CoCA 2025 Annual
image: Neil Berkowitz “Zona Antifascista”, Multilayer photographic archival pigment print on paper, 24 x 93, 2024
We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang
2025 Annual Exhibition Juried by Joseph DeLappe
From December 4, 2025– February 21, 2026, CoCA will present the latest incarnation of its storied series exploring contemporary art, the CoCA Annual, a juried group exhibition seeking work from emerging as well as established artists in the Northwest and worldwide. For the 25th edition, CoCA is proud to announce Joseph DeLappe as juror.
Joseph DeLappe, “Liberty Weeps”
cardboard, 2015, dim. var., courtesy of the artist
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. We are grateful to him for the following description of the exhibition:
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!
We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang is a participant in the Fall of Freedom national call for action across the arts community.
Several Prizes were awarded by the juror, Joseph DeLappe. These awards were accompanied by cash prizes to the winners:
First Prize
Janna Ahrndt
Make Floors Great Again
Faux Gold Leaf, Roomba, IFTTT Applet, 4 x 14 x 14”, 2019-Present
Second Prize
William Jarcho, Clare Dohna, and Evan Simmons
LICE Agent Protest Outfit
Foam rubber and latex
30 x 14”, 2025
Third Prize
Wholly Heathen
Exodus Frog
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30 x 1”, 2025
Honorable Mention
William Ross
DanceDanceInsurrection!
wood, acrylic, brass, cardboard, electronics, 15 x 15 x 30", 2023
Honorable Mention
Yanzhen Huang (Yan)
Drift
Experimental moving image, composed of archival footage and original soundtrack, 1280×720, 2025
Additional participating artists, selected for exhibition by the juror, Joseph DeLappe.
Lori Lieske
Don't Turn Your Head
Acrylic and Ink
12.5" x 10.5" x 2.5", 2025
Li Turner
Annie Oakley and Friends
Shoot Down Oppression
Watercolor and gouache
18” X 18”, 2019
Esther Ervin
A Bridge Too Far including book on How to Bcome a Dictator
Wood, book board, book cloth, archival ink on Fabriano watercolor paper, Bridge: 2.5 x 14.5 x 4.25, Book: 3.75 x 5.5 x 0.5, 2025
Robin Gropp
Can You Feel It (At) All?
Linoleum Block Print, 7 x 9”, 2025
Retura Claar
Above and Below
Printmaking, 16 x 12 x 0.5”, 2025
David Berger
No Kings
Acrylic on canvas
4.5' x 7.5' x 1.5”, 2025
Aubrey Birdwell
R.E.D.
neon, paint, aluminum
25 x 48 x 6”, 2025
Jason Challas
Antifa
Digital Print, 30x14, 2025
Susan Smith
How Democracy Died
Spray paint, silkscreen
18 3/4” x 13", 2025
Deb McCarroll
Thin Ice
Acrylic with oxidized brass leaf and image transfer, 18 x 18 x 2”, 2017
Amanda Hedges
Defund Musk Women’s Group
Under His Eye, We All Rise
Live Performance, 2025
L. Kelly Lyles
TRUMP SANDWICH
(Red, White & Blue Plate Special)
Mixed Media, Found Objects
30" x 23" x 15", 2017
Andrea Lawson
Resist!
Oil on canvas, 36 x 48”, 2020
Raphael Arar
Rosa's Plinko
Acrylic, 27” x 18” x 2”, 2023–
William (Bill) Whipple
Trump Wagon
wood, fiber board, paint, misc other
17 x 14 x 9", 2016
Natalie Niblack
The Battle Begins
Ceramic, wood, gold leaf
36 x 36 x 10", 2025
Thomas Gormally
Descending Storm
Wood, steel, LED lights, paint, stain, pickling solution, wiring, porcelain, 102" x 40" x 40", 2025
Teresa Stern
Democratea: Out to Dry
Printing ink, paper, rope, wood clothespins
18 x 48 x 0.25”, 2025
Rebecca Woodhouse
2025
Acrylic Linocut Painting
45 x 65 x 2”, 2025
Kyle Reynolds
Horsemen
Porcelain & found objects
16 x 21 x 7”, 2024
Patrick Lichty
Liberty
in the Vein of St. Sebastian
Jacquard Tapestry
AI-generated, hand-manipulated digital image fabricated by WalMart for the exhibition
60 x 80”, 2025
Lea Basile-Lazurus
Power To The People
Hand Painted Lithographs, assembled together, sticks added, 32 X 40 X 2, 2018
Meghan Jones
denial (I NEVER TOUCHED HER)
Full sized mattress with burned lettering, 54"x75"x12", 2025
Susan Springer
Still Standing
Ceramic sculpture
25.5 x 14 x 11”, 2025
Aubree Click
Look But Don't Touch My Reproductive Rights
Oil On Canvas, 18, 2025
Charles (Charlie) Spitzack
In Thanks to our Civil Servants
Woodcut print, 14 x 6” image
22 x 14” framed, 2025
Diane Bush
Make a Merkin Great Again
Yarn made from pussy cat fur, ribbon, veteran flag frame
17" x 4" x 17", 2019
Neil Berkowitz
Zona Antifascista
Multilayer photographic archival pigment print on paper
24 x 93, 2024
Beverly Naidus
Anti-Fascist Fetishes
Mixed Media, 24 x 24 x 32”, 2025
Kathy Ross
There is no Cake
Cut and soldered tin, plus toy gun
24 x 16 x 16”, 2025
Philip Eidenberg-Noppe
New Americans
Photography, 29.25 x 22.5”, 2025
CoCA and the artists gratefully acknowledge operational and programming support from the following organizations:
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