New War of 1812 Monument in Toronto
"Generation X" Author Douglas Coupland Designs War Memorial
Nov 11, 2008
At first glance, author and artist Douglas Coupland might not seem the obvious candidate to design a new public monument commemorating the War of 1812. However, when Toronto waterfront condo developers Malibu Investments went looking for suggestions, local art consultant Karen Mills suggested he was the ideal choice.
Coupland, of course, is the reason most North American readers have any ideas about Generation X or the McJob, both terms that were popularized by his massively successful first novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, in 1991. Since then his fingers – while not actually typing – have apparently remained squarely on the pulse of the evolving contemporary zeitgeist. This is evident from even a quick channel-surf past CBC Television's adaptation of his 2006 novel jPod, about a group of electronic game designers whose names all begin with the letter J.
Douglas Coupland: An Art-School Background
Coupland’s decidedly postmodern and cross-disciplinary approach derives partly from an art school background. Since 2000, he’s been practicing visual art alongside the writing; after all, he says, "the best day of writing is really only two hours. That leaves 14 others." Among other works are his "Safety Blankets": woven cotton tapestries covered with familiar corporate logos. He personally chewed a copy of Generation X into paste and fashioned a wasp’s nest with it, as part of a series he created in 2004.
And although he lives on the West Coast, Coupland claims that his brother occasionally complains to him that "You’re in Toronto more than you’re at my house."
Thoughts on Coupland's War of 1812 Monument
The sculpture, unveiled last November 3, stands near Toronto's waterfront at the northwest corner of Bathurst and Fleet streets, at the entrance to the shiny new condo tower known as Malibu at Harbourfront. It depicts two toy soldiers, each about 12 feet high. The Canadian, a gold-coloured figure in the uniform of the 1813 Royal Newfoundland Regiment, stands brandishing his musket triumphantly. The other, a duller, more leaden colour, depicts a member of the 16th U.S. Infantry Regiment who lies toppled on his back.
Coupland denies that he intended the image of toy soldiers to belittle military traditions. Instead, he says, "it’s an entryway for a lot of people." Born into a military family, he says that: "kids who grow up in military families are actually very pragmatic about it. In Europe it [a military presence] is everywhere. Here, it’s nowhere, and that makes me a little bit uneasy."
In particular, he says, his War of 1812 monument is meant to be "a war memorial, yes, but also a call to vigilance" against the kind of "creeping revisionism" that threatens to blur the collective memory as to who actually won the War of 1812.
"History is a fluid notion," he says. "It can be rewritten if we’re not vigilant."
The image above shpws the unveiling of the monument with (left to right), Rony Hirsh, President of Malibu Investments; Toronto City Councillor Joe Pantalone, and creator Douglas Coupland. Click below to enlarge it for a better view.
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