Stan Douglas Mise en scène
Edited by León Krempel
Stan Douglas Mise en scène With essays by David Campany Diedrich Diederichsen Seamus Kealy León Krempel Chantal Pontbriand Catherine Soussloff Foreword by Okwui Enwezor
PRESTEL Munich · London · New York
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Contents
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16
160
Foreword
Crowds and Riots
To Begin with the Scrim
Seamus Kealy
Catherine Soussloff
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36
166
Introduction
Interiors
León Krempel
Seamus Kealy
Helen Lawrence
Okwui Enwezor, Sarah Glennie, Jean-Marc Prévost
Complete Script 10
54
The Angel of History in the Age of the Internet
Midcentury Studio Seamus Kealy
History Resubjectivized (Doubly)
David Campany
120
Chantal Pontbriand
188
Disco Angola Seamus Kealy
192
Circa 1948 146
The Eye of the Trumpet
198
Hogan’s Alley
Diedrich Diederichsen 202 150
LuandaKinshasa
Works and Credits 208
Imprint
Foreword Stan Douglas has long been one of the most original conceptual
relationship to the medium. Rather than covering the entire scope
thinkers on all matters pertaining to the relationship between
of his career, the exhibition focuses on large-scale works (often
cinematic forms and their various technological structures. To
conceived in “tableau format”) produced between 2008 and 2014.
many people, Douglas is most familiar through his visually absorb-
The exhibition features different series of photographic
ing and sophisticated films and videos. His constant archaeology
works that are conceptually linked. The occasion of the exhibition
of the technical and conceptual feasibility within reproductive
in Haus der Kunst will see the introduction of two new works:
technologies, his innovative use of editing techniques, and his
The first is a new video, Luanda-Kinshasa (2014), that is con-
computer software codes have generated some of the most
nected to the overall thematic framework of the photographs.
critically praised artistic works in contemporary art. In a stellar
The second, Helen Lawrence (2014), is Douglas’s very first theater
career marked by major transformations in the technical and visual
work, a live cinematic piece of theater. It will mark its European
supports of film and video, Douglas has been a relentless pioneer,
debut at Munich’s Kammerspiele theater. In addition, Douglas has
helping us reimagine the historical specificities of time-based,
recently broken new ground with the app Circa 1948.
projected works without falling into the solipsism of excessive
Nevertheless, photography will occupy the most prominent
technophilia. At the same time, as an artist of wide-ranging
space within the exhibition. The images are chiefly concerned with
artistic vision and rigorous aesthetic standards, his works enable
narrating transitions in global histories, linking prewar reflections
museum audiences to not only immerse themselves in complex
on social imaginaries to the postwar industry of documentary
visual events but also to grapple with complex questions of
photography. Political themes bleed into cultural histories, such
mediums and form, temporality and duration, cinematic time
as the investigation of postcolonial liberation struggles and the re-
and haptic space, sonic and aural structures.
enactment of countercultural disputes between urban subcultures
While Douglas’s oeuvre in film and video has been justly
and policing. This convergence of historical periods and social-
celebrated, his work in photography, though little known, is no
political-cultural events from the first half to the last quarter of
less accomplished. It is the intention of this exhibition to reframe
the twentieth century is reflective of how Douglas constantly
the understanding of his practice by placing photography at the
attempts, in all his works, to complicate and undermine expecta-
center of the analysis of his more than thirty-year career. From
tions of documentary accuracy. In these images photography
the very inception of his career as an artist, photography has
mediates the reading of history, but it also generates reflections
played a fundamental role in his practice. Over this period he has
on how historical narratives are produced, and how the documen-
produced photography as an entirely independent artistic pursuit,
tation of events shapes cultural memory. In the coruscating
and he has also employed still photographic images to create
tracing of time, image, and history, Douglas’s interjection of fic-
works based on slide tapes and projections. Stan Douglas –
tion or invented models of representation draws the viewer deeper
Mise en scène is the first significant exhibition to be devoted to his
into the language of cinematic postproduction.
Foreword by Okwui Enwezor, Sarah Glennie, Jean-Marc Prévost
For all these reasons and more, it has been a singular privilege
further contributions by the Embassy of Canada in Berlin and
to work with Stan Douglas to shape this exhibition. We are
Henning and Brigitte Freybe. We are grateful for all their generos-
immensely grateful to him and to members of his studio, espe-
ity and contributions. The exhibition in Nîmes was supported by
cially Linda Chinfen and Brodie Smith, for making the exhibition
the Centre Culturel Canadien in Paris.
possible. In putting together this survey of Douglas’s photo-
Many colleagues at all three museums have contributed to the
graphic work, the curators of the exhibition—León Krempel at
success of this ambitious endeavor and have been instrumental
Haus der Kunst, Séamus Kealy at the Irish Museum of Modern
to its realization. While we cannot name all of them, we would like
Art, Dublin, and Jean-Marc Prévost, director of the Carré d'Art,
to specifically mention Beatrice Paquereau and Delphine Verrières-
Nîmes—have provided a careful and considerate examination of
Gaultier at Carré d’Art; Tina Köhler, Anton Köttl, and Ulrich Wilmes
the artist’s exemplary career. Lending further insight to the un-
at Haus der Kunst; and Rachael Thomas and Sean Kissane at
derstanding of the work are the contributing essayists: David
IMMA.
