Thinking About Our Collective Future with Stan Douglas

What do the years 1848 and 2011 have in common? How are they dissimilar, and why bring these years into relation in the first place? 

By Miret Rodriguez

With the work of Vancouver-born artist Stan Douglas, audiences explore questions of how our social, political and economic identity are solidified, and how our media-obsessed culture plays an influential role in this process.

Stan Douglas (b.1960, Vancouver) is one of Canada’s most admired and internationally renowned contemporary artists. Film, photography, theatre productions, video installations and other multidisciplinary projects are amongst the mediums he continues to study and reimagine. He’s particularly interested in the role that media plays in our daily life and how the dissemination of information can shape our society and our memory.  

These interests are palpable in his most recent exhibition 2011 ≠ 1848, a show that is representing Canada during the 59th Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition curated by Reid Shier is simultaneously making its Canadian premiere at Polygon Gallery this fall. 

Through four large-scale historically inspired, staged and manipulated photographs, Douglas reflects upon the public space occupations, protests and riots across the globe throughout 2011.

For the people that remember, each visual recreation will bring back a visceral sense of unrest: a group of people gathered at dawn on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis on January 12 (considered a defining moment for the start of the Arab Spring), the aftermath of the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver on June 15, an omniscient view of clashes between youth and police in the London borough of Hackney on August 9, and the kettling of Occupy Wall Street protesters on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge on October 1.

Before reaching these images in the gallery, however, visitors pass through a two-channel HD video installation titled ISDN, which presents grime rappers Lady Sanity and True Mendous exchanging lyrics with mahraganat lyricists Joker and Raptor between studios in London and Cairo. Grime, an eclectic music genre born in the inner city of London in the 2000s, was quickly seen by outsiders (such as the London Police) as music that incited riots. As a result, records were banned from clubs and grime parties were shut down. Regardless of this repression, the genre and subculture grew, earning international recognition. Similarly (but also not- an important distinction that Douglas makes), the bombastic Egyptian street music, known as mahraganat, gained recognition following the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

 Although some mahrahnat artists write songs about revolution, others point to and speak of ways to overcome societal problems. Douglas’ careful choice of these musical genres weaves into his notions of cultural, racial discrimination and underrepresentation, factors that, according to Douglas, feed global discontent, frustration and anger. 

Together, these works explore the global events of 2011 as unconscious reactions to the economic and political status quo which followed the recession of 2008, and examine how social media-fueled movements for change are similar (again, but also not similar) to the revolutions of 1848. Douglas not only brings the years 2011 and 1848 in relation through the exhibition’s title but also as a fundamental reflection of what the outcome of the European 1848 revolutions was; a removal of monarchical structures and the creation of independent nation-states. Douglas pays particular attention to the effect of the mass print media in Europe in the mid-19th century, which helped spread and develop a language of freedom from structural oppression and fed the 1848 continental uprisings. 

Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 is an important exhibition to visit for us to step into the artist’s mind and reflect on how history is written, perceived and disseminated. The works will probably make us think of the great ‘what if.’ What if we had collectively veered history in a different direction? Where do we go from here? It’s one of the predominant themes in Douglas’ work, and this exhibition proves that his socio-political commentary is as sharp as ever. 

Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 is on view until Nov 6, 2022
For more information, or to plan your trip to The Polygon Gallery, visit thepolygon.ca

Take the Seabus to Lonsdale Quay and walk 5 mins East along the water.