Stan Douglas: The Secret Agent
Stan Douglas: The Secret Agent
A solo exhibition by the celebrated Canadian artist Stan Douglas, featuring the UK premiere of a new multi-screen film installation along with a series of large-scale photographs. Saturated with information, and yet rejecting easily consumable messages, these works place the viewer within the charged atmospheres and ambiguous political and social intricacies of 1970s Portugal and postwar Vancouver, respectively.
Filmed on location in Lisbon with a cast of local actors, the feature-length The Secret Agent, 2015, restages the plot of Joseph Conrad’s novella – a story of espionage, double-crossing and murky political entanglement – within the aftermath of Portugal’s ‘carnation revolution,’ which overthrew Europe’s oldest dictatorship, in April 1974. The period known as PREC (Revolutionary Process Underway) that followed stood in many ways outside dominant constructions of ‘history’ itself, which at the time ran firmly along geopolitical contours demarcated by the Cold War.
A tension between revolution’s brief suspension of apparently unshakeable historical frameworks, and subsequent attempts to appropriate these moments of potential transformation, lies at the heart of The Secret Agent. Characteristic of Douglas’ sensitivity to the nuanced dynamics of public and private memory in its subtle blending of historical fact, meticulous reconstruction, and fictive source material, this immersive six-screen work implies the latent impact of unresolved past moments on the present, and even on our sense of futurity. Conclusions are withheld from the viewer, however, even as multiple viewpoints tantalisingly suggest the possibility of privileged access to the truths of a complex situation. Somehow, the work’s proliferating images instead prompt a sense of disorientation which perhaps echoes the experiences of the film’s protagonists as they weather the throes of revolution.
A sense of social transition is equally present in the photographic work that comprises the second half of the exhibition. Where The Secret Agent is made in the mould of the classic Hollywood thriller, these works borrow from film noir, a genre that reflected the tough-talking nihilism and veiled anxieties of a generation traumatised by war and which has served as an enduring source of inspiration for Douglas.
The darkly hyperreal quality of these images is the result of digital rendering – a means of image-making foreign to both the naked eye and the camera lens, which departs from logics of documentary accuracy even as it makes possible an almost hallucinatory sharpness of detail. These panoramic mise-en-scènes first appeared in Helen Lawrence, a groundbreaking cinematic theatre production that plunged into the seedy underbelly of the immediate postwar period in North America, before what the artist describes as ‘the sudden call to order and morality’ of peacetime had fully taken hold. Based on archival photographs of a hotel used to house war veterans (The Second Hotel Vancouver, 2014), a decades-established squatting community (Lazy Bay, 2015), or a lawless neighbourhood populated by the disenfranchised and rife with gambling, bootlegging, and prostitution, where black musicians and corrupt politicians partied in the small hours (Hogan’s Alley, 2014), these works explore the loaded meeting points of the structural and subjective, directly experienced and mediated, specificities of place.
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Exhibition
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February 26 2024
Stan Douglas features in The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century at Schirn Kunsthalle
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip Hop, this major exhibition (29 February–26 May 2024) explores its profound influence on the current art and cultural landscape. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt -
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September 16 2023
Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 at the De Pont Museum
In this ambitious installation (on view 16 September 2023–4 February 2024) Douglas reconstructs crucial moments of social unrest from 2011 and draws a historical parallel with the year 1848, when numerous European countries were fighting for democratic freedoms. Tilburg, Netherlands -
Exhibition
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September 14 2023
Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848, on view at the National Gallery of Canada
On view 14 September 2023–September 2024, 2011 ≠ 1848 draws a comparison between the events of 2011 and those of 1848: a year in which continent-wide upheaval found European middle and working classes allied in a fight against a lack of democratic freedoms, restrictions on the press, and the continued dominance of an aristocratic elite. Ottowa, Canada -
Exhibition
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January 3 2023
Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848, coming soon to Remai Modern, Saskatoon
The exhibition (3 February–4 June 2023) comprises a series of works inspired by historical events of social and political turbulence. Douglas connects points of social rupture, rendering in minute detail and with technical ingenuity historic moments of protest, riot, and occupation from 2011 that echoed upheavals that swept Europe in 1848. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada -
Exhibition
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September 9 2022
On view at The Polygon, North Vancouver – Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848
The exhibition (9 September–6 November 2022) presents a series of works which premiered at the 2022 Venice Biennale, inspired by historical events of social and political turbulence. Douglas connects points of social rupture, rendering in minute detail and with technical ingenuity historic moments of protest, riot, and occupation from 2011 that echoed upheavals that swept Europe in 1848. The Polygon, North Vancouver -
