Catastrophe

Statement Taken form Exhibition Catalogue 1998: 

In August of 1995, Lethbridge artist David Hoffos produced the installation, You Will Remember When You Need to Know, for the artist run gallery, Stride, in Calgary. 

A magic confabulation of Calder's Circus and Spielberg's E.T., Hoffos' unique creation came out of left field with a brilliant play that captivated and captured a whole new audience. It had to be one of the best shows in many seasons. 

If the Illingworth Kerr Gallery and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery have a niche, it is in brokering the 'space' between small rooms and larger museums: home movies and major distribution. For us, the time seemed right to offer David the opportunities of larger public spaces with a more generous technical and financial palette, the opportunity to create new work with all the duct tape he could possibly dream of. Catastrophe and Another City, disaster and desire, are the new projects of wonder that are the result of our invitation. 

This catalogue is intended to document and celebrate this occasion, and more generally, to substantiate his career from 1991 through 1999. Nancy Tousley's thorough and insightful writing makes this possible and more; we are fortunate and Grateful. 

Thanks are due the many people who have worked on these projects, and as curators, we have been priviledged to notice and work with a rising star. 

Ron Moppett 

Director, Illingworth Kerr Gallery 

Alberta College of Art and Design