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The view from the window is of towering gasometers, and at even closer quarters, the canal. Really, I should say ‘windows’ as there is a whole wall of them.
In front of this window I am placing a work composed of an old hospital trolley, cut in half and reassembled into two display cases by adding stainless steel frame and legs to take the weight where the object has been left bereft of support by being chopped in half. The top will be contained by a glass case, which sits on the steel frame, and prevents the headrest from being extended to the full upright position. This piece is called MAGICIAN. It crosses ideas of surgery, display (of the body perhaps), and the illusion of chopping the woman in half (i.e. magic shows). The way it is made from a Victorian object by literally chopping it in half and crossing it with a contemporary object also implies something about our relationship to history - specifically the Victorian era. This object, as already noted, is sited in front of disused gasometers and a canal which would have originally seen much heavier, specifically industrial use. Now that history is used to see the area. The sell of the area being its prime use. Anyway, my object sits there, originally a functional object, now unusable except as an object to be looked at (display case/art object).
The idea of occupying this object (though originally it was meant to be and retains that reading) is out of the question, you’d literally have to be chopped in half to do so - whilst we re-use the past we also don't really have access to it.
Equally with the 15ft. long Victorian chaise-longue, though at first sight it appears to be maybe more approachable, you’d have to have your legs extended to occupy it fully. Also it is on the wall, floating against the watermarked taffeta wall panel (the chaise is upholstered in the same stuff) you’d have to balance precariously and become part of the picture/tableau/panel, though it appears much more possible than in the case of MAGICIAN it is still equally untenable. This piece is called LEVITATION. It plays on the notion of the Spiritualist Medium, usually associated with women and the Victorian era though it existed in different forms before, and continues to after.
The fishing hats/necklace displays are very much in the present. The neck reference works in relation to the chaise - the black band round the neck is linked directly to the Odalisk. The row of hats become trophies (both male and female). The fishing reference is apt in terms of the river like chaise-longue and continues the shifting between male and female trophies. Of course the hat is worn, the neck is part of the anatomy, and again, of course, these are representations - illusions. Once you get into that realm anything is possible i.e. the realm of illusion. Masquerade and mimesis as a subversive act.
Both LEVITATION and MAGICIAN excludes you from places that were meant for Human occupation, but in different ways. They’re worlds you can look at but can’t touch, so’s to speak.

Kate Smith

Biography
Selected Solo Exhibitions 2006 Currently Under Development MOCA, London 1997 Imagine there are no limits, Matt's Gallery, London 1993 Matt's Gallery, London 1990 Shadow-Box, Matt's Gallery, London 1987 Smoke Trail/Smoke Screen, Matt's Gallery, London Selected Solo Exhibitions 2006-2003 Member of Programme Group, Waygood Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne 2003 Wheeling, Cell, London; Family Business, pitzhanger, Manor Gallery, London; Videowineart & Dorgicsewineart, Pantlika Wine House, Budapest, Hungary; Dorgicsebormuveszet, Muscarnok, Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary; Chockerfuckingblocked, Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London; Critical Home Video, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Museum, new Plymouth, New Zealand 2002 Critical Home Video, Artspace, Ontario, Canada; Waygood Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne; 2001 Tenable, Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance. Selected from Arts Council Collection; Insider Trading, Mandeville Hotel, London 2000 Living with the Dutch; include me out***, Space, London; 1999 Mutant, Gallery 11, Gradford; 54/54/54, Financial Times Building, London; Still Life, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield; Physical Evidence, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge toured to Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham Arts Centre; 1998 Backspace, Matt's Gallery, London; Post Neo-Amateurism, Chisenhale Gallery, London; Llathyard, Ffotogallery, Cardiff, work in gallery, posters on bus shelters 1997 Lost Art, CCA, Glasgow 1996 Discreet Charm, Visionfest 1995 Exotic Excursions, inIVA, London 1994 Diverse Memories, Pitt Rivers MusEuropa '94, four sites across Munich 1993 Hotel des Voyageurs, Hotel d'Angleterre, Lamballe, France and Les Voyageurs, Galerie de Chai, Saint-Brieuc, France; A Discourse On The Emotions, Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin 1992 The Phonebox, telephone boxes in Soho, London and Liverpool; Summer Lightening, Wise Taylor Partnership; Brit Art, Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland 1991 City Racing, London; Louder Than Words, Cornerhouse, Manchester 1990 Drawings by Four Artists, Mario Flecha Gallery, London; 1988 The Invisible Man, Goldsmith Gallery, London

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