2011 ≠ 1848
February 3–June 4, 2023
Following its critically acclaimed presentation for Canada at the 2022 Venice Biennale, Remai Modern is pleased to partner with the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) and with The Polygon Gallery to bring Stan Douglas: 1848 ≠ 2011 to Saskatoon.
1848 ≠ 2011 is 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, echoing upheavals that swept Europe in 1848.
The exhibition features four large-scale panoramic photographs depicting different protests and riots from 2011: the start of the Arab Spring in Tunis on January 12 with sit-ins and protests along Avenue Habib Bourguiba; the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver on June 15; clashes between youth and police in London on August 9; and the arrest of Occupy Wall Street protestors on Brooklyn Bridge in New York on October 1. Douglas created the images by combining meticulous and elaborate re-enactments of the events, high-resolution plate shots of each city site, together with aerial documentary footage.
The exhibition includes the two-channel video installation ISDN, which is jointly owned by the NGC and Remai Modern. It adds to another work by Douglas in Remai Modern’s collection, The Secret Agent (2015), which was acquired in 2017 and featured in Remai Modern’s inaugural exhibition Field Guide.
ISDN is an immersive installation that depicts a fictionalized collaboration between rappers from London’s Grime and Cairo’s Mahraganat music scenes. Titled after a now-outdated mode of transmitting high-quality audio over telephone lines, Integrated Services Digital Network, ISDN imagines rappers from the two cities exchanging beats and lyrics in improvised studios, working across space and time to create music collaboratively.
Remai Modern will host an artist talk with Douglas on Friday, February 3 at the museum. In April, the museum will present The Live Mixtape, a program of live music and public engagement that considers the latent political dimension of regional music and the ways hip hop music forms subjectivity, builds community and forges solidarity across geographical and cultural differences. Through collaboration, conversation and performances, a group of established and emerging prairie hip hop artists will reflect on the development of a vibrant music culture that explores the specificities and complexities of place, inherited histories, and Black experience on the prairies.
Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 is curated by Reid Shier, Director of The Polygon Gallery, and is presented as a partnership between the National Gallery of Canada, Remai Modern and The Polygon Gallery.
Following its presentation at Remai Modern, this exhibition will travel to the National Gallery, opening on September 8.
Presenting Tour Partner, RBC. Additional support provided by RBC Wealth Management (Saskatoon).
