Synopses & Reviews
This is an art book on the politics of urban conflict based around artist Stan Douglas' stunning photo installation of the same name, depicting a violent confrontation in 1971 between police and Vancouver's counterculture known as the Gastown Riot.
The book, which features essays by Alexander Alberro, Serge Guilbaut, and others, addresses various issues raised by Douglas' work, including the suppression and assimilation of the counterculture. It also includes other works from Douglas' Crowds and Riots series.
Stan Douglas has exhibited widely, including at the Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennial, and documenta. He is the subject of numerous books, including Stan Douglas (Phaidon Press).
Review
"This richly illustrated volume focuses on events of 1971's Gastown Riot ... Simmering narratives of protest and inequality run alongside a study of the mechanics and meaning of representation."
Canadian Art"Arsenal Pulp Press has published a beautiful and informative book about one of Vancouver's most stunning and original works of public art." Vancouver Sun
"This collection of essays pries open the iconic 30x50-foot 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. From Nora M. 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." The Tyee
"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." Georgia Straight
Synopsis
A book on world-renowned artist Stan Douglas monumental photo installation about the 1971 Gastown Riot in Vancouver.
About the Author
Stan Douglas: Stan Douglas is an internationally renowned visual artist who has exhibited widely, including at Documenta, the Venice Biennale, the Whitney Biennial, and the Carnegie International. In 2007, he won the inaugural $25,000 Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award for excellence in Canadian visual arts. He has been the subject of numerous books and catalogs, including
Stan Douglas (Phaidon),
Stan Douglas: Secession (Walter Konig), and
Journey into Fear (Serpentine Gallery). He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Alexander Alberro: Alexander Alberro is the Virginia Blodel Wright Professor of Art History at Barnard College, Columbia University. His books include Institutional Critique: An Anthology of Artists’ Writings, Art After Conceptual Art, and Conceptual Art and the Politics of Publicity (all from MIT Press). He lives in New York and Philadelphia.
Nora M. Alter: Nora M. Alter is a professor of film and media arts at Temple University, Philadelphia; her books include Vietnam Protest Theatre: The Television War on Stage (Indiana University Press) and Chris Marker (Contemporary Film Directors) (University of Illinois Press, 2006).
Sven Lutticken: Sven Lütticken is a professor of art history at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. His books include Idols of the Market Modern Iconoclasm and the Fundamentalist Spectacle (Sternberg Press).
Jesse Proudfoot: Jesse Proudfoot is a doctoral candidate at Simon Fraser University’s Department of Geography, and a resident and specialist on the urban geography of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.