And/Or Gallery

The and/or alternative space (the name was always used without capitalization and did not refer to itself as a gallery) was an artist's run exhibition, project, and performance space founded by Anne Focke in Seattle, Washington, United States. It had a gallery at 1523 tenth avenue on Capital Hill, an art library stocked with current art magazines, a video editing and viewing facility, and an electronic music facility.[1] It was the first alternative art exhibition and performance space in the Pacific Northwest. Organized in 1974 to provide an alternative space for performances, exhibitions, and other experimental art forms that could not be seen otherwise. Its founding group, besides Anne Focke, included Norie Sato, David Mahler (founder of its New Music program), Burt Garner, and Annie Grosshans. In 1981, it evolved into an umbrella organization with four parts: the NX Library, a center for contemporary arts materials with a focus on periodicals; Soundwork, a composer-oriented new music organization; the Philo T. Farnsworth Memorial Video Editing Facility for artists and independent producers; and Spar, an arts magazine which collapsed soon afterward.[2][3][4][5]

In October 1984 its Board of Directors discontinued and/or, spinning off its components into independent organizations: Artech, an art handling company; Artist Trust, a funding organization for artists; Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) an exhibition venue; and the 911 Media Arts Center supporting new-media production and education. At its height in the late 1970s and/or was one of the major arts organizations in the Pacific Northwest with strong local and NEA funding and an national reputation for hosting top international artists, including Nam June Paik, George Maciunas, Meridith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Gary Hill, Martha Rosler, and Stuart Dempster, seeding a generation of contemporary artists in late-twentieth-century Seattle.[1]