The 100 block of Vancouver's West Hastings Street is the gateway to one of the most contested and controversial inner-city neighborhoods in North America--Vancouver's infamous and impoverished downtown eastside. Lining the south side of the block are Edwardian-era buildings that have born the brunt of shifting market forces over the years.
Developed in the wake of Vancouver's "emergence" as the terminus for the country's national railroad, the buildings in the area have been in decline since the 1930s, when the locus of the city's commerce began moving.
But the "story" of the 100 block is not strictly one of global market forces, nor does it belong to those who, through whatever political stripe, lay claim to it.
The book is based on a monumental-sized digital print of the 100 block of West Hastings Street by Stan Douglas, one of Canada's most distinguished contemporary artists, who utilized current technologies to create a 16'3' panorama of epic scope, photographing each building and compositing the individual prints to assume a fantastic, impossible perspective; which is reproduced in the book as a removable full-colour poster, 5" tall and 30" wide.
Essays by Denise Oleksijczuk, Nicholas Blomley, and Neil Smith use Douglas's photograph as a template for assessing the state of Vancouver's contested downtown eastside; its moral, economic and social implications.
Using the work of one of the art world's most celebrated and accomplished visual artists, the book unravels the dynamics of history and sociology, combined with photography and art, to create a compelling and visually arresting document that informs our understanding of what makes a neighbourhood. Copublished by the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver).
Co-winner of the City of Vancouver Book Prize
Now in its 2nd printing.

Reid Shier is currently Director of the Polygon Gallery (formerly Presentation House Gallery) in North Vancouver; he is the former Curator of the Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver, the Power Plant in Toronto, and Vancouver's Or Gallery. He was editor of Boo Magazine and his essays have been published in Art Text, Canadian Art, Fuse, Flash Art, and Poliester magazines, as well as in the Arsenal Pulp Press/Artspeak anthology Vancouver Art & Economies.

Reid Shier's profile page

Stan Douglas is a visual artist who lives and works in Vancouver. His films, videos, and photographs have been seen in exhibitions internationally, including Documentas IX, X and XI (1992, 1997, 2002) and three Venice Biennales (1990, 2001, 2005). A comprehensive survey of his work, Past Imperfect: Works 1986-2007, was mounted by the Württembergischer Kunstverein and the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in the fall of 2007. Between 2004 and 2006 he was a professor at Universität der Künste Berlin and since 2009 has been a member of the core faculty in the Grad Art Department of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He has been the subject of numerous books and catalogues, including Stan Douglas (Phaidon), Stan Douglas: Abbott & Cordova, 7 August 1971 (Arsenal Pulp) and Stan Douglas: Every Building on 100 West Hastings Street (Arsenal Pulp/Contemporary Art Gallery), and is the editor of Vancouver Anthology (Talonbooks).

Stan Douglas' profile page

• Winner, City of Vancouver Book Award

. . . though this is a micro-micro-study of one small street in a Canadian city, it shares insights that we can all appreciate and recognize.
-New Pages

New Pages

. . . provocative and thoughtful. . . Douglas's photograph powerfully fuses art and social criticism.
-Uptown

Uptown

. . . a fascinating book of essays and archival photos. . . it roots into the causes of the disintegration of the once-proud block and the way that cities like to draw imaginary borders.
-The Georgia Straight

Georgia Straight

. . . a scathing, learned must-read. . .
-Canadian Art

Canadian Art

This vitally important work. . . really bites into some piece of the city's heart. Specifically, it speaks to the question of how this stretch between Cambie and Abbott, routinely called the single worst block in Canada, got the way it is.
-The Vancouver Sun

The Vancouver Sun