Stan Douglas Katalog

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

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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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Malabar People: Waitress II, 1951

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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:

Diederichsen), Cynthia Hall

held at Haus der Kunst in Munich

Director: Okwui Enwezor

a catalogue record for this book is

(Introduction, León Krempel)

available from the British Library;

Copyediting: Rita Forbes

from June 20 to October 12, 2014.

Curator and editor of the cata-

Team: Tina Anjou, Stephan N.

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek holds

Editorial direction publisher:

logue: León Krempel

Barthelmess, Sabine Brantl,

a record of this publication in the

Sandra Leitte, Anja Paquin

Daniela Burkart, Sylvia Clasen,

Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;

Design and layout:

We would like to thank our share-

Arnulf von Dall' Armi, Patrizia

detailed bibliographical data can be

SOFAROBOTNIK ,

holders for their annual support

Dander, Martina Fischer, Elena

found under: http://www.dnb.de

Augsburg & Munich

of the program: Freistaat Bayern,

Heitsch, Tina Köhler, Anton Köttl,

Josef Schörghuber-Stiftung,

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Exhibition itinerary:

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Frontispiece: Flame, 1947