Livestream Artist Talk with Joseph DeLappe (Political Art Activist, Art Prof. at Abertay U Scotland))

(Seattle, WA): American artist Joseph DeLappe will be talking via livestream from where he teaches Games and Tactile Media at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland. Delappe, well known for his political activism and interventionist art practice, will discuss the art of resistance as well as the exhibition he recently juried for CoCA, “We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang,” which will be on view during the presentation. An accompanying catalog of the exhibition, with remarks by DeLappe, participating artists, and CoCA curators, will also be available. The program, part of the Winter Scavenger Hunt involving several Pioneer Square galleries, is free to attend, with support from Public Free Access (4culture).
Joseph DeLappe, (American, b. 1963), is an artist, activist and educator, currently
working in Scotland, where he is the Professor of Games and Tactical Media at Abertay
University, Dundee. Working with electronic and digital media since 1983, his projects in
online gaming performance, sculpture and electromechanical installation have been
shown throughout the world. Considered a pioneer in the critical and creative
engagement of video games, performance, activism and community-based practices,
DeLappe co-edited INCITE: Digital Art and Activism (Peacock Visual Arts) with art
historian and curator Dr. Laura Leuzzi in 2023. In 2017 he was awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship in the Fine Arts.
As he wrote about the current exhibition he juried for CoCA (“We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang”), “The world we inhabit is in a state of ongoing upheaval. We have witnessed the
onslaught of authoritarianism in the USA, with escalating attacks on civil rights,
immigrants, the degradation of freedom of speech and expression, reversals on
reproductive autonomy, the erasure of LGBTQIA+ rights, etc. Our collective landscape
continues to grow more volatile. We have lived through the global pandemic, witnessed
systemic state violence against minorities, witnessed the Russian invasion of Ukraine,
the brutal genocide in Gaza, intensifying climate catastrophes, and felt the shockwaves
of Roe v. Wade being overturned. The ongoing erosion of democratic institutions, and
the weaponization of digital technologies have only deepened the sense of instability.
In these struggles, is it possible, even necessary, for artists, technologists, writers, and
activists to imagine alternative futures, challenging dominant narratives, and carve out
spaces of truth, dissent, and hope?

“We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang” is an exhibition of artworks across all
media that respond to our current moment of intersecting crises. We are presenting
works that confront, question, and resist the politics of authoritarianism, nationalism,
and hate, while also proposing creative strategies for care, solidarity, survival, and
beauty. This exhibition is rooted in the belief that creativity is both a tool of resistance
and a catalyst for change. Let’s come together to insist that another world is
possible—and that we don’t need this fascist groove thang!”