PHOTO: Stan Douglas-2011≠1848

Stan Douglas, Tunis, 23 January 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong KongSince the late 1980s, Stan Douglas has created films and photographs—and more recently theater productions and other multidisciplinary projects—that investigate the parameters of their medium. His ongoing inquiry into technology’s role in image making, and how those mediations infiltrate and shape collective memory, has resulted in works that are at once specific in their historical and cultural references and broadly accessible.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Remai Modern Archive

Stan Douglas’ in his solo exhibition “2011 ≠ 1848” presents a series of works inspired by historical events of social and political turbulence. Douglas connects points of social rupture, rendering in minute detail and with technical ingenuity historic moments of protest, riot, and occupation from 2011 that echoed upheavals that swept Europe in 1848. At first glance, the Tottenham riots of the U.K., Occupy Wall Street in New York, Arab Spring, and the Vancouver Riots following the Stanley Cup finals don’t seem all that connected outside of their dates, all taking place in 2011. And they seem even less related to the year 1848: how can a year so far away have anything to do with police brutality, economic inequality and corruption in the United States and Tunisia, and the Stanley cup? Stan Douglas answers this question in his series “2011 ≠ 1848”, in which he both equates the two years and denies their compatibility. At the center of the relationship between these two otherwise unconnected years is protest—people questioning the world around them and taking action. In 1848, a revolution began in France, which would spread throughout Europe; it came to be known as the Springtime of Nations and resulted in the formation of nation-states. Aided by print technology, only three European countries were left untouched. Douglas is interested in exposing this similarity to the protests of 2011, which were supported by social media, but also notes that the revolutions of 1848 led to change, while the social inequalities fought against in 2011 still live on today.  Douglas created the images by combining meticulous and elaborate re-enactments of the events, high-resolution plate shots of each city site, together with aerial documentary footage. These photos weren’t taken in 2011–they’re recreations, what Douglas called “hybrid documentaries”. Douglas explained this approach stating, “It’s the idea of poetic condensation, of having as much information in one place to allow the viewer to see it and parse it as they need to. It has a sense of unreality. But I’m not trying to fool anybody. I’m saying this construction is less a snapshot of the moment, but more a schematic or diagram of a riot”. The exhibition also features a two-channel video installation “ISDN”, an immersive installation that depicts a fictionalized collaboration between rappers from London’s Grime and Cairo’s Mahraganat music scenes. Titled “ISDN”, after a now-outdated mode of transmitting high-quality audio over telephone lines, the video imagines rappers from the two cities exchanging beats and lyrics in improvised studios, working across space and time to create music collaboratively.

Photo: Stan Douglas, Tunis, 23 January 2011, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong

Info: Curator: Reid Shier, Remai Modern, 102 Spadina Crescent E, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, Duration: 3/2-4/6/2023, Days & Hours: Wed & Sat-Sun 10:00-17:00, Thu-Fri 10:00-21:00, https://remaimodern.org/

Stan Douglas, Vancouver, 15 June 2011, 2021, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, Vancouver, 15 June 2011, 2021, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong

 

 

Stan Douglas, New York City, 10 October 2011, 2021, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, New York City, 10 October 2011, 2021, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong

 

 

Stan Douglas, London, 9 August 2011 (Pembury Estate), 2017, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong
Stan Douglas, London, 9 August 2011 (Pembury Estate), 2017, from the series 2011 ≠ 1848, 2021, chromogenic print on Dibond, 150 x 300 cm, © Stan Douglas, Courtesy of 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 of 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 of 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 of the artist, Victoria Miro, London and Venice, and David Zwirner, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong