Stan Douglas, London, 9 August 2011 (Pembury Estate), from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2017. Chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. © Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Hegel remarks somewhere that all facts and personages of great importance in world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.
Karl Marx: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
Installation view of Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 at the Canada Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 23 April – 27 November 2022. Photo: Jack Hems. Courtesy of the artist, the National Gallery of Canada, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner
The Exhibition
Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 draws a comparison between the events of 2011 and those of 1848, a year in which continent-wide upheaval found European middle and working classes allied in a fight against a lack of democratic freedoms, restrictions on the press, and the continued dominance of an aristocratic elite.
Across Europe and North America, the events of 2011 were simply policed and ignored, while in North Africa and the Middle East, they were suppressed or subverted, with a few notable exceptions.
Stan Douglas explores the events of 2011 as unconscious reactions to the economic and political status quo which followed the recession of 2008, and examines the ways in which social media fuelled movements for change.
The Artworks
ISDN (2022) is a major new two-channel video installation by Stan Douglas, which will be presented in the Magazzini del Sale No. 5.
Four large-scale photographs from the series 2011 ≠ 1848 (2021) will be shown in the Canada Pavilion in the Giardini.
The Catalogue
The stunning 288-page illustrated catalogue, published in English, French and Arabic, features some 100 full-colour detailed images that meticulously capture behind-the-scenes views of Douglas’ elaborate productions. Essays by leading international cultural thinkers examine the artist’s work in relation to music, political economy, contemporary media theory and the rise of Grime and Mahraganat.
Available for purchase in the Gallery Boutique and online at boutique.gallery.ca.
Revolt in 1848 was continental, as news spread by print media, but revolt in 2011 was global, with news spread virally by way of electronic media.
Artworks
Stan Douglas, Tunis, 23 January 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, Tunis, 23 January 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, New York City, 1 October 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, New York City, 1 October 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, Vancouver, 15 June 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021 chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, Vancouver, 15 June 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021 chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 × 300 cm. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. Cairo: Joker. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. Cairo: Joker. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. Cairo: Raptor. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. Cairo: Raptor. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. London: Lady Sanity. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. London: Lady Sanity. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. London: TrueMendous. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, ISDN, 2022, still from two-channel video installation. London: TrueMendous. ©Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
The Artist
© Evaan Kheraj
Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner
Stan Douglas [b. 1960, Vancouver] is a visual artist who lives and works in Vancouver and Los Angeles. His films and photographs have been included in exhibitions internationally since the early 1980s, including at documenta IX, X and XI [1992, 1997, 2002] and in four previous Biennale Artes [1990, 2001, 2005 and 2019].
A survey of his work, Stan Douglas: Mise en scène, toured Europe from 2013 until the end of 2015. From 2014 until 2017, his multimedia theatre production Helen Lawrence was presented in Vancouver, Toronto, Munich, Antwerp, Edinburgh, Brooklyn and Los Angeles.
Douglas received the International Centre of Photography’s Infinity Award in 2012, the Scotiabank Photography Award in 2013, the Hasselblad Award in 2016, the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2019 and the Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture in 2021.
Between 2004 and 2006 he was a professor at Universität der Künste Berlin and is currently Chair of the Graduate Art Program of ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California.
The Curator
Stan Douglas has developed a project that investigates and reimagines events of 2011. The resulting works are emblematic of the artist’s acuity in bearing witness to conditions that are rapidly unfolding, and to the critical and creative imagination with which his art describes histories pixelated through lenses that remain in constant flux.
Reid Shier, Director of the Polygon Gallery and Curator for the Canada Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2022
Reid Shier is the Director of The Polygon Gallery, formally Presentation House Gallery, in North Vancouver. Since joining The Polygon in 2006, he spearheaded the development of a new $17.5M waterfront facility, which opened in 2017.
Prior to this, he was Chief Curator of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto (2004–06), Curator of the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, (2002–04), and Director/Curator of the artist run Or Gallery, Vancouver (1996–2001).
Shier has curated more than 80 exhibitions and his critical writing has been published broadly, including a recent essay on Stan Douglas’ public artwork Abbott and Cordova, 7 August 1971.
Other Artworks by Stan Douglas
Installation view of Doppelgänger, 2019, in Venice. © Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro.
Installation view of Doppelgänger, 2019, in Venice. © Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro.
