George Snow is fascinated by railways. He uses them in his work to express the interwovenness of architectural style, transport, history and politics. The iron way has had a significant role in history. It provided a means for farmers to get their goods to markets and so opened up America. It has shipped men and arms across countries to engage in war. The high speed trains that traverse Europe today offer a fast and comfortable journey between the capital cities of our continent – yet beneath this display of magnificent technology lies a turbulent history of grandiose schemes and menial labour, greed and ambition, and a bizarre amalgam of culture and engineering. Drawing his inspiration from Piranesi and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the great British railway engineer, Snow decided to create a railway in virtual space. This is the ultimate boys toy railway. It is his imagination come to life. The space in which it is set is based on Piranesi's Carceri etchings. Some of the buildings are based on 'The Iron Way of the State', Snow's collage from the 80's that was set in the vicinity of the Bologna railway station, the scene of the fascist massacre in the seventies. For this performance he will install several screens showing scenes from the Virtual Railway to the accompaniment of loud music. The music is like the manufacturing processes of iron and steel: klang klang, bong bong. The setting of the great works of Brunel and Piranesi, which represent the triumph of European culture, technology and ingenuity, in Snow's opinion is vulnerable to the destructive urges of the alien Amerikkkans whose war planes are frequently used to kill Europeans and destroy our culture. In the skies overhead of the Virtual Railway you see Amerikkkan death planes dropping bombs on tractors and trains, killing farmers and travellers. He uses an image of a burning tractor in the centre of his railway. This is, to him, the most potent symbol of the war. Killer jets versus the farmer's tractor. The great injustice of 80 million of the worlds richest tax payers inflicting their prejudice on a tiny Balkan state is the crime of the century. Another Millennium, another war. That is his statement.
– Loek Stolwijk
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George Snow ° 1941, Hannover (Germany)
Lives and works in Toscany (Italy)
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