Stan Douglas: Doppelgänger, Toledo Museum of Art, October 16, 2021—May 15, 2022

The first North American museum presentation of Stan Douglas’s Doppelgänger (2019), the film centers around an astronaut named Alice who embarks on a solitary outer space mission. When Alice’s ship unexpectedly turns around, she presumes she has returned to Earth, but instead, she arrives at another realm, the exact reverse of her true home. In one version, Alice is welcomed and provided support upon her return, while in another narrative, Alice is received as a potential hostile threat. The work comprised two translucent screens, which can be viewed from either side and display parallel narratives that unfold simultaneously.

Doppelgänger employs science fiction as a prompt to understand the temporal intersections and simultaneous realities that exist in our present. Alice’s return, one as a benevolent earthly citizen and another as a potentially dangerous alien, alludes to the heightened debates around citizenship and homelands. Moreover, the continual mirroring and sense of displacement throughout the film echoed many people’s experiences during the current pandemic.

Doppelgänger also evolved into the metaverse at Decentraland.org, which is the first project in the metaverse both by Douglas and by a U.S. museum.