Exhibition
Posted
February 18 2022
Stan Douglas: Revealing Narratives at PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art
The exhibition (19 February–22 May 2022) will present the Canadian premiere of Douglas’s most recent photo series Penn Station's Half Century (2021) and Disco Angola (2012), a series of photos that will be presented in Québec for the first time. PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montréal -
Event
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January 21 2021
Stan Douglas in conversation
Join Stan Douglas for a talk on Thursday 28 January 2021, hosted virtually by Public Art Fund and The Cooper Union, when the artist will discuss his ambitious new site-specific work at Moynihan Train Hall, Penn Station's Half Century. -
Review
Posted
March 10 2020
The March issue of ArtReview features a review of Stan Douglas at Victoria Miro
'Douglas's film plays with questions of ethics... but more profoundly with questions of communication.’ Nina Power, ArtReview -
Review
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February 19 2020
Aesthetica reviews Stan Douglas’ Doppelgänger and Scenes from the Blackout
'Both the structure and the subject matter of the exhibition offer an overarching sense of displacement or the uncanny.' Robyn Sian Cusworth, Aesthetica Magazine -
Preview
Posted
February 14 2020
Wallpaper* writes about Stan Douglas’ Doppelgänger
'Beneath the film’s retro-futuristic veneer and vibrant passages of colour – a stylistic nod to avant-garde cinema – lies a pressing message for our times.' Jessica Klingelfuss, Wallpaper* -
Exhibition
Posted
February 3 2020
Stan Douglas’ Doppelgänger features in The Imagination of Time at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
The exhibition, held as part of Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions (7–23 February 2020) considers notions of time as explored in art and imaging. It marks Doppelgänger's debut in Asia. Tokyo, Japan -
Interview
Posted
January 31 2020
Stan Douglas talks to Interview
'I can’t predict the future, so in a way, my science fiction – like everything else, like historical things – is an allegory of the present.' Ella Huzenis, Interview -
Exhibition
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January 15 2020
Stan Douglas to represent Canada at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022
Stan Douglas has been selected to represent Canada at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Douglas's multidisciplinary works, including films, photographs and, more recently, theatre productions, reflect on the dynamic potential embedded in pivotal historical moments. -
News story
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December 11 2019
ARTnews announces mirroring UK and US debuts of Stan Douglas’ Doppelgänger in concurrent exhibitions at Victoria Miro in London and at David Zwirner in New York
In the two-channel video, an astronaut and her doppelgänger are sent to two different planets; one is welcomed, and the other is treated as a potential foe. The exhibitions will mark the US and UK premieres of the piece. Alex Greenberger, ARTnews -
Exhibition
Posted
November 1 2019
Stan Douglas: Splicing Block opens at the Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin
The exhibition (1 November 2019–1 March 2020) examines the relationship between music and society, and is at the same time a reflection on the media of film and photography. Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin -
News
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September 24 2019
Stan Douglas is awarded the 2019 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts
This annual prize worth $100,000 is awarded to a senior artist in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the arts. -
Review
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May 20 2019
Jason Farago writes about Stan Douglas’ Doppelgänger in The New York Times
'The plot wittily hinges on a phrase that reads differently depending on where you’re sitting: the Marxian LIVE REIFIED TIME or, in reverse, the satanic EMIT DEIFIER EVIL.' Jason Farago, The New York Times -
Exhibition
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January 18 2019
Stan Douglas: Hors-champs goes on view at Western Front, Vancouver
In Douglas’ Hors-champs, 1992 (on view 18 January–23 February 2019), a quartet of musicians—Kent Carter, Douglas Ewart, Oliver Johnson, and George Lewis—perform Albert Ayler’s Spirits Rejoice. Projected simultaneously on opposite sides of the same screen, Douglas’ installation considers the Black musical traditions (blues, gospel, etc) embedded into Ayler’s composition. Western Front, Vancouver -
Exhibition
Posted
May 30 2018
Stan Douglas in Resist! The 1960s protests, photography and visual legacy at BOZAR, Brussels
The exhibition (27 June–26 August 2018) brings together works by seminal figures from the photographic and photojournalistic world, alongside rare archive images. BOZAR, Brussels -
Exhibition
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May 2 2018
Stan Douglas in Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art at Tate Modern
This major exhibition (2 May – 14 October 2018) tells the intertwined stories of photography and abstract art. Tate Modern -
Exhibition
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January 25 2018
Work by Stan Douglas featured in Faithless Pictures at Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo
The exhibition (9 February – 13 May 2018) features around 40 international artists and explores the complex relationship between image and reality. Oslo, Norway -
Exhibition
Posted
January 8 2018
