Visiting the exhibition
Canada Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale, Sestiere Castello, 30122 Venezia [Vaporetto: Giardini]
Magazzini del Sale No. 5, Dorsoduro 262, 30123 Venezia [Vaporetto: Zattere]
Opening hours: 23 Apr—25 Sep 2022: Tue—Sun, 11 a.m.-7p.m./27 Sep—27 Nov 2022: Tue—Sun, 10 a.m.-6p.m.

Stan Douglas Represents Canada at the 59th International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia 2022

Recognized as one of Canada’s most acclaimed contemporary artists whose multidisciplinary practice includes films, photographs and—more recently—theatre productions, Stan Douglas has continually reimagined the mediums of photography and multi-channel film and video installations.

His practice is characterized by critical imagination, formal ingenuity and deep commitment to social enquiry, while his work often reflects on the dynamic potential embedded in pivotal historical moments, investigating the relationship between local histories and generational social forces, both global and local.

The exhibition for the Biennale Arte 2022 is inspired by the tenth anniversary of 2011, a year that saw significant social and political unrest around the globe, including the Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East, the Occupy protests that began in New York, the widespread unrest in the UK in response to austerity measures, as well as a riot in the artist’s hometown of Vancouver following a hockey final.

Stan Douglas: 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.

Across Europe and North America, the events of 2011 were simply policed and ignored, while in North Africa and the Middle East, they were suppressed or subverted, with a few notable exceptions.

Stan Douglas explores the events of 2011 as unconscious reactions to the economic and political status quo which followed the recession of 2008, and examines the ways in which social media fuelled movements for change.