Josh Gabert-Doyon

Josh Gabert-Doyon

August 2017 – January 2018

Josh Gabert-Doyon is a writer, photographer, and documentary radio producer. His fellowship assembles a provisional research collective—W.W.A.S.—to study the historic transformations of Vancouver’s storied Woodward’s building. Since September 2017, the collective (Brit Bachmann, Gabi Dao, Josh Gabert-Doyon, and Byron Peters) has occupied Pollyanna 圖書館 Library to plan and carry out an investigation into Woodward’s as an epicentre of local class struggle. He currently works at Fillip and Cited, a podcast about academia and the politics of expertise.

W.W.A.S. is a provisional research collective assembled by 221A to study the historic transformations of Vancouver’s storied Woodward’s building. Since September 2017, the collective (Brit Bachmann, Gabi Dao, Josh Gabert-Doyon, and Byron Peters) has occupied Pollyanna 圖書館 Library to plan and carry out an investigation into Woodward’s as an epicentre of local class struggle.

W.W.A.S. has charted the building’s various articulations over the past century in order to grasp Woodward’s as a historical constellation; that is, as a tangle of intertwined narratives through which to comprehend the distinct co-development of urbanism and capitalism in Vancouver. Beginning with accounts of the building’s origins in 1903 as a ‘frontier’ department store, the collective’s research has traced the history of Woodward’s—not simply as an architectural case study, but as a contradictory cluster of actants, desires, and ideologies—by drawing connections between fragments of civic archives, activist histories, commercial ephemera, redacted emails, quaint Canadiana, and nostalgic Facebook groups. W.W.A.S. understands this ‘prehistory' as a force that haunts Woodward’s controversial ‘present history’ of the last two decades: its acquisition, demolition, and reconstruction as a ‘social-mix’ condo-art megaplex by Westbank Corp, a model now archetypal of private-public redevelopment schemes.

The nature of the collective’s findings—uncovering an ulterior history of Woodward’s—has led its activity out of the Pollyanna Library stacks and into unfamiliar territories in purpose and method. In coming to the understanding of present-day Woodward’s as an engine of ‘art washing’, wherein the ongoing, brutal redevelopment of Vancouver’s ‘urban frontier’ is sold as a form of cultural production (a logic that has reached its apotheosis in Westbank Corp’s insipid Fight for Beauty rebranding spectacle), the collective was moved to refocus its energies towards not only understanding the politics of Woodward’s, but intervening in it. In short; what arose was an ethics of research. Consequently, W.W.A.S. has taken on a program of ‘action-research’, where knowledge production meets the political through tactics of insurgent publishing, journalistic provocation, and building living solidarities. On November 26 2017 W.W.A.S presented a midterm report of its research and activities at the Vancouver Tenants Union’s First Annual Convention.

On February 2018, W.W.A.S. hosted and moderated BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS: FORUM ON ART AND DEVELOPER MONEY at Pollyanna 圖書館 Library. The forum invited artists to participate community dialogue on artwashing — the co-option of art workers and institutions by real estate in Vancouver. BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS... opened a space for artists who are either new to or already committed to fighting for housing justice to ask questions, share experiences, and strategize together to win a better collective life for all.