Campany, Diedrich Diederichsen, Catherine Soussloff, Chantal Pontbriand, Séamus Kealy, and León Krempel. We are thankful to them for their incisive texts. We also wish to acknowledge the excellent collaboration we have enjoyed with Katharina Haderer and Sandra Leitte at Prestel Verlag. The director of the Münchner Kammerspiele, Johan Simons, as well as members of his team, Alexandra Twarog and Ana Zirner, and the Kammerspiele’s dramatic adviser, Jeroen Versteele, have all been important partners and collaborators in the production and staging of Helen Lawrence, Douglas’s first foray into the world of theater. Several supporters and institutional partners have been instrumental in making the exhibition possible. We would like to thank David Zwirner, Angela Choon, Anna Drozda, and Justine Durrett from the David Zwirner Gallery, New York and London, and Victoria Miro and Erin Manns from the Victoria Miro Gallery, London, for their support. The realization of the exhibition in Munich was generously supported by the David Zwirner Gallery, with additional support by the Victoria Miro Gallery. Lead support for the exhibition in Munich was provided by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung, with
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Introduction In the years after his retrospective in Stuttgart (2007),¹ Stan
routes leading across the Pacific to Asia. Disco Angola and
Douglas initially executed a series of photographic projects influ-
Luanda-Kinshasa focus on the 1970s. For the first time, these
enced by his experiences as a filmmaker. Crowds and Riots (2008)
works take transatlantic triangles with the vertices of Angola,
merges the use of extras in film-like sets with the possibilities of
Congo, Portugal, and New York City as their primary interest.
computer montage. The interrelated black-and-white series
Not only in the case of Vancouver, Douglas’s works describe
Midcentury Studio (2010–11) and Malabar People (2011) imitated
the appearance—characteristic to a specific place and time—of
the visual language and motifs of reportage and comissioned pho-
people who either remain fixed in their situation or find themselves
tography of the postwar period. Disco Angola (2012), on the other
in a state of change. Special attention is often given to a wide
hand, can be construed as a kind of fictitious travel report. Less
variety of objects that stand for individuals’ or groups’ strivings
well known are Douglas’s uninhabited Interiors (2009–10), which
for social recognition and expanded power: fashionable Shoes,
deal with the subject of documentary images.
1947 (2010), for example. Dropped flowers lie upon the asphalt of
In addition to these series there is now the pseudo-documen-
Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971 (2008). They bear witness to the
tary video Luanda-Kinshasa (2013), which, after the cinematic
peaceful sit-in with which the day began. None of the images ad-
double projection Hors-champs (1992), once again stages a retro-
dress the dissemination of culturally specific forms of expression
spective performance by jazz musicians. Douglas breaks new
as explicitly as Disco Angola, which deals with the possibly West
ground with the play Helen Lawrence (2014)—surprising to cin-
African roots of disco music, with kung fu and Capoeira, but also
ema aficionados and theater people alike—and the mobile app
with such small distinguishing features as buttons and paisleys. In
Circa 1948 (2014). His register seems more multifaceted than
this context, the Angolans’ struggle for freedom and the Exodus of
ever: photography and film, theater and music; and in the two
the Portuguese almost recede into the background.
works mentioned last, the spoken word and digital technology. Douglas had already taken his native city and preferred place
Three of the four images in Crowds and Riots refer to local protest rallies, which were in turn manifestations of global emancipa-
of work, Vancouver, as a subject in earlier works such as
tion movements. Each of them depicts only a subsidiary location,
Strathcona (1998), Win, Place, or Show (1998), and Every Building
but does so elaborately and with many precisely observable
on 100 West Hastings (2001), and in so doing also raised ques-
details. They recount nothing of the circumstances of the gather-
tions of urban planning and sociology. In Crowds and Riots, Helen
ings; even the titles, which designate the location and date,
Lawrence, and Circa 1948, and less obviously also in Interiors,
remain silent in this regard. One of the tableaux, Hastings Park,
Midcentury Studio, and Malabar People, parts of the city are
16 July 1955 (2008), the third in chronological order, lacks any
explored from a historical perspective. What makes these so in-
historical content in the usual sense. It shows spectators at a
teresting is their being located at what was formerly the very
horse race in Hastings Park. A woman with brown gloves appears
edge of the British Empire, as well as along trade and migration
worried, others enjoy the sunny day in a convivial atmosphere.
