants get free admission every night to The Works, workshops, and more. Certain details of the performance are being kept secret, so if you think you may be available afternoons and evenings this week for rehearsal, please contact Linda Austin at lindapaustin@mac.com or 503.777.1907 ASAP for more info.

Excuse me, but doesn't it seem like PICA's TBA visual arts offerings this year are inferior to last year's? Larry Bamburg's show at Corberry Press is executed in a very slap dash way (weve seen locals do similar things much better), and the overstuffed group show Space is a Place makes a Jupiter Hotel Art fair room look spacious and idyllic? This is the same venue where we saw Harrell Fletcher and Matthew Day Jackson last year what's the deal? Maybe PICA couldn't pick low hanging fruit any more? Remember Jackson is from Olympia and Fletcher lives in Portland.

Arnold Kemp's show at PNCA is just a terrible attempt to ingratiate itself with Portland artists and really forgettable. At least the Silviera show at PNCA's Feldman gallery is well executed, but it hardly has the star power, depth or production value of Abramovic last year.

The best show with Kreider and Lulic at Reed would have been a triumph had they just picked one artist for the space. Yet here it seems cramped and the work doesn't seem related in any way. It seemed forced and serves only to screw up the sight lines for both artists.

All this is coupled with the constant string of uninspired group shows curated by Kristan Kennedy for the last year. Instead of trying to ingratiate oneself with a raft of mediocre shows how about some quality for the supposed main event. Last year showed promise and delivered, this is simply embarrassing. I am more than disappointed.