Still from The Secret Agent, 2015. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Still from The Secret Agent, 2015. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Still from Luanda-Kinshasa, 2013. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Still from Luanda-Kinshasa, 2013. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Still from Doppelgänger, 2019. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Still from Doppelgänger, 2019. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Stranded, from the Blackout series, 2017. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Stranded, from the Blackout series, 2017. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
JNNJ, from the DCT series, 2017. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
JNNJ, from the DCT series, 2017. ©Stan Douglas, courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro
Stan Douglas is one of this country’s most internationally respected artists and we are thrilled to be supporting the development of a new work for the Venice Biennale. Douglas' astounding new commissions for the Canada Pavilion and the centuries-old Magazzini del Sale No. 5 investigate languages of protest, revolt, and revolution, and continue the artist’s meticulous investigations into the technological mediation of pivotal moments in time. A leading voice in contemporary art in Canada and internationally, Douglas’ works for Venice challenge us, as a global community and as individuals, to reflect upon past and present always with a view to how we want to live tomorrow.
Sasha Suda, PhD, Director and CEO, National Gallery of Canada
Selection
Process
Stan Douglas was selected by a national committee of experts in contemporary Canadian art comprised of:
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John Zeppetelli, Director and Chief Curator, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
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Reid Shier, Director, The Polygon Gallery
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Kitty Scott, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, National Gallery of Canada
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Sasha Suda, PhD, Director and CEO, National Gallery of Canada
Two Venues
in Venice
The exhibition unfolds across two venues in Venice, a first for Canada’s presentation at La Biennale di Venezia.
Canada Pavilion in the Giardini
Four large-scale photographs from the series 2011 ≠ 1848 (2021) explore the events of 2011 as unconscious reactions to the economic and political status quo which followed the recession of 2008 and examine the ways in which social media fuelled movements for change.
The photographs re-stage protests and riots from 2011 across four geographic locations: Tunis on 12 January 2011 at the beginning of the Arab Spring; Vancouver on 15 June 2011 in the aftermath of the Stanley Cup riot; London on 9 August 2011 during the clashes between youth and police; and New York on 1 October 2011 when police were kettling Occupy Wall Street protesters.
To create these meticulous reconstructions, Douglas combined high-resolution photographic and CG plate shots of the site of each event with elaborate staged re-enactments, and, in one case, documentary aerial footage.
Magazzini del Sale No. 5
ISDN (2022) is a new two-channel video installation that explores music as a form of cultural resistance.
Taking its title from an obsolete method of transmitting digital audio over telephone lines, ISDN centres around two musical genres that emerged at the same time: Grime in London, and Mahraganat in Cairo. Though Grime has its roots in Dubstep and Mahraganat in Sha‘abi, the two often share a similar timbre because their producers sometimes use the same free or pirated software and samples gleaned from the internet.
ISDN presents a fictionalized account of Grime and Mahraganat rappers exchanging beats and lyrics using scavenged equipment in improvised recording studios. Sensorially immersive, the rhythms in ISDN move through a game of call and response that thwarts the parameters between what is seen and what is heard in astonishing and unprecedented ways.
Biennale Arte 2022
La Biennale di Venezia is the largest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition in the world with more than 80 countries participating.
For more than 60 years, the Canada Pavilion, situated in the Giardini, has featured the work of the most accomplished Canadian artists, curated by the country’s most renowned curators.
Titled The Milk of Dreams and curated by Cecilia Alemani, the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia takes place from April 23 to November 27, 2022.
Its main exhibition features work by over 200 invited artists, of which six are from Canada: Elaine Cameron-Weir, Jes Fan, Allison Katz, Kapwani Kiwanga, Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill and Tau Lewis.
Visiting Venice
To visit the exhibition in Venice at Biennale Arte 2022:
Canada Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, Sestiere Castello, 30122 Venezia
Vaporetto: Giardini
Magazzini del Sale No. 5, Dorsoduro 262, 30123 Venezia
Vaporetto: Zattere
Opening hours:
23 April - 25 September 2022 | Tues-Sun, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
27 September - 27 November 2022 | Tues-Sun, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
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The Gallery acknowledges the collaboration and support of David Zwirner, New York/London/Paris/Hong Kong, and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. Special recognition is extended to Jackie Flanagan, the Michael & Sonja Koerner Family, the Donald R. Sobey Family, and the Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation for their exceptional contributions to the Canadian Artists in Venice Endowment, and to Reesa Greenberg, whose generous financial support funded the restoration of the Canada Pavilion.
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