Introduction by León Krempel
With the exception of the Klatsassin Portraits (2006), Crowds
function like interchangeable parts in the gears of a machine.
and Riots are the first examples of staged photography by
In the almost silent Vidéo (2007), a linear plot, such as the one in
Douglas. Straightaway he risks taking on a subject that is both
Kafka’s The Trial, seems to end with the female protagonist’s
difficult and rare, if it was ever recognized as a subject at all.
death, determined in advance by some mysterious and nameless
Depictions of a crowd of people as agents of collective action are
power. Standing before Crowds and Riots and Interiors, in con-
familiar from the history painting of the nineteenth century.
trast, the viewer is more likely to have the impression that these
Douglas probably looked more to historical reportage photogra-
are about individual people and their purposeful actions. Taken
phy, which no longer laid claim to being art. Compared with such
up as subject matter, intentions are thus yet again something
representations of autonomous or heteronomous crowds, his
that can be linked to the concept of history.⁴
series signifies a tremendous advance coupled with a renuncia-
And the viewer? Before 2008 there was only one decidedly
tion, namely a departure from the dubious representation of and
interactive work by Douglas: in Le Détroit (1999), visitors to the
contestable testimony to a seemingly accentuated critical cir-
installation cast their shadows onto the double-sided projection
cumstance and a return to the moments in which everything was
screen upon which positive and negative are projected, slightly
still open, in which history had just been made somewhere or
staggered in time, making their bodies into spotlights. In Helen
grasped as being in the making.
Lawrence it is the actors themselves who hold the camera. The
An inquiry comprising textual, visual, and factual evidence
viewer is placed in the position of viewing the piece simultane-
underlies many works by Douglas. As early as 1992, he recon-
ously from various perspectives. Circa 1948 transforms the user
structed the inexplicable loss of a Japanese immigrant worker from
into a flying “reporter.” Along the lines of Douglas’s alias, the app
police files for Pursuit, Fear, Catastrophe: Ruskin, B.C. Historians
encourages users to acquaint themselves with the everyday life
and criminologists work in a similar manner. Why search for causes
of an era in the recent past from the first-person perspective.
at all? As soon as the historian knows what has happened, is it not
Among the photographs, it is above all the tableau of Abbott and
also clear why what did happen had to happen? The what-why
Cordova that, through the multiplicity of its lines of sight, chal-
paradox is an aspect of the re-enactment theory of Robin George
lenges the viewer to see through someone else’s eyes, someone
Collingwood, which perhaps makes it possible to grasp the aes-
whom the viewer might have been.
thetic of Douglas’s works from 2008 historic-philosophically.² It is clear in several places that these works encourage theory-driven
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reflection upon history. Hastings Park, for instance, makes use of the theme of emotions, which were examined in relationship to the idea of the state or commonwealth by Baruch Spinoza. Some years before the completion of Crowds and Riots, Spinoza’s concept of the crowd (multitudo) had been reintroduced into political philoso-
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Hans D. Christ and Iris Dressler, eds., Stan Douglas: Past Imperfect—Works 1986–2007, exh. cat. Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart (Ostfildern, 2008). Cf. William H. Dray, History as ReEnactment: R. G. Collingwood’s Idea of History (Oxford, 1995, reprint 2007), p. 45.
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Cf. for example Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (London, 2004). Cf. Doris Gerber, Analytische Metaphysik der Geschichte. Handlungen, Geschichten und ihre Erklärung (Frankfurt am Main, 2012).
phy and popularized as “swarm intelligence.”³ The series Interiors—completed in 2010 but only fully printed and given its title in 2013—once again takes up the subliminal theme of Crowds and Riots. In contrast to the man in the crowd, here is one who has at his disposal a multiplicity of objects and through time has created his own system for ordering them. The spaces—an artist’s cabin, places for selling shoes, junk, groceries—appear overly full in the chosen segments, as if very little would be required to create disorder. The inhabitants or owners, who may have changed over time, remain unseen, as does the commanding authority behind the police deployments in Crowds and Riots. In contrast to many of the earlier works, these series no longer evoke the feeling of being at the mercy of depersonalized powers such as capital or chance. In Journey into Fear (2001), for example, the variously synchronized actors still
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The Angel of History in the Age of the Internet Paris changes! but naught in my melancholy Has stirred! New palaces, scaffolding, blocks of stone, Old quarters, all become for me an allegory, And my dear memories are heavier than rocks. Charles Baudelaire, 1857%ยน
Essay by David Campany
In what turned out to be the last few years of his life, the German
the Internet (all mediums in which Stan Douglas has taken an
critic Walter Benjamin became deeply interested in the idea that
interest). Photography would now be a secondary medium. Not
moments in history do not remain permanently accessible to pos-
exactly obsolete, but certainly eclipsed. And in the eclipse other
terity. Rather, they lie dormant until a new circumstance makes
possibilities emerged: new ways of using and thinking about
them understandable and pertinent. “Every now ... is the now of
photography beyond the burden of authority given to it by news
a particular recognizability, in which things put on their true—
and advertising; new temporalities beyond the charged moment
surrealist—face,” he wrote in his opus of notes published as The
and its cultish power of immediacy; new philosophical ques-
Arcades Project.² Suddenly and unexpectedly, a past moment
tions; new conditions of knowledge and experience; new pictorial
may become meaningful to a present that has the means to grasp
problems and new aesthetic realms.
its deepest character. The opportunities for this may be very brief and we ought to pre-
In other words, photography had once been in a position to define the look and value of the age over which it ruled, but now it
sume that more often than not they pass us by. But when they are
seemed its role might be to revisit that age, to rethink it, reflect
seized, by a society or perhaps by an individual, something like
upon it, and in the process perhaps even open up alternative ways
a time tunnel appears to connect two moments, present and past.
