Remai Modern to feature recent acquisition by Dana Claxton
For immediate release — November 22, 2019
SASKATOON, CANADA — Remai Modern is delighted to showcase a four-channel video installation by acclaimed multimedia artist Dana Claxton, a recent acquisition to the museum’s collection.
Rattle, 2003, combines moving image with audio of Peyote songs performed using synthesizers. In the work, Claxton creates a spiritual space within the gallery, inviting viewers to become immersed in the aural and visual elements of the piece.
“For more than 30 years, Dana Claxton has made art that addresses the impacts of colonialism and makes space for Indigenous voices,” said Sandra Fraser, Curator (Collections) and curator of this exhibition. “Rattle offers a profoundly beautiful experience. It is an honour to bring Claxton’s work into the permanent collection and to share it with our audiences.”
The echoing of images in the film reflects the Lakota belief that earth and sky are a continuum where the above world and the below world mirror each other. According to the artist, the work is a visual prayer and a symbolic tale. It conveys the dynamic nature of art on the Plains and the art found in the rhythmic sounds and steps of traditional ceremony.
Claxton’s long-time collaborator Russell Wallace composed the electronic music for the piece, while the Peyote songs were sung by Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike.
Rattle is on view in Remai Modern’s free Connect Gallery from November 22, 2019-January 7, 2020.
On Tuesday, January 7 at 7 PM, we invite visitors to the latest iteration of our Fireside Chat series, a free panel conversation in Remai Modern’s atrium, to mark the closing of Rattle.
About Dana Claxton
Dana Claxton (born 1959) works in film, video, photography, single and multi-channel video installation and performance art. Her practice investigates beauty, the body, the socio-political and the spiritual. Claxton is known for her exploration of Lakota perspectives in relation to contemporary life.
Claxton is originally from Yorkton. Her family reserve is Wood Mountain Lakota First Nation. She is now based in Vancouver, where she is a professor at the University of British Columbia.
Claxton’s work has been shown internationally at the Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Centre, Sundance Film Festival, Eiteljorg Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and held in public collections including the Vancouver Art Gallery, National Gallery of Canada, Art Bank of Canada, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. She has received numerous awards including the VIVA Award and the Eiteljorg Fellowship, and most recently was honoured with the Hnatyshyn Foundation’s prize for outstanding achievement by a Canadian mid-career artist.
Her work was selected for a Vancouver Art Gallery career survey (2018), the 17th Biennale of Sydney (2010), Biennale de Montréal (2007), Biennale d’art contemporain du Havre, France (2006), Micro Wave, Hong Kong (2005) Art Star Biennale, Ottawa (2005), and Wro 03 Media Arts Biennale Wroclaw Poland (2003). She has created commissioned works for the University of Lethbridge Gallery, Alternator Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Urban Shaman, Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery, and Tribe.
About Remai Modern
Remai Modern is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Traditional Homeland of the Métis. We pay our respects to First Nations and Métis ancestors and reaffirm our relationship with one another.
Remai Modern is a new museum of modern and contemporary art in Saskatoon. The museum is committed to affirming the powerful role that art and artists play in questioning, interpreting and defining the modern era.
Open since October 2017, Remai Modern is the largest contemporary art museum in western Canada and houses a collection of more than 8,000 works, including the world’s foremost collection of Picasso linocut prints.
Remai Modern would like to acknowledge the contributions of TD to the Connect Gallery.
For additional information contact:
Stephanie McKay, Communications Manager
306.975.2242
smckay@remaimodern.org