21
Instead, Jasperse s piece reaches into the
ing to Remdsch.
broader realm of politics in what Boberg calls
Or something
like that.
“a very abstract and sophisticated way.” She
says California “is sort of about the elections in
Maricich says
the Remdsch phi
California, the dot com bust and how things
can seem utopic or fantastic—like the Gold
losophy is that
Rush, or San Francisco as a gay mecca—and
“when people
then how things pop and go away.”
start to have men
tal problems, it
All of this content is not necessarily imme
goes along with
diately apparent. And one need not work to
decipher a hidden meaning behind the chore
them falling out
of the rhythms of
ography. The dance is compelling enough sim
the way they usu
ply for its craft.
ally behave.”
Boberg says, “If Jasperse didn’t mention Cali
Maricich con
fornia, you would probably...just say, ‘Wow, this is
an amazing abstract study about people’s relation
tinues: “The way
that a person usu
ship to space and the set and.. .to each other.’ ”
ally behaves is
like a net—a sys
tem for making all
the choices like:
ortland artist David Eckard will also be
‘Who ami?’
exploring politics and big ideas for the
Erin Boberg is the happening assistant curator of performing arts at PICA
TBA Festival. Just don’t expect his
‘What do I do?’
‘How do 1 talk?’
pontifications to make sense.
‘How do I move?’ ‘How do 1 dress?’ ”
Eckard’s sculptural-based performance, Podi
Maricich says the net is formed depending
ake, for instance, 29-year-old musician
upon the people whom one is surrounded by in
and performer Khaela Maricich, who
childhixxl and throughout life. When someone
recently moved to Portland from
starts to go crazy, the net begins to fray. Speech
Olympia, Wash. She is, in her words, “dating a patterns change and become garbled.
girl right now”—her first. Her performance for the
“It’s like if you have a route you walk in
festival will not, however, be an ode to the new
your life and you accidentally wander off that
found wonders of Sapphic love (nor to the hard
route,” she says.
ships of coming out). She taps into a more univer
The daily karaoke song and dance is
sal quandary by exploring issues of identity and
designed to “keep you in the rhythm so you
mental health in relation to corporate culture.
don’t have to wander off.”
Maricich is perhaps best known in the
It is of note that Maricich is in residency at
region as the one-woman band The Blow. She
Wieden+Kennedy, which also houses PICA.
says a typical Blow show is of a pop tune nature,
Her studio locale gives her a bird’s-eye view of
with the youthful, unadorned Maricich singing
corporate culture—albeit a creative and un
karaoke-style to prerecorded tunes by herself
usual corporate setting. She says The Touch Me
and collaborators. Her breathy, conspiratorial
Feeling “has a lot to do with studying people
voice has been described as “postcoital,” like a
and how people manage to live in the world.”
lover murmuring stories in the wee hours.
Presumably Wieden+Kennedy employees are
For the festival, she will present both a large-
some of her objects of observation.
scale performance as well as a Blow concert at
the after-hours TBA club, Machineworks. The
main stage performance, The Touch Me Feeling,
is a multimedia presentation in which Maricich
acts as a presenter for a company called
oberg says we can expect to see more work
Remdsch. She will lead a demonstration of
in contemporary performance that, like
Remdsch’s new mental health care system for
Maricich's, explores identity in relation to
keeping on track in an ever-distracting world.
business and corporate culture.
Maricich won’t say if Remdsch is real or
“There has been a shift to kxiking at the larger
fabricated. Her stage presentation will involve
systems," says the 32-year-old of the move away
a live Web conference with Remdsch “employ
from queer-content-only performances. She men
ees”—or are they actors? The demonstration
tions choreographer John Jasperse, whose dance
includes the key component of the Remdsch
company is featured in the TBA Festival. Jasperse,
system: karaoke dance routines.
who is gay and lives in New York City, has created
That’s right. Acting out your own little
a dance titled California that deals neither with his
Richard Move strikes a pose as Martha®
superstar fantasies can keep you sane, accord
sexual identity nor his hometown, per se.
Mi
Help is on the way?
P
Blow your mind
um, will take place over the course of 10 days
during which Eckard will “work” eight-hour
shifts. His job? To push around a wheeled con
traption of his own making that he will period
ically assemble into a mini podium, complete
with bullhorn. Clad in a generic uniform,
Eckard will then transform himself from manu
al laborer into personage of importance: He
will climb up on the podium and orate.
Eckard says his monologue will contain
familiar “speechisms" without any particular
political stance or content. He says his
speech will be “personal but cloaked in pub
lic mannerisms."
For example, listeners may hear him say:
“My pilgrimage ends at the first step because 1
unable to build on your common ground.”
Huh?
The familiar oration style minus the famil
iar oration content will invite audiences to
take a lœk at “how they knit together their
own meaning out of something,” says Eckard.
He expects that seeing someone up on a
Continued on Page 23
T
California dreamin'
B
J&xv
extraordinary flora
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