of understanding the present. We might say then, that photogra-
It’s an illusion of course, because we can never really go back.
phy has undergone a shift, significant but not total, from Emissary
What happens is better described as an allegorizing of the past by
of Progress to Angel of History. Here is Walter Benjamin again, in
the present, or perhaps an allegorizing of the present by a past it
perhaps his most well-known lines:
now claims as its own. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is Stan Douglas came of age as an artist in the 1980s, at a time of re-
turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events,
newed interest in allegory as an artistic mode. The myths of pure
he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage
presence and straight speaking that motivated so much modernist
upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel
art were beginning to frustrate and to reveal their limitations. A
would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what
“postmodern turn,” as it was named in haste, signaled a range of
has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it
reconnections between art and everyday life, between high art and
has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel
popular culture, between the here and the far away, between artis-
can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him
tic mediums, and perhaps most significantly between the present
into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of
and the past.
debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call
At the center of this turn were photography and film, two medi-
progress.⁴
ums that, although having their own distinctive identity within high modernism, became attractive to artists of many kinds because
The allegorical photographer backs into the future. Perhaps his
they seemed to belong everywhere and nowhere in particular.
own images pile up before him. Perhaps he scavenges the greater
Some critics, notably Craig Owens, went so far as to suggest that
pile produced by the culture around him. Perhaps the new archival
photography is inescapably allegorical: it operates at the intersec-
technologies of his own moment—today it is the Internet—allow
tion of numerous rhetorics, genres, and discourses, none of which
him to reach further down into the pile, further back into the past,
belong to it exclusively. Moreover the photograph offers only
to pick out fragments presumed lost or irrelevant. And perhaps
a fragmentary account of a world it steals, quotes, and even sub-
with his findings he is prompted to make new images.
stitutes itself for, with tenuous means of explanation.³ While this is true enough, what really opened up photography
Photographs can only be made in the present, although they immediately convert that present into something past. But if the past
to the allegorical imagination had as much to do with the medi-
is to enter into the photographer’s frame it must do so either
um’s cultural and historical standing in the closing decades of the
through the traces it has left behind in the world or through a re-
twentieth century. Photography was no longer the defining me-
imagining. Stan Douglas pursues both approaches. That is to say,
dium of the age, as it had been in the previous era dominated by
he makes fairly “straight” documentary photographs of places
mass circulation magazines and newspapers. The displacement
where the past might be still discernible and thinkable, and he
was long and drawn out. It began with the advent of cinema, was
makes photographs that stage or restage moments from history.
confirmed by the rise of television, and sealed by the arrival of
He explains:
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Crowds and Riots  2008
This series comprises four large-scale photographs depicting
between the Crowds and Riots series and these photographs
significant gatherings of people, each pertaining to specific
reveals many powerful influences in the manner of individuals and
transitional moments from Vancouver’s history. The photographs
bodies as they are compressed into groups, whether wishing to
were created in the same manner as motion pictures, using either
be or not. It is thus clear that with all four photographs, Douglas
purpose-built sets or real locations and casting, dressing, and
has been highly alert to the appearances and behavior of crowds:
preparing actors for each historical period. Separate images were
the manner of their organizing, construction, and positioning has
composited together to form each image. Digital photography
been mimicked in great detail, from the positioning of heads, hats,
was employed for its immediacy in working on set, as well as its
and hands on shoulders in Powell Street Grounds to the nuanced
chromatic and geometric stability for image assemblage. In the
relations between bodies on the stands depicted in Hastings Park.
case of Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971, for example, fifty
In all, the photographs are constructions of historical memory—
different photographs are brought together to depict a complex,
through a rigorous and complex process—into an image that, as
tableaux-like setting that is made up of nine separate scenes.
the artist states, “consolidates hearsay,” as well as facts and key
Chronologically, we can view the depictions in each photograph
research, into pictures that activate topical reflection and discus-
as follows: In Powell Street Grounds, 28 January 1912, we see
sion, not only upon the conditions of these historical moments, but
police cordoning off a small crowd and singling out key individuals.
also upon the conditions of sociopolitical gatherings and group-
The image relates to the city of Vancouver’s efforts to outlaw
ings in our own time, influenced by today’s inner and outer forces.
