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SHUTTLE DISASTER NO. 1

George Snow (UK)
1986, Colour PAL video, 5:52 min. Music by Brendan Beal.

Trøndelag Center for Contemporary Art, March 30 – May 1, 2016

Lost in space – George Snow – Shuttle Dissaster nr 1 – stillbildeLost in space – George Snow – Shuttle Dissaster nr 1 – stillbilde

SCRATCH THAT ITCH – Having spent 3 years isolated and programming computers this fellow, Brendan Beal, walked into my studio with a song about the then recent shuttle disaster. Now- shortly before that the legendary George Barber, the king of Scratch Video, paid me a visit. I was overawed by the video work he showed me. Next day I was off to the Soviet Embassy where I met Mr. Plushenko, the Soviet Cultural attaché. He gave me reels and reels of Sovexport footage of Russian achievements in Space. I had them transcribed to Umatic and made this video. Shortly after that the British Film Institute, Ben Gibson and John Wyver noticed my work; followed by the record companies. Then I began to make money and Art fame. This is the first video I made with the legendary musician Brendan Beal.

Thanks must go to Mr. Pleshenko of Sovexport Film and to the staff of the embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics in London.

A tip of the hat to Yuri Gagarin, a bone for Leika and rousing cheer to the genius of Sergey Korolyov (Серге́й Па́влович Королёв). Thank you Comrades.

Made shortly after the explosion of the shuttle Challenger in 1986, George Snows video, Shuttle Disaster No. 1, offers a vision of the event that is radically different from that of the media at the time. Snows version being in praise of Soviet achievements in space and damnation on the Americans.

George Snow (b. 1948), was expelled from Hornsey College of Art in 1970, worked as a designer and illustrator for the underground press in the 1970s, as well as a press photographer in Northern Ireland for the left-wing press. In the 1980s, he began computer programming and experimenting with video, making music videos commissioned by The Art of Noise, London Beat and The Stranglers. His work been screened at the World Wide Video Festival in The Hague, Sao Paolo International Video Festival, the ICA, London; Wroclaw, Poland and at Videoformes, Montbeliard, France.