Excerpt from Doppelgänger, 2019, by Stan Douglas. © Stan Douglas. Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner
History is fickle; those who write it are fickler still. The slippage between truth and fiction has been a long-standing preoccupation for the Canadian artist Stan Douglas, whose video installation Doppelgänger traces two parallel timelines, each as seemingly plausible as the other. Set in an alternative present, Doppelgänger is displayed across two square-format, translucent screens – both of which can be viewed from either side. A looped narrative unfolds in vignettes that depicts concurrent events occurring in worlds that are light years apart.
The protagonist, an astronaut named Alice, is teleported to a spaceship bound for a distant planet – as is her clone. Then, along with her ship the Hermes II, she returns suddenly and inexplicably. The aftermath of Alice’s mission ‘failure’ (in fact, she has arrived in a world where everything is the reverse of what she once knew) and her reception back on Earth plays out across the two screens. In one reality, Alice is lauded and received compassionately, where is treated to B12 vitamins injections and bed rest. In the other, she is considered a hostile alien, quarantined and interrogated.
Stills from Doppelgänger, 2019, by Stan Douglas, two-screen projection.
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. Douglas addresses the position of the ‘other’ in society through the lens of science fiction and quantum entanglement. The artist further magnifies viewers’ sense of displacement through overlapping vantage points and narratives, suggesting the possibility of infinitely diverging alternate realities.
Doppelgänger made its debut at the 58th Venice Biennale last year, and is now being staged in tandem – rather suitably – in London and New York exhibitions, at Victoria Miro and David Zwirner respectively. Additionally, Victoria Miro is presenting selected works from Douglas’ photographic series Scenes from the Blackout, in which the artist imagines the entropic effects of a total loss of power in present day New York, and how its denizens would react in the fallout. A panoramic view of a near blacked-out city is juxtaposed with glimpses of individual experience – ingenuity and lawlessness, altruism and malevolence. Douglas is holding up a mirror to our dysfunction, and it’s up to us to accept the reflection we see.
Installation view of Doppelgänger, 2019, at Victoria Miro, London.
Doppelgänger, 2019, by Stan Douglas, two screen projection.
Installation view of Scenes from the Blackout at Victoria Miro, London.
Candlelight, 2017, by Stan Douglas, digital chromogenic print mounted on Dibond aluminium.
Jewels, 2017, by Stan Douglas, digital chromogenic print mounted on Dibond aluminium.
Stranded, 2017, by Stan Douglas, digital chromogenic print mounted on Dibond aluminium.
Loot, 2017, by Stan Douglas, digital chromogenic print mounted on Dibond aluminium.
INFORMATION
‘Stan Douglas: Doppelgänger’, until 14 March, Victoria Miro. victoriamiro.com
ADDRESS
Victoria Miro
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
-
Think small, think electric, as Hyundai attempts to revolutionise the classic Indian three-wheelerHyundai’s Micro Mobility strategy, in collaboration with Indian manufacturer TVS, has revealed two conceptual takes on small electric urban transport in a bid to cut the country’s crushing pollution issue
-
‘Just beneath the surface there’s another world’: How David Lynch used hair and make-up to create his singular universeFrom Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks, David Lynch used hair and make-up in his films as a narrative device, writes Laura Havlin
-
Burns Night 2025: where to celebrate in LondonIt is time to raise a wee dram to Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns on Burns Night (25 January). Here is our pick of places to enjoy an evening of generous speechmaking, toasting, and drinking around London
-
Takashi Murakami and Ryan Murphy headline Wallpaper* November 2023In the Wallpaper* November 2023 Art Special, discover Takashi Murakami’s pandemic-inspired creatures, producer Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood HQ, 20 years of Frieze and more, on newsstands today
-
‘Darker, more sinister themes’: Paula Rego’s decade of self-discovery is the subject of a new London exhibitionPaula Rego’s ‘Letting Loose’, at Victoria Miro in London, considers the artist’s work from the 1980s
-
Alex Hartley’s eerie ode to Carlo Scarpa in VeniceAlex Hartley’s theatrical new installation ‘Closer than Before’ at Victoria Miro Venice is a haunting take on architectural destruction in Venice
-
A’strict: the South Korean digital art collective bringing nature to urban lifeAs part of our Generation Generative series, we spotlight a’strict, the artistic unit of South Korean digital media design company d’strict, whose immersive art aims to bring viewers closer to nature
-
Bruce Nauman’s Venice mega-show is a full body experienceFocusing on the American artist's performative 'Contrapposto Studies', Bruce Nauman's show at Punta della Dogana, Venice, gives new meaning to body language – on view until 27 November 2022
-
Stan Douglas in Venice: a hypnotic chronicle of youth, revolt and liberationStan Douglas’ captivating two-part exhibition for the Canada Pavilion in Venice is a haunting and meticulous reconstruction of historical events
-
‘Image as virus’: World AIDS Day 2021 marked with powerful new public filmTo mark World AIDS Day, (1 December 2021), and 40 years since the disease was first recorded, Circa will present VideoVirus, a compelling new film by AA Bronson and General Idea screened on public billboards in London, Seoul and Tokyo
-
Meet emerging artists from Oppo Renovators 2021 ProjectTechnology innovator Oppo announces the winners of its Renovators 2021 emerging artists project and says, ‘Everyone can be, and is, an artist’
