Toledo Museum of Art Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Jessica Hong can tell you what Stan Douglas’ 25-minute film Doppelganger is about, but she’s not revealing its secrets — possibly because she herself doesn’t know all of them.
“Douglas is really interested in having viewers and visitors unpack the work for themselves,” Hong said. “There’s a lot there to be revealed and to discover, and rather than telling you this easy straightforward narrative, he understands that everyone’s coming in with their own experiences and subjectivities to the film.”
In other words, if you don’t “get it” at first, you should give it a second or a third viewing. The film plays on a loop and casts quite a lingering spell upon the viewer sitting in the darkness of the Canaday Gallery.
From a contemporary view, it’s easy to see influences of filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey), Ridley Scott (Alien), David Lynch (Eraserhead), and Nicolas Roeg (The Man Who Fell To Earth) buried within the space landscape of Doppelganger, but Canadian artist Douglas has created a filmic experience unlike any other.
Doppelganger premiered at the 2019 Venice Biennale, a worldwide arts exhibit put on every other year in Venice, Italy, and its appearance at the Toledo Museum of Art marks its North American museum debut. It opened on Oct. 16 and remains on view through May 15.
“This exhibition is extremely topical and of the moment. The film is deeply relevant to our lives,” said Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey Director and CEO of the Toledo Museum of Art Adam Levine. “Through non-linear storytelling and intentional ambiguity, Doppelganger allows viewers to embark on their own quest of personal discovery.”
Stan Douglas is known all over the world for his fascinating imagery, which explores the often contradictory nature of reality. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1960, Douglas’ work has won several accolades throughout the years, including the 2016 Hasselblad Award and the 2019 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts.
Doppelganger, which Hong calls a “science-fiction inspired experience,” is shown on two side-by-side screens descending from the ceiling of the Canaday Gallery. The film can be viewed from either side of the room, creating two unique viewpoints. The film opens with a deep space background on both screens. Dual close-up images of the sun dissolve into view. A small, barely detectable black oblong shape passes over both suns, looking like a crawling insect. Both suns then merge into one celestial body, which sets the scene for the surreal journey that follows the story of an astronaut named Alice, who indeed is about to enter a wonderland. Cut to a space age doctor’s office/science lab. Alice is briefed by a female doctor about her upcoming voyage. On the opposite screen, there’s a slow tracking shot of the interior of Alice’s spacecraft, the Hermes II.
In the film’s most memorable shot, Alice and her clone — her doppelganger — bolt upright from their respective vessels of water, leaving the viewer to interpret which version of Alice is the “real” one. Two distinct narratives unfold at the same time, one where Alice is welcomed back to Earth with open arms and one where she is quarantined and deemed a threat.
But what’s it all mean? That may be up to the viewer to ultimately decide, but Hong provides a few clues through the context in which the film was made.
“In 2019 when (Douglas) was making the film for the last Venice Biennale, there were a lot of harrowing news reports about global migrant crises,” Hong said. “This idea of citizenship, homeland, and migration and journeying was certainly on his mind. And now in 2021, we’re still in the midst of the pandemic, it has a lot of further resonance. This idea of displacement and mirroring effect, particularly for those who have to live their lives in a virtual screen is very palpable and present in this embodied film installation.”
By turns unsettling and mystifying, Doppelganger also speaks to the uneasiness of life in the coronavirus pandemic.
“When there was supposed to be a return to normalcy earlier this year, but whatever that new normal was, there was still a lot of uncertainty around it,” Hong said. “And we’re still in those uncertain times, and this work seems to echo that as well.”
Doppelganger is currently showing at Toledo Museum of Art, 2445 Monroe St. The installation is supported by season sponsor ProMedica with local support from presenting sponsors Susan and Tom Palmer and the Ohio Arts Council.
First Published October 24, 2021, 2:00 p.m.
