Mission

Directional Statement 

Dear Community,  

Center on Contemporary Art stands as the oldest contemporary art space in Seattle, beginning in 1980. It has had many transformations, many lives, many locations, some near-death experiences, all the while continuing to push the boundaries of contemporary art. Much of this is why I feel so personally invested in CoCA: I have had my share of transformations and near-death experiences while trying to understand just what multitudes I contain. As Research Director, I have spent many nights scouring the archives while developing my own discipline of research, whether it be artistic research or otherwise. As President, it is my honor to lead our vision and to share CoCA’s splendor with visitors to our gallery space, our website and beyond. As just one member of the Board of Directors, I commit to working closely with my fellow directors as well as our members and volunteers.  

The next phase of CoCA will prioritize the following: History & Research, Community Outreach, and Exploring CoCA’s Potential Multitudes.

History & Research: Our archives hold over 45 years of contemporary art history. Let’s open them up! There’s no reason to hide away all of the amazing exhibitions that we’ve put on; how many places do you know that can claim they put on a show with SubPop to feature artists like Mudhoney and Nirvana back in 1989? How many art spaces can say they put on a huge group show of lesbian artists discussing multitudinous takes on gender? Who can say that their first show was a solo exhibition by James Turrell? This is only a small taste of what we hold as a unique vessel of Seattle’s contributions to the art scene at large! Our members and visitors alike should feel empowered to research our past and become inspired in countless ways. And to be clear, research is not just one specific discipline: beyond the academic standards, CoCA encourages everyone to explore what research means to them. Personally, I see research as starting with an essential base unit: the double-take. As long as you are seeing/smelling/hearing/ smelling/tasting/vibing with something more than once, THAT is the beginning of research. The evoking of a double-take also opens up the sense of humor to the realms of research. There is no need for research to have a stale, strict feeling. Not all research needs to be written journal articles and graphs. The act of artmaking may constitute research all in its own right!

Community Outreach: While CoCA as its own organization holds a lot on its own, the best ways that we can continue to support the local art scene and beyond are to collaborate more and to take more accountability in our individual local environments. Joining a neighborhood advisory council, getting to know the people you live nearby, giving to (and actually volunteering for!) mutual aid groups in your area, talking with your families and friends about what art means to them and how it never has to just be one identity or one type of discipline, these are just some examples. In our chaotic times, we need art and artists more than ever. Let us work together with our fellow galleries, museums, art markets, zine collectives, research groups, and more!  

Exploring CoCA’s Potential Multitudes: Reaching out to our communities and expanding what we can produce and learn should also reflect what CoCA is able to contain within. Who says we need to just be an art gallery? My own creation of an artistic research department and establishing the role of Research Director is just the beginning of this ethos. We seek to host more kinds of programming and events, whether it be performance lectures, art jams, open mics, improvised site activations, we can expand further!  

Additionally, an important part of our multitudes is our extensive past. The artists, volunteers, and outside collaborators that have contributed so much to CoCA deserve to have their labor honored. To that end, I am proposing the creation of a CoCA Alumni Association! We invite past artists, volunteers and others that have interacted with us over the years to connect with CoCA’s present in the spirit opening opportunities for networking, mentorship, and collaboration. It is more common for larger, commercial galleries or museums to have extensive archives, but CoCA has a unique edge in being a more experimental space that can provide and hold an extensive record of Seattle’s history as a contemporary arts destination.

Center on Contemporary Art serves the Pacific Northwest as a catalyst and forum for the advancement, development, and understanding of Contemporary Art. This continues to be our mission, and I believe now that one of the most important parts of this is to look within ourselves and see how far we have come. CoCA has moved all over the city, from downtown by the Lusty Lady, Belltown, Capitol Hill, Ballard, Georgetown, Pioneer Square. What makes CoCA truly stand out is our long and well traveled life, and we must tell our accumulated stories to the public. Through communicating our history, we strive to continue our long tradition of community outreach and working closely with our neighbors.  

Seattle and the art scene at large deserve to better understand their history and inspire generations of artists and art lovers. I invite you to join us at https://www.cocaseattle.org/join-give

- Valeria Espinal, CoCA Research Director and President