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TBA:10 Festival

Clocking Out
Time-Based Art: 10 raises the bar with talent old, new, and Rufus

In the eight years since the Portland Institute for Contemporary Arts launched its Time-Based Art Festival, the annual synergy of performance, dance, music, new media and visual arts has secured a place among the city’s most anticipated cultural events—and as a potent, provocative kick-off to the arts season.

This year’s festival—held September 9-19, with visual art installations running through October 17—is no exception, thanks to a host of local, national and international talent in town, and time, with each other.

Morning, noon or (late) night, visions established or emerging, and regardless of medium, TBA weaves together narrative and approach, experience and perspective in a 10-day marathon that finds common ground through creation. Coursing through TBA’s veins is a vibrant collaborative spirit, one that this year results in partners teaming up for a conceptual site-specific grave, a choreographer melding concrete forms with abstract relationships and a host of DJs, hip-hoppers and electro artists tweaking both philosophy and beats.

And for openers, the Oregon Symphony sharing the classical stage with a member of a modern musical dynasty.

In the following pages, we highlight some of the hands of Time 2010—and feet, and voices. Visit pica.org/tba for a complete calendar of events, and blogout.justout.com for more profiles and previews of TBA offerings.

Passes and tickets are available at pica.org, at the TBA box office at The Works at Washington High School (531 SE 14th Ave.) or by calling 503-224-7422.

--Amanda Schurr

 

Guts & Glitter
Queer musicians turn art inside out at The Works
by Erin Rook

 

Underground Art
Chicago artist couple plays dead to illuminate life
By Erin Rook

 


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Study: Straight Women and Gay Men Lose Weight to Compete
 

Competitive instinct and a desire to succeed drive straight women and gay men to lose weight, according to a study published in the Journal of Evolution and Human Behavior.

Researchers surveyed the attitudes of individuals after they viewed profiles of successful (but not exceptionally thin or attractive) people and found that straight women and gay men tended to restict their eating following the viewings. This was not the case with straight men or lesbian women.

The Advocate reports:

Norman Li of Singapore Management University, who conducted the study, said the behavior is evolutionary. People in the West tend to gain weight as they age, therefore equating thinness with youth, he said, according to New Scientist magazine.

The constantly piqued competitive nature (thanks to an ever-present media saturated with images of thin models) can lead to psychological issues such as eating disorders, depression, and workaholism.

We have to wonder though, if the desire to be thin is reflective of a desire to be successful, when did thinness get aligned with success? If it goes back to competing for a mate, as the New Scientist article seems to suggest, then aren't folks just getting skinny because they think that's what men want?





 
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