[siccer] by Will Rawls

[siccer]

Will Rawls 15 NE Hancock St. Portland, OR pica.org

Dates & Times

[siccer] Performance & Installation

Exhibition Dates: September 23 to November 5, 2023 Gallery Hours: 12:00 – 6:00 pm Thursday & Friday / 12:00 – 4:00 pm Saturday & Sunday The exhibition is open to the public and free to attend.

Concept, Choreography and Direction: Will Rawls Performance: Holland Andrews, keyon gaskin, jess pretty, Katrina Reid, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste Sound Design and Vocals: Holland Andrews and Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste Director of Photography, Video Editor, and FX: Lauryn Siegel Technical Director: David Szlasa Lighting and Scenic Designer: Maggie Heath Costume Designer: Saša Kovačević Audio Designer: Jimmy Garver Dramaturg: Kemi Adeyemi Studio Rawls Director: Rebecca Fitton Producer: Sasha Okshteyn Company Manager: Alejandro Flores Monge

Performances: October 6 & 7 at 7:00 pm / October 8 at 2:00 pm The performances are ticketed at a sliding scale starting at $10.

Tickets can be purchased at pica.org/events/siccer-performance

[siccer] In [siccer], Rawls experiments with stop-motion, a filmmaking technique in which still photographs are strung together to produce a moving image. Through a dance performance and accompanying video installation, Rawls invites us to consider the ways in which black bodies are relentlessly documented, distorted, and circulated in the media. Throughout [siccer]’s live performance, five dancers are suspended in an uncanny reenactment of an iconic American film. When the camera’s shutter closes momentarily between photographs, a gap in surveillance occurs that allows Rawls and collaborators to play within this interval through physical and vocal improvisations.

The project’s title is driven by the usage of “[sic],” a Latin adverb that indicates incorrect spelling within a quotation. [sic] is often employed to contrast black vernacular with standard English. Upturning this perceived conflict, [siccer] illuminates the verbal, physical play that marks how black performance actively eludes capture and speculates on collective strategies for narrating the world, uncorrected.

About the Artist Will Rawls is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses choreography, dance, video, installation, and works on paper. Rawls’ live performances employ repetition and duration to explore the limits of language and gesture. Staging performances of black presence and becoming is at the heart of his work. Recent presentations include the 35th São Paulo Bienal (2023), Art Basel Liste (2023), The Momentary (2023), MCA Chicago (2023), Adams + Ollman (2022), The Henry Art Gallery (2021). His work has also appeared at the Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, Performa 15, Danspace Project, The Chocolate Factory Theater, High Line Art, REDCAT, the 10th Berlin Biennale, and the Hessel Museum at Bard College. He has received fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, The Alpert Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Mellon Foundation, United States Artists, the Rauschenberg Foundation, Creative Capital, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, MAP Fund, the MacDowell Colony, Headlands Center for the Arts, and Movement Research. Rawls is an Associate Professor of Choreography in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. His writing has been published by the Hammer Museum, MoMA, Museu de Arte de São Paolo, Dancing While Black Journal, Brooklyn Rail, and Artforum.

Sponsorship [siccer] was originally commissioned by The Kitchen in partnership with co-commissioners, The Momentary, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, On the Boards, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. [siccer] was made possible, in part, by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and from The MAP Fund, which is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. [siccer] is also a Creative Capital Project. [siccer] is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project which is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org. [siccer] received substantial developmental support from THINKLARGE.US, a family-run nonprofit created by Don Quinn Kelley and Sandra L. Burton to aid in the creation of new work. [siccer] was developed and supported, in part, by residencies at The Momentary and Portland Institute for Contemporary Art. Additional support by On the Boards and The Kitchen; a creative residency at Petronio Residency Center, a program of the Stephen Petronio Company; with financial, administrative and residency support from Dance in Process at Gibney with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Movement Research; the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at the University of California Los Angeles and The Hammer Museum Residency; the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University; with production support and residency provided by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Williams College; and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

This program is partly supported by the Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts, with addition funding from the National Performance Network and New England Foundation for the Arts’ The National Dance Project (NDP).

PICA welcomes you to Time-Released, a new member of the TBA family. From now through the end of November, PICA will present programming from local, national and international artists ranging from installations, exhibitions, workshops, performances, discussions, gatherings, and so much more! Developed with artists and you in mind, Time-Released reimagines how we come together in the name of curiosity, inquiry, and the expression of new ideas. Save the dates for the upcoming Time-Released programs: Video Release: October 18 Joseph Keckler, in collaboration with Holland Andrews, Cove of Harmony, Episode 1 October 19 – November 5 Allie Hankins and Hannah Krafcik, By My Own Hand, Part 3: THE ACHE October 28 DB Amorin, long shadow (co-presented with Third Angle New Music) November 9 K8 Hardy, Outfitumentary November 17 and 18 Andrew Tay and Stephen Thompson, Make Banana Cry

Special Thanks Thank you to Will Rawls, all of our Time-Released artists, our audience, and community members who mean so much to this organization. Thank you also to our board members, past, present, and future, and our donors and funders; this would not be possible without you. And, a very special thank you to Victoria Frey.

Thank you to our Time-Released Patron+Ticket holders Megan Gill and Mona McNeil.

Thank You The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Business Oregon The Collins Foundation The Ford Family Foundation The Jackson Foundation James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation The Kinsman Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Oregon Community Foundation Regional Arts & Culture Council

Time-Released Staff Lenny Beach Dan Bouthot Rory Breshears Alan Cline Kaya Kelly Saibi Khalsa Allison Knight-Blaine Urks Kurth Adrian Mcbride Nathan Norris Teddy Overalls Liz “L” Quezada Crimson Ravarra Mami Takahashi Hannon Welch PICA Staff Roya Amirsoleymani Jakob Dawahare Erté deGarces Erin Boberg Doughton Arminda Gandara Molly Gardner Madison Hames Jeff Hu Kristan Kennedy Samantha Ollstein Van Pham Reuben Roqueñi Ashley Schmidt Leslie Vigeant