public gatherings in response to increased activities associated with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), who were stirring up gatherings on matters of unemployment and the distribution of wealth. With the photograph Ballantyne Pier, 18 June 1935, Douglas has re-created a key moment in which police are engaging with protesting, unionized longshoremen. Using the backdrop of Vancouver’s abandoned sugar refinery, we witness a small group being divided and arrested, just one scenario of many where over a thousand had been involved in agitations against their dismissals and replacements by scab workers. The photograph Hastings Park, 16 July 1955 illustrates about forty people who are ostensibly cropped from a larger crowd of leisurely observers at the racetrack, all condensed together into a group of unwitting consumers. And Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971, which exists as a public installation today in the very location it references, depicts one corner of the Downtown Eastside riot, negligently provoked by the police themselves in response to a mild gathering of youth and hippies in a “smoke-in” organized by the then-alternative newspaper The Georgia Straight. While three of these four images depict clashes between police and crowds, all of them illustrate the formation of individuals into groupings by internal and/or external forces. Further, in composing and establishing the scenarios, actions, and details of each image, Douglas has applied his study of photographs from different periods, as well as, where available, film footage, newspaper clippings, police reports, affidavits, interviews with observers and participants, and other archive materials. When speaking about this series, Douglas references the paradigmatic images produced by journalistic documentation of the Battle of Cable Street in London in 1936. Careful comparison
Text by Seamus Kealy
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65
88
89
Malabar People: Waitress II, 1951
118 119
136 137
Luanda-Kinshasa
To Begin with the Scrim All of the action in the play Helen Lawrence (directed by Stan
more. We slowly become aware that there are four camera appara-
Douglas, story by Stan Douglas and Chris Haddock, written by
tuses on a track between the actors upstage and the downstage
Chris Haddock, 2014) occurs behind a downstage scrim. Scrim is
scrim. These cameras record the projected images being seen
a thin, smooth cotton fabric, like sailcloth or gauze, sometimes
on-screen. Thus, the scrim discloses three elements related to its
used for curtains. When stretched on a frame, however, it is
primary revelatory capacity: first, the actors and scenery on the
a commonly used part of a stage set where, depending on the
stage; second, their projected images, which appear in real time;
lighting, it can either appear opaque to the audience or become
and third, the actors in the play who operate the cameras that
transparent, revealing the characters and actions behind it. In
project the image on the scrim-as-screen. Because of their imme-
its invisible state, the scrim supports the idea of the fourth wall,
diate proximity to it, the scrim heavily veils the camera operators;
or barrier, between the story and the audience that supposedly
much as the black robes and hoods function to hide the puppe-
allows the suspension of disbelief required by realistic depiction.
teers in the Japanese theater form known as Bunraku. In both
Alternatively, in its material visibility the scrim makes clear the
cases, visuality derives from the action taking place on the stage,
fictionalized status of the story beyond it. In this visible state, the
which in Helen Lawrence also appears on-screen, “except at ex-
scrim questions both the theatrical and the fictional by insisting
ceptional moments” when the scrim becomes invisible and the
on a critical point of view from the perspective of the audience.
mimesis of the theater prevails.¹
In Helen Lawrence, the scrim has a special role to play in the “vi-
The performativity of Douglas’s scrim positions it as an active
sual polyphony,” as Stan Douglas describes it, between the actual
agent in both the mimesis and the diegesis of Helen Lawrence.²
actors on the stage and their cinematic projections on the screen.
Mimetically, the effect of the scrim-as-screen references the at-
When a scrim is backlit it is opaque and the actors cannot be
mosphere of the mise-en-scène of the play: the misty and foggy
seen. When a scrim is not lit, you can see through it. The fabric in
city of Vancouver; the pale light of the far north in the winter; the
Helen Lawrence becomes transparent because the actors are lit
dark interiors and the night scenes. Diagetically, the scrim enables
behind the scrim, although in this play we sense its presence be-
the blackness or darkness of the look of film noir, the genre to
fore us, as if a substance had left its aura behind. Alternately, the
which Helen Lawrence proposes to belong, with its melodramatic
scrim can function as a screen with a film projected upon it. When
plot of small-town crooks and police corruption, its unsolved mur-
lit from the front by the film projection, a theatrical scrim becomes
der and sexual intrigue. Yet, however much it might function as
semi-opaque; it is never completely opaque because of the black-
a screen, this scrim is not the silver screen of cinema, which was
and-white images projected upon it. In Helen Lawrence the audi-
traditionally colored with metallic paint to reflect the projected
ence invariably sees through the projection to the actors behind,
light-image back into the audience’s eyes. I propose that this scrim
as if through a glass darkly. Seen through in this manner, the scrim
has a material presence because it forms the intersection of the
dimly reveals the scene being played behind it—and something
back-and-forth movement from the theatrical to the filmic, the
Essay by Catherine Soussloff
Lisa Ryder as Helen/Betty, Sterling Jarvis as the Aide, Haley McGee as the Nurse
INT. ECT WARD – LOS ANGELES –
NURSE Odds are pretty good. Vase-
The AIDE attempts to insert the
EXT. TRAIN TRACKS – WASHINGTON
1947 – DAY
line.
mouthpiece bit.
STATE – 1948 – NIGHT
A downstage scrim is in place and will
The AIDE finds and hands her a jar
AIDE You know the pictures in the
Projected on the scrim: A NIGHT
remain so throughout the play.
of gel. She applies it to HELEN’S
papers don’t do you justice – say ahhh
TRAIN rockets along the tracks.
TITLE OVER: LOS ANGELES 1947.
temples.
honey – let’s see you wag a tonsil –
MAIN TITLE: HELEN LAWRENCE.
Stage lights up as –
AIDE She coulda made it all up.