Collection 05: Woodward’s Amateur Historical Society Archives

33 items
Media link Name Call No. Format Produced by Material Selected by Collection
Body Heat: The Story of the Woodward’s Redevelopment
Body Heat: The Story of the Woodward’s Redevelopment WWAS 001 Edited by Robert Enright Print W.W.A.S. 05
Facing the Music: Documenting Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Redevelopment of Downtown Los Angeles
Facing the Music: Documenting Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Redevelopment of Downtown Los Angeles WWAS 002 Allan Sekula Print W.W.A.S. 05
Vancouver Ltd.
Vancouver Ltd. WWAS 003 Donald Gutstein Print Kay Higgins 05
Citizen City: Vancouver’s Henriquez Partners Challenges Architects to Engage in Partnerships that Advance Cultural Sustainability
Citizen City: Vancouver’s Henriquez Partners Challenges Architects to Engage in Partnerships that Advance Cultural Sustainability WWAS 004 Marya Cotten Gould, Gregory Henriquez, Robert Enright Print W.W.A.S. 05
West Coast Line 41 – 37/ 2-3: Woodsquat
West Coast Line 41 – 37/ 2-3: Woodsquat WWAS 005 Edited by Aaron Vidaver Print W.W.A.S. 05
Carnegie Newsletters, a selection of issues from 1992-2017
Carnegie Newsletters, a selection of issues from 1992-2017 WWAS 006 REF Carnegie Community Centre Print W.W.A.S. 05
Access All Areas: Conversations on Engaged Arts
Access All Areas: Conversations on Engaged Arts WWAS 007 Visible Arts Society, Edited by Tania Willard Print W.W.A.S. 05
Every Building On 100 West Hastings
Every Building On 100 West Hastings WWAS 008 Stan Douglas Print W.W.A.S. 05
-Guide to Documents
-4 folders VPD FOI
-Newsletter scanned
-Guide to Documents -4 folders VPD FOI -Newsletter scanned WWAS 009 REF Aaron Vidaver, Friend's of the Woodward's Squat Archive DVD Aaron Vidaver, Friend's of the Woodward's Squat Archive 05
The Beat of Frances Street
The Beat of Frances Street WWAS 010 REF Eleven Foot Productions DVD Aaron Vidaver, Friend's of the Woodward's Squat Archive 05
In Search of Present Tense: Art in the Domain of Monopoly-Finance
In Search of Present Tense: Art in the Domain of Monopoly-Finance WWAS 011 Andrew Witt & Graeme Fisher Print W.W.A.S. 05
AstroTurf
AstroTurf WWAS 012 REF Byron Peters Synthetic Fibers W.W.A.S. 05
BEAUTY IS CLASS WAR
BEAUTY IS CLASS WAR WWAS 013 REF W.W.A.S. Print, Foamcore W.W.A.S. 05
WESTBANK IS EVIL
WESTBANK IS EVIL WWAS 014 REF W.W.A.S. Print, Foamcore W.W.A.S. 05
DISPLACEMENT IS NOT BEAUTY
DISPLACEMENT IS NOT BEAUTY WWAS 015 REF W.W.A.S. Print, Foamcore W.W.A.S. 05
HUCKSTERS
HUCKSTERS WWAS 016 REF W.W.A.S. Print, Foamcore, Wood W.W.A.S. 05
VIOLENCE MASQUERADING AS BENEVOLENCE
VIOLENCE MASQUERADING AS BENEVOLENCE WWAS 017 REF W.W.A.S. Print, Foamcore, Wood W.W.A.S. 05
WHEN DID WE SAY YES TO SURVIVAL BEING DISCARDED DELETED DEMEANED?
WHEN DID WE SAY YES TO SURVIVAL BEING DISCARDED DELETED DEMEANED? WWAS 018 REF W.W.A.S. Print, Foamcore W.W.A.S. 05
Alone and Cold: The Davies Commission – Inquiry into the death of Frank Paul
Alone and Cold: The Davies Commission – Inquiry into the death of Frank Paul WWAS 019 The William H. Davies, Q.C., Commission Print W.W.A.S. 05
Woodsquat Digest
Woodsquat Digest WWAS 020 W.W.A.S. Print W.W.A.S. 05
Department Store Nostalgia And Bankruptcy
Department Store Nostalgia And Bankruptcy WWAS 021 REF W.W.A.S. Print W.W.A.S. 05
Fama Push And Pull
Fama Push And Pull WWAS 022 REF W.W.A.S. Print W.W.A.S. 05
Lasting Impact And FFB
Lasting Impact And FFB WWAS 023 REF W.W.A.S. Print W.W.A.S. 05
Westbank And Social Mix
Westbank And Social Mix WWAS 024 REF W.W.A.S. Print W.W.A.S. 05
Displacement Is Not Beauty Banner
Displacement Is Not Beauty Banner WWAS 025 REF Beverly Ho, W.W.A.S. Photo by Sungpil Yoon Canvas W.W.A.S. 05
British Law and Arctic Men: The Celebrated 1917 Murder Trials of Sinnisiak and Uluksuk, First Inuit Tried Under White Man’s Law
British Law and Arctic Men: The Celebrated 1917 Murder Trials of Sinnisiak and Uluksuk, First Inuit Tried Under White Man’s Law WWAS 026 REF R.G. Moyles Print Jakob Knudsen 05
The New Reality: The Politics of Restraint in British Columbia
The New Reality: The Politics of Restraint in British Columbia WWAS 027 Edited by Warren Magnusson, William K. Carroll, Charles Doyle, Monika Langer, R.B.J. Walker Print Jakob Knudsen 05
Prison Exposures: First Photographs of Life Inside Prison by a Convict
Prison Exposures: First Photographs of Life Inside Prison by a Convict WWAS 028 REF Robert Neese Print Jakob Knudsen 05
Artropolis 93: Public Art and Art About Public Issues
Artropolis 93: Public Art and Art About Public Issues WWAS 029 Edited by Sue Kelly, Lisa Langford, Francesca Lund, Ann Rosenberg Print Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery 05
W.W.A.S. at Housing Justice Fair, Vancouver Tenant’s Union first AGM + Convention
W.W.A.S. at Housing Justice Fair, Vancouver Tenant’s Union first AGM + Convention WWAS 030 REF Sungpil Yoon Polaroid W.W.A.S. 05
The Volcano: Issue 8 – Spring 2017
The Volcano: Issue 8 – Spring 2017 WWAS 031 The Volcano Editorial Collective (Dave Diewert, Harold Lavender, Herb Varley, Ivan Drury, Jean Swanson, Natalie Knight, Sarah Sheridan, Shannon Bundock) Print W.W.A.S. 05
Vancouver Metro: Monday, March 12, 2018
Vancouver Metro: Monday, March 12, 2018 WWAS 032 Vancouver Metro Print W.W.A.S. 05
Woodsquat
Woodsquat WWAS 033 REF W.W.A.S. Print W.W.A.S. 05

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W.W.A.S. is assembled by Notes on Permanent Education (N.O.P.E. 2017), a collective research program convened by 221A Librarian Vincent Tao. N.O.P.E. 2017 inaugurates the organization’s new fellowship model and its primary support, Pollyanna Library.