The rumors that the Center on Contemporary Art is, once again, troubled (via a couple of darkly hinting e-mail messages) have been pretty effectively squelched. In fact, all the news seems pretty lively and optimistic, so if you've got information that points otherwise, all you anonymous e-mailers, you'd better be more specific.

CoCA's good news includes a brand-new space, which they'll move into next month, on Dexter Avenue. It's huge, according to CoCA's board president Dino Martini, about twice as large as the current space. I do recall that when CoCA moved to its current 11th Avenue location barely two years ago there was so much talk from CoCA people about how CoCA should have been on Capitol Hill all along; current board member Tina Meadows disagrees, and remarked to me that CoCA has never been dependent on location. "We don't care where we go," she said. I'm not entirely sure that's true, but I do admire the sentiment.

What I'll be keeping an eye on is CoCA's programming, since in the last few months it seemed like it was an event venue first and an exhibition space somewhere after that. NeoQueer, the first show in the new space, is the annual exhibition of the Queer Caucus for Art and opens February 18.

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In very, very, very good news One Reel has signed a contract with artist Shawn Wolfe to design all the visual stuff for the 2004 Bumbershoot campaign. Wolfe has been keeping a low profile lately, but you can still see his "panic now" stickers on parking meters and dumpsters around town. And it is always good news when an organization has enough of a sense of humor to hire an artist best known for a brand-skewering, as Wolfe accomplished with Beatkit™, a campaign without a product.

My favorite Bumbershoot poster was by Ed Fotheringham and Art Chantry from... what the hell year was that?