NURSE She can’t hear you. She’s out
The train’s PoV from the cowcatcher
An AIDE stands in a sparse electro-
NURSE She was married. In the So-
cold.
reveals parallel tracks stretching into
convulsive therapy ward beside a
ciety Pages. He was her lover. They
AIDE She hears me. She may look
the night, lit by the headlamp of the
gurney with a WOMAN, HELEN, lying
were sneaking around. They aren’t
unconscious but it all seeps in. Every
train. We pass a sign which reads:
on it. A NURSE enters carrying a clip-
going to stroll down Sunset Boulevard
little thing. Don’t it honey? All bubbling
YOU ARE NOW CROSSING 49TH
board: the AIDE is affable, the NURSE
together.
and simmering down in the bottom,
PARALLEL.
irritable, HELEN unconscious.
AIDE I don’t think there ever was a
every little thing that ever happened
From a high angle, the camera swoops
NURSE Where’s the Doctor?
boyfriend. I think she made that up.
to ya –
over the train as it slows, then fixes on
AIDE He said for you go ahead and
NURSE You think everybody makes
She hands him the padded elec-
a passenger car window and approa-
do it.
everything up.
trodes –
ches it.
NURSE Make sure she’s restrained
AIDE We can’t help it. Here’s a for
NURSE This ought to take a few trou-
CUT TO:
properly.
instance. For instance – I ask you how
bles off her mind. Ready, steady –
INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT – NIGHT
AIDE You know who this is.
you do today, and you say?
The AIDE applies the electrode pads
For the remainder of the play, except
NURSE I should hope so.
NURSE Same as always. Fine.
to both of her temples.
at exceptional moments, actors on
AIDE You think she did it?
AIDE Which you just made up, when
AIDE Let her have it.
stage will be composited live into
The AIDE restrains HELEN with straps
in fact you’re in a pretty foul temper.
The NURSE applies the electrical cur-
virtual environments projected on the
on each limb.
Same as always. You lie just to grease
rent and HELEN ARCHES OFF THE
downstage scrim.
NURSE No. Not that she didn’t have a
the wheels. People start telling the
TABLE in a stiffened spasm as she’s
As the train comes to rest the
good reason. Takes two to tango.
truth and it just jams up the system,
hit with the current – the stage is
compartment’s sole occupant, Helen
AIDE I think she did it. Maybe even
the world grinds to a halt. You ever
bathed in white light as a CLOSE-UP
Lawrence, checks her watch. Footfalls
faked having a mental problem. Wor-
notice how when someone starts
OF HELEN appears on the scrim.
approach and the cabin door suddenly
king up sympathy. Setting herself up
telling the truth things get real quiet –
AS THE SCREAM OF A TRAIN
slides open:
for an insanity plea.
The NURSE hands him the mouth bit.
WHISTLE comes up from under, a
A BC PROVINCIAL POLICE OFFICER.
NURSE Doesn’t look much like she’s
NURSE Now put that bit in so she
surly SCORE and TITLES BEGIN:
Tips his fingers to his hat, and says
faking it to me.
doesn’t bite her tongue. I don’t care to
CUT TO:
something. She produces ID – he
AIDE You think it was the boyfriend.
see that again.
Helen Lawrence
History Resubjectivized (Doubly) Why would an artist want to create an app, as Stan Douglas has
Vancouver and recall existing places in the postwar city. It is the
just done with Circa 1948?¹ Apps have become particularly com-
magic of cinema to be able to restore eras and places that have
mon since smartphones have invaded the marketplace. They give
disappeared with time. The app, a device which is an exponent of
a surplus value to these phones that are conceived for multiple
virtual reality, brings one backwards in time and proposes the
uses and go far beyond the basic functions of telephoning, text-
experience of revisiting not only the aforementioned locations, but
messaging, and e-mailing. Apps offer information and provide
also the era and a particularly Vancouverian zeitgeist.
services and entertainment in an immediate, reactive fashion.
The choice of date has do to with one of those moments in his-
Smartphones in general are enabling, as they work their way
tory that represents a historical shift, that of the post-World War II
through so many diverse functions, increasing communication in
period, which signals a time when the economy, politics, and val-
terms of time and outreach (space). One’s territory is augmented,
ues were still shaken by the traumatic years gone by. The Hotel
with access to the personal environment, contacts, and various
Vancouver had been the main grand hotel of the city (and appar-
services ready at hand.
ently of the British Empire). Its existence corresponds to a munici-
These may be some of the reasons an artist would want to
pal policy for an open city, which led to corruption and the
create an app. Working on the notions of immediacy, augmented
tolerance of certain types of criminal activity, such as bootleg-
space, interactivity, and multiplicity can all be challenging to
ging, gambling, and prostitution. Built in 1916, the hotel was de-
a contemporary artist. The app combines basic tropes of contem-
molished in 1949, having served as barracks for the Canadian
poraneity which, associated with accessibility, relate to these
troops and as a refuge for the homeless in its final years. The
same notions. Being in the world today is a condition that goes
choice of 1948 carries a double heritage: that of the hotel’s heyday
beyond the common time and space one situates oneself in. Time
splendor and glory, and that of the scars of war and crime. The
and space have become multidimensional, because technology
grand palatial scale of the hotel contrasts with the working-class
now enables the collapsing of time into multiple formats, dura-
neighborhood of Hogan’s Alley. Situated in a district of Vancouver
tions, interruptions, and resumptions. Time can be extended and it
called Strathcona, which was home to immigrants of diverse ori-
can be contracted. Space encounters similar distortions. Space
gins, from Chinese to Japanese to Italian, the alley also included
can be experienced in a variety of ways, through communication
the city’s most important concentration of black people and was
media as well as through accelerated travels made possible by
at the time a red-light district. It featured bars and gambling joints
ever-evolving transport technologies.
