RIOT ACT

A New Mural In Gastown Re-Creates One Of The Defining Moments In The
City's History

Great public artworks call out to the passerby. Masterpieces begin a
conversation. Stan Douglas's new mural depicting the 1971 Gastown
riots, now suspended in the atrium of the redone Woodward's building
(steps from the site of the actual riots), will strike up more
conversation than any other artwork in town. Hanging midair at the
heart of the city's new melting pot, it depicts some of the hundreds
of hippies who suffered police brutality after convening at Maple
Tree Square one summer day to protest undercover drug squads.
Officers charged the crowds on horseback and beat protesters with
batons. It's an embarrassing scene of misconduct that the police have
tried hard to put to rest. The finished work is a massive reminder
though, stretching 50 by 30 feet. The title Douglas gave it, Abbott &
Cordova, 7 August 1971, is dry and prosaic enough to register his
interest in historical rigour. In fact, he spent six months
researching historical details ("I wanted to know what was right,
from the signage down to the garbage can"); then there were six weeks
of pre-production (building the elaborate street set); three days of
shooting; and two months of post-production. The final computer file
cost $550,000 to create and, after construction costs are considered,
the price is over $1 million.

We often think of photographs as moments of witnessing. But what
Douglas has delivered to the city is a moment of re-witnessing,
reassessing. As Vancouver steps toward the 2010 Games, when its
citizens will be more policed, more monitored, more scrutinized than
ever, this mural insists we have always had the temerity to watch our watcher.