Stan Douglas: Abbott and Cordova, 7 August 1971
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His film and video installations, photographs, and other works use the conventions of cinema, music, and literature to construct historical and cultural narratives, many of which are grounded in the story of Vancouver, his hometown. The book's eponymous image is a 30 x foot translucent photo mural on tempered glass installed in the atrium of the new Woodward's complex in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, in the heart of Canada's poorest neighbourhood.
The image depicts the aftermath of an actual violent confrontation between police and the city's counterculture in what came to be known as the Gastown Riot, during which uniformed and undercover police officers attacked a peaceful "smoke-in" protest organized to oppose police narcotics agents' attempts to infiltrate the city's marijuana-smoking community.
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This book takes the riot, and Douglas's work, as points of departure to discuss the legacy and implications of this tumultuous time, not only for Vancouver but for all urban centres where dissent and conflict based on class, lifestyle, or other issues arise, and where the role of authorities is contested in the form of public demonstration.
Arsenal Pulp Press has published a beautiful and informative book about one of Vancouver's most stunning and original works of public art. Cinematic in its scale and production, the photomural depicts riot police, mounted police, and undercover cops clashing with hippies, while area residents and visitors look on. Douglas frequently uses his art to reimagine pivotal but often misread or obscured moments in history This book addresses not only the elaborate creation and multiple meanings of the mural but also what the publisher calls "the politics of urban conflict" embedded within it.
This collection of essays pries open the iconic 30xfoot translucent photo mural, depicting a decades-ago clash between police and protestors that defined Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood, and which now hangs in the atrium of the city's Woodward's complex. Alter's analysis of the image as a "moving still" to Jesse Proudfoot's history of the politics of representation in the Downtown Eastside, these essays help fulfil Douglas's intent to keep conversation about the riot -- and the photograph that "condenses" it -- evolving.
As a comprehensive guide to understanding the recently installed artwork by Stan Douglas, Arsenal Pulp Press has given us here a visual tour de force, with stunning colour representations of the original piece throughout the hard covered volume supporting the essays and interview with the artist.
And as so much more than a commemorative plaque, the artist's depiction of the unsettling event is sure to be a catalyst for social change the Occupy movement in fact used the space in , not just for the DTES, but for all of Vancouver and its environs. This richly illustrated volume focuses on events of 's Gastown Riot Simmering narratives of protest and inequality run alongside a study of the mechanics and meaning of representation.
Canadian Urbanism Uncovered
An unabashed cynicism about modern-day civic engagement is at the core of what makes Abbott and Cordova, 7 August so devilishly hypnotic and disquietingly uncomfortable. Add to list Share On a book page, this tab will allow you to add a book to one of your lists. Please login or register to use this feature. Enlarge Cover 0 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 0 ratings. About the Authors Nora M. Alter is a professor of film and media arts at Temple University, Philadelphia; her books include Vietnam Protest Theatre: She contributed an essay to the book Stan Douglas: Abbott and Cordova, 7 August The riot, also known as the Battle of Maple Tree Square, ultimately led to the city zoning the area as strictly commercial.
With this banning of residential use, the community's social infrastructures slowly collapsed and, in a neighbourhood rife with disunity, economic and social class divisions emerged. Through his photo installation, Douglas is reviving a lost memory, highlighting a decisive shift in the use and policing of public space in Vancouver. Although representing the past, Douglas's image is very much concerned with the current status of the Downtown Eastside. When asked by Megaphone why he chose to reenact the events of for the Woodward's atrium, Douglas drew a connection with the new development.
The Woodward's complex is itself another juncture, but hopefully a more positive one. Officially opened on Jan. The installation is in the main public atrium of this new cultural epicentre, which offers a mix of community space, university classrooms, galleries, shops, subsidized housing and private luxury condos. The provincial and municipal governments, as well as developers, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this development with the hope of creating a safe public space to ignite interest and capital investment in the middle of this problematic community.
Douglas was initially invited by Woodward's architect Gregory Henriquez to propose a public artwork for a building in North Vancouver.
Stan Douglas : Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971
Knowing Henriquez was working on the Woodward's development, Douglas said that instead he would be more interested in proposing a project for Woodward's. Together, they hashed-out a number of ideas, eventually deciding on a depiction of the riot.
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After finalizing the idea, Douglas designed a scene to photograph based on historical research of the area. He then employed actors to play riot police, hippies and bystanders.
Nearly 40 years after the Gastown Riot, Woodward's has grown out of a long public debate between governments, social activists and the community. Since the Woodward's Department Store closed its doors in , many organizations have advocated for the site to be developed into social housing for the neighbourhood's homeless.
This dispute escalated in , when activists and the homeless squated in the building, before being evicted by police. The activists then held a tent city around the building that lasted for 90 days. Ultimately, the land was developed jointly with provincial, municipal and private interests, offering community space and a percentage of social housing. Emerging from this conflict, the Woodward's building has now become the focus of gentrification within the community. Douglas's installation of the riot image within the building gives presence to the community's fraught and at times forgotten histories, as well as the municipal and provincial governments' agenda to control the area's image by whatever means.
Adding to the riot image's relevance, Douglas's use of Hollywood film production techniques speaks to an industry and mode of labour specific to Vancouver and the Downtown Eastside, confronting a major aspect of Vancouver's contemporary persona as a city that never plays itself. Home to the third-largest film production industry in North America, Vancouver is constantly cast as playing other fictional and real cities. More specifically, the Downtown Eastside is in high demand for its gritty looking streets and brownstone buildings.
This industry invades these public spaces, exploiting the city as a backdrop but never telling the story of its streets. In this case, Douglas is telling Vancouver's story but within the construct of an immaculately built film set, oddly separated from the real streets. The Gastown image revives a history many may have forgotten and many more have no knowledge of.
This is why Douglas says that "public art can be more than just large-scale decoration. It has already happened through press coverage of the installation, which has focused on re-telling the riotous history it emerged from. Much like a billboard advertisement in scale, Douglas' work stands as marker of the complexities and struggles in the area -- past, present and future. The Tyee interviews Gregory Henriquez, architect of the new Woodward's as he gives a guided tour.