as well as brothels. The area was eventually demolished to give
Douglas’s project revolves around a script he wrote with Kevin
way to the construction of a freeway following a redevelopment
Kerr titled Circa 1948. It is a series of dialogues that sprout up in
plan in the 1950s, which in turn led to the eradication of the black
different locations in the app. The two main locations are the Hotel
presence in Strathcona. Strathcona is linked to Canada’s histori-
Vancouver and Hogan’s Alley,² both of which are situated in
cally important railway system, as it is bordered by the Canadian
Essay by Chantal Pontbriand
192 193
Crowds and Riots
McLeanns, Wil McQueen, Steve
Colin Fotherby, Nick Haltigin, Mike
2008
McQueen, Robert Melynchuck, Burt
McBean, Royal Munro, Randy Noel
Series of 4 color photographs
Mitchell, Gordon Murphy, Lucas
Digital C-print mounted on
Noguer, John Reardon, Robert Reid,
Hippies:
Dibond aluminum
Bill Russell, Tim Sars, Dave Thomas,
Jacqueline Adamson, Michael
Casting – Lisa Ratke
Edition of 5
Robin Thompson, Gerald Vandijk,
Bardach, Donald Berry, Karim
Extras Wranglers – Ntsikie Kheswa,
Jim Walsh, Robert Woods, Mikola
Biamonte, Samantha Clyne, Rob
Zaichanka
Compton, Jolene Derksen, Gary
Set Decorator – Melissa Morden
28 January 1912
Ellison, Vladimir Fedulov, Andrew
Assistant Set Decorator – Jacquie
59/¹⁄₂/×/104 in. (151.1/×/264.2 cm)
Ghisleri, Megan Gilron, Justin Gough,
Powell Street Grounds,
Framed: 63/³⁄₈/×/107/¹⁄₄ in.
Ballantyne Pier, 18 June 1935
(161/×/272.4 cm) Ballantyne Pier, 18 June 1935
Grips – Dan Basaraba, Troy Bassett, Jeff Bonny, Mike Fiedler, Jake Humphrey, Ryan Ketchum, Adrian R. Netto, Kyle Ruiterman
Stephen Eathorne, Carol Korm
Rae Mason
Lucky Gule, Blythe Hutchings,
Set Dresser – Tim Higgins
Zandara Kennedy, Simon Kral, Jamie
On-Set Dresser – Todd Keller
Union Members:
MacLeod, Christine McMahon, John
Buyers/Dressers – Joanne Morden,
James Dylan, Brian Elliot, Kevin Stiller
Morrison, Madeleine Myrhoj, Greg
45/×/116 in. (114.3/×/294.6 cm)
Ng, Marisa Nielsen, Veronica Papalia,
Ian Nothnagel, Judy Stackaruck, Mark MacPhee
Framed: 48/×/119/¹⁄₈ in.
Police:
Michael Prosser, Walker Suddaby,
Props Master – Dave Fleisher
(122.1/×/302.6 cm)
Kristian Bakstad, Denis Beatty,
Wyatt Suddaby, Tristan Tyner, Jason
Props Assistants – Charles Newson,
George Felizardo, Jan Hajdusek
Vaisvilla, Clay Virtue, Stuart Wallin,
Hastings Park, 16 July 1955 59/¹⁄₂/×/88/³⁄₄ in. (151.1/×/225.4 cm)
Mountie:
Framed: 62/¹⁄₂/×/92 in.
Clay Virtue
(158.8/×/233.7 cm)
Costume Designer – Sheila White
Zagoudakis, Jenny Zinger
Assistant Costume Designer – Patty
Mounted Police:
Costumers – Lyne Talbot, Daevina
Hunter Mike Garthwaite, Kerry Hansen,
Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971
Hastings Park, 16 July 1955
Quinton Schneider
Framed: 73/⁵⁄₈/×/118 in.
