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At this time, SETAREH is thrilled to announce SPOTLIGHT, an occasion series of projects which shine a light on important and innovative practices.
For our first iteration, we will feature Kate Craig : Flying Leopard. The exhibition will present early works by Canadian video pioneer Kate Craig (1947-2002), whose documented performances grew out of the vibrant FLUXUS infused experimentation which was happening in 1970s Vancouver. A founding member of the internationally renowned Western Front, an artist driven, multidisciplinary outpost of conceptual art, Craig’s practice merged art into all aspects of her life. This project will focus on the first years of her production.
In 1969, Craig met artist Eric Metcalfe who had been performing as the parodic „Dr. Brute“, and became „Lady Brute“. Their seven-year collaboration imagined the fictional world of Brutopia, to play on the capitalist foibles of western society. „ Active participants in the Mail Art scene, and the New York Correspondence School of Ray Johnson, they transmitted their cacophony of leopard material across the world to examine the aesthetics of autocratic social formations. Initially Craig’s performances were informal, happening in the real world rather than on stage, where attending an opening or a dinner in leopard regalia was considered the work. In 1974 she performed Flying Leopard, sailing through the open air on an extended cable clad in a winged leopard guise. Captured on 16mm and 8mm film, the exhibition will include a recently compiled digital video by Craig’s long-time collaborator Hank Bull. The exhibition will also include her first two video works, Skins: Lady Brute Presents her Leopard Skin Wardrobe, 1975, and Still Life: A Moving Portrait, 1976, which also capture the artists engagement with this fictional persona.
Over the decades Kate Craig achieved an international reputation and her videos have been widely exhibited including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada and the Biennale de Paris of 1980. In 1998, Craig received a retrospective exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Dedicated to furthering video as a medium for artistic production, Craig established and curated the Artist-in-Residence program at the Western Front in 1977 and produced works with an impressive list of international creators including Kathy Acker, Stan Douglas, Mona Hatoum, and Robert Filliou. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in Europe