The second, updated edition of Vancouver Anthology, first published in 1991 and edited by acclaimed artist Stan Douglas.
The essays collected in this book were first presented in the autumn of 1990 as part of a lecture series entitled Vancouver Anthology: Lectures on Art in British Columbia, a forum in which each contributing writer could test his or her research on the question of art and politics in public, before their papers were sent to print. The papers documented a range of Vancouver cultural practices, including the emergence of artist-run centres, experimental performance and video, feminist activity, collaboration, sculpture, painting, art criticism, conceptual art and landscape, as well as critical reflections on perceptions of aboriginal cultures.
Essays by Keith Wallace, Sara Diamond, Nancy Shaw, Maria Insell, William Wood, Carol Williams, Robin Peck, Robert Linsley, Scott Watson, and Marcia Crosby.
The book captures an art scene in flux, grappling with the legacy of local social and political insecurities while turning its focus towards international ambitions. Two decades on, the volume still packs a punch.
— Canadian Art Magazine
Vancouver Anthology was a revelation when I first read it and remains an essential and inspiring document twenty years later. It is a model of how histories can be generated from the still-living past and forwarded as a guide to the future. Each of these essays is evidence of original and independent thinking by artists and writers who have worked at the heart of the Vancouver scene. It is first-rate and first-hand art history.
— Ian Wallace, artist
This book is required reading for those wishing to grasp why art in Vancouver is bent in certain directions but not others.
— John O’Brian, Professor Emeritus of Art History, University of British Columbia