Spectators:
Narcs:
(187/×/299.7 cm)
Daryl Aiken, Steven Arcand, Patrick
Lee Clarke, Brent Dawes, James
Alpine, Kristina Anderson, Dominique
Gorman, Graham Huber , Gabriel
Armand, Amanda Azzopardi, Brian
McLaren, Ethan Rush
70/×/114/¹⁄₂ in. (177.8/×/290.8 cm)
Cast:
Jordan Fleisher
Chris Webber, JC Williams, Eli
Danyluck, Kai Siperko Stunt Coordinator – Danny Virtue Assistant Stunt Coordinator –
Baxter, Christine Bilic, Russell Angela Brown, Steven Brown, Erika
28 January 1912
Cesareo, Jerry Chow, Darren Ens, Monty Everall, KC Foong, Gary Greer,
Darcy Davis Construction Coordinator –
Executive Producer (Abbott &
Foreman – Keith McCulloch
Jesse Joslin
Ole Hoyer, Michael Jaraczewski,
Cordova) – Westbank Projects//
Jeffrey Gantner, Billy Marchenski
Katherine Bell Jorgenson, George
W Redevelopment Group Executive Producers (Powell Street
Constables:
Robert Leung, Wil McQueen, Steve
Grounds, Ballantyne Pier,
Sergey Brezhev, Charley Higgins,
McQueen, Daniel Mathias, Robert
Hastings Park) – David Zwirner,
Dean Hinchey, Conal Kavanaugh,
Melynchuck, Robert Reid, Bill Russell,
Stan Douglas
Michael McKenzie Smith, Charles
Tim Sars , Dave Thomas, Robin
McSorley, Michael Root, Gordon
Thompson, Gerald Vandijk, Jim Walsh,
Tickell
Robert Woods, Mikola Zaichanka
Director, Photographer, Editor – Stan Douglas Producers – Arvi Liimatainen, Heather Howe
Inspectors:
Studio Manager – Linda Chinfen
Richard Jones, Stephen Lockhart
Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971
Spectators:
Bystanders:
Assistant Director – Lee Knippelberg
Daryl Aiken, Patrick Alpine,
Robson Baker, Stefan Busse, Tina
Camera Assistant – Henri Robideau
Blai Andrecheck, Steven Arcand,
Carey, Vincent Cheng, Shelby
Gaffer – Sean Rooney
Tereza Babayan, Kylee Baly, McKenna
Chapman, Michelle Cowley, Shraga
Best Boy – Tony Richardson
Baly, Brian Baxter, Russell Berrisford,
Dachner, Luciana D’Arunciasco,
Genny Operator – Hugh Miekle
Gerald Boal, Shimon Boriskov, Jason
Bill Dekker, Anthony Dodd, Andrew
Lamp Operators – Mark Alexander,
Bosher, Steven Brown, Heather
Dorocilz, Brad Dutchak, Emily Emond,
Scott Clark, Collin Hillis, Christian
Ann Britton, Stephen Bruchet, Joe
Ted Garbutt, Bill Orlikow, Ian Pawsey,
Schauz
Bulatti, Darren Ens, Monty Everall,
Monica Richards, Lorne Riding,
Gary Greer, Bruce Ho, Ole Hoyer,
Charanjit Singh, Wolf Suhl, Ken Wa
Second Assistant Director – William
Larry Jacob, Michael Jaraczewski,
Lani Terada
Creative Team:
Agitators:
Kavanaugh, Terry Kong, Patrick Koslo,
Kerry Hansen, Quinton Schneider, Special Effects Coordinator –
Berrisford, Gerald Boal, Jason Bosher, Powell Street Grounds,
Eli Zagoudakis Horse Wranglers – Mike Garthwaite,
“Big Sleeps” Stewart
Condor/Lamp Operators – Jacob
Lead Carpenters – Barry Rennie, Geoff Jordan Scenic Carpenters – Clive Joslin, Rolfe Fuhrmann, Joshua Cockerham, Adam Barlett Carpenters – Dan Brodie, Luke Victor Construction – Chris Fielden Lead Sculptor – Robert Houtman Paint Coordinator – John Wilcox Painters – Brad Lambert, Randy MacKenzie, Michael Sullivan Scenic Artists – Thomas A. McKinnon, Thomas Wren Greens – John McIntosh Hair – Heather McLellan, Lisa Waddell, Sarah Bergeest Makeup – Leslie Graham, Tana Lynn Moldovanos, Tamar Ouziel Unit Manager – Rob Murdoch Production Coordinator – Anja Liimatainen Production Assistant – Sean Arden
Egglestone, Darryl Laval,
Accountant – Patrick Mokrane
Joern Schultke, Leonard Taylor
Researcher – Faith Moosang
Katherine Bell Jorgenson, George
Constables:
Set Wireman – Warren Bruce
Clearance Coordinator – Terri Garbutt
Kavanaugh, Patrick Koslo,
Waynos Allum, Dave Antolinos, Currie
Key Grips – Miguel Gelinas,
3-D Modeling – Murray Gilmore
Dean Lefterys, Simon Leung, Seann
Auld, Samuel Barnes, Scott Davis,
Rob Sperling, Jayson Rupert
Graphic Designer – Catherine Schroer
202 203
This catalogue was published in
Stiftung Haus der Kunst München,
Library of Congress Control Number
Translation from the German:
conjunction with the exhibition
gemeinnützige Betriebs-
is available; British Library
Jim Gussen (Essay, Diedrich
Stan Douglas – Mise en scène
gesellschaft mbH
Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:
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a catalogue record for this book is
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Copyediting: Rita Forbes
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Team: Tina Anjou, Stephan N.
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Frontispiece: Flame, 1947