Stan Douglas: Hors-champs

Opening on March 19, 1993 the gallery will show a video installation of Canadian artist STAN DOUGLAS. In his first one-man exhibition in the United States the artist will show his 1992 work entitled "Hors-Champs." The piece was produced by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and was first shown at last year's "DOCUMENTA IX" in Kassel, Germany. 

"Hors-Champs", a video filmed "live" by STAN DOUGLAS and one other camera man, records the performance of four American musicians playing a Free Jazz composition. "Free Jazz", an idiom of African-American music which became prominent in the late 1960's and early 70's, is characterized by group improvisation and harmonic freedom. By choosing four American musicians (George Lewis - trombome; Douglas Ewart - saxophone; Kent Carter - bass, and Oliver Johnson - drums) who either lived in France during the Free Jazz moment or who still reside there today STAN DOUGLAS points to the continuous presence of African-American music in Europe, starting with Josephine Baker and Sidney Bechet and continuing to the present. The performance itself confronts us with a microcosm of black music, as it brings together the traditions of Call and Response, Blues, Gospel and Jazz in a "Free" setting. In its complexity the music reminds us of a significant African-American cultural achievement.

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