Stan Douglas’s Luanda-Kinshasa is featured in Domestic Arenas at Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague
The exhibition (19 January – 18 March 2018) is a synthesis of video art, documentary and music videos from American and European artists. Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague -
Review
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December 12 2017
Artforum reviews Stan Douglas at Victoria Miro Mayfair
'Douglas… reveals that beneath a media reporting – which is prone to quick headlines and opportunistic characterizations – an event leaves traces that can be reassembled and rethought.' Duncan Wooldridge, Artforum -
Interview
Posted
October 26 2017
Stan Douglas talks to the Guardian about his latest photographic works
'The streets are these arteries where the people, the police and objects are all interacting…It’s not focusing on mayhem and that fascinates me.' Kieran Yates, The Guardian -
Exhibition
Posted
October 23 2017
Remai Modern’s opening displays feature Stan Douglas: The Secret Agent
Field Guide, the inaugural exhibition at the new Remai Modern art museum, rethinks the idea of 'modern' from multiple cultural, geographic, historic and contemporary perspectives. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada -
Exhibition
Posted
October 6 2017
Stan Douglas in Performance! at Le Tripostal, Lille
Part of the Centre Pompidou's 40th anniversary celebrations, this exhibition (6 October 2017 – 14 January 2018) features Douglas' Hors-Champs, 1992. Le Tripostal, Lille -
Event
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March 9 2017
Stan Douglas artist’s talk at Aargauer Kunsthaus
A conversation (22 March 2017) with the artist and Madeleine Schuppli, Director, on the occasion of the presentation of The Secret Agent, 2015. Aargauer Kunsthaus, Switzerland -
Exhibition
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November 15 2016
Stan Douglas: The Secret Agent in Cinéma mon amour: Film in Art at Aargauer Kunsthaus
Film and art have been inseparably linked since the invention of the medium of film. In January 2017, the Aargauer Kunsthaus and the Solothurn Film Festival are devoting an exhibition (Cinéma mon amour. Film in Art, 22 January - 17 April 2017) and a special programme (Art mon amour) to the reciprocal fascination between art and film. Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland -
Exhibition
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November 5 2016
Stan Douglas in Intersections: Contemporary Artist Films at Audain Art Museum
Douglas' Klatsassin features in Intersections (29 October 2016 - 6 February 2017), an exhibition framed as a series of visual and experiential intersections – a place and/or space where two or more lines of inquiry converge or cross. Audain Art Museum, Whistler -
Exhibition
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November 3 2016
Stan Douglas in The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now at ICA University of Pennsylvania
Douglas' two-channel video installation Hors-champs, 1992, is included in a group exhibition (14 September 2016 - 19 March 2017) that links the vibrant legacy of avant-garde jazz and experimental music of the late 1960s (particularly within the African American arts scene on the South Side of Chicago) and its continuing influence on contemporary art and culture today. ICA University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia -
Interview
Posted
October 14 2016
Stan Douglas interviewed in The Globe and Mail
A black man in a city where there are few black people, Douglas uses that feeling of being different to influence his work. Marsha Lederman, The Globe and Mail -
Exhibition
Posted
October 1 2016
Stan Douglas: Hasselblad Award Exhibition at Hasselblad Foundation
The foundation presents an exhibition (18 October 2016 - 29 January 2017) of Douglas' work, as the 2016 Hasselblad Award winner. Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden -
Review
Posted
September 18 2016
Stan Douglas’ sumptuous film… read Laura Cumming’s review of The Infinite Mix in The Observer
'....Indeed, if there is a theme to this wonderfully various show, it is the resurgence of history in the present. This is so subtly conveyed in Canadian artist Stan Douglas’s Luanda-Kinshasa…' -
Review
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May 30 2016
Stan Douglas: The Secret Agent reviewed in Artforum
"Douglas has long been fascinated by periods of sociopolitical resistance as visualized in their special sites, artistic results, and people." Gilda Williams, Artforum -
Exhibition
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May 27 2016
Stan Douglas: Luanda-Kinshasa at Pérez Art Museum, Miami
On view until 25 September 2016. Jointly acquired by PAMM and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this film depicts a fictitious band of professional musicians at the famed CBS 30th Street Studio in 1970s New York City. Pérez Art Museum, Miami -
Review
Posted
February 4 2016
Stan Douglas: The Secret Agent reviewed in the Guardian
'With Douglas's work, you often feel like you have stepped into a much bigger narrative that concerns, among other things, the lingering effects of post-colonialism and modernism.' Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian -
Gallery Exhibition
23 November 2013 - 18 January 2014
Stan Douglas: Disco Angola
The artist's second solo show with Victoria Miro and his first at our new Mayfair gallery. In Midcentury Studio, Douglas' first exhibition with Victoria Miro, monochrome photographs were created in... Victoria Miro Mayfair -
Gallery Exhibition
18 April - 26 May 2012
Stan Douglas: Midcentury Studio
Victoria Miro is pleased to announce the first gallery exhibition of Canadian artist Stan Douglas. Since the 1980s Stan Douglas has reappropriated key moments from history, precisely examining political, social... Victoria Miro Gallery I