The New SOIL

When Abstraction/Construction, a group show curated by Noah Simblist, opens this week at SOIL, it will be in a brand new gallery, located just to the left and in back of the old one. Prompted by a series of thefts this summer--part of an installation walked away in May, then four of Karen Liebowitz's paintings disappeared in June--the artist cooperative decided they needed a more secure space than the hallway they were showing in, which gave access to a gym, a print shop, and a private residence. Some business reconfiguration in the building made the adjacent space available, and all that was needed was a lot of renovating and a door. Last week, a few members got together to install a 400-pound roll-down steel door, nearly killing artist Demi Raven in the process ("I saw angels," Raven said). The door turned out to be broken, but presumably one will be in place in time for the show's opening on October 7. The old gallery will be, according to rumor, turned into a boxing studio, adding extra cachet to SOIL's location--the gallery you have to dodge blows to get to. EMILY HALL

Steffen Down

October marks the end of Alex Steffen's tenure as president of Allied Arts. Battles fought during his two-year stint as head of the arts advocacy organization include a bid to raise the city's financial commitment to the arts (successful), a stand against the Convention Center expansion (unsuccessful), and opposition to initiatives 695 and 745. Steffen brought a certain goofiness to his position, throwing wild fundraising parties such as this summer's Frivolity Ball, and awarding the Alien Abductee Award to Margaret Pageler for her baffling 180-degree turn on arts support. Phil Wohlstetter, Allied Arts' former advocacy chair, will take Steffen's place; the former president is signing on with the Fuse Foundation, a new organization that awards huge "life-changing" grants to artists. EMILY HALL

At the Eleventh Hour

Eleventh Hour Productions, ringmasters of the Seattle Poetry Festival, have announced the hiring of Danika Dinsmore as their new executive director. Dinsmore is a graduate of

the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and co-founder of Auburn's Northwest Spoken Word Lab, and her appointment promises to maintain Eleventh Hour's streetwise slam credibility. Former Executive Director Bob Redmond steps down to become Eleventh Hour's president of the board of directors. (Geez, with such literary awareness abounding, don't you think the organization could come up with some more Pynchonesque corporate titles?) TRACI VOGEL