“Continental Drift” is an exhibition of new work - a video and a set of enlarged video stills - by Colin Snapp. Filmed entirely through the windows of tour buses, trains, taxis and rental cars in Morocco, the video “acts to highlight moments of collision between the observer and his cultural restrictions,” the organisers say. Derived from the video footage of Continental Drift, the stills, titled Latitudes, are described as “a visitor’s impressions of the landscape he himself inevitably imprints”. “Continental Drift” will be on display at The Journal Gallery (168 North 1st Street   Brooklyn NY 11211) from 6 March until 29 April.

Press Release

“Continental Drift”

March 6 - April 29 2012
Opening Tuesday March 6 6 - 9 PM

The Journal Gallery is pleased to present “Continental Drift,” an exhibition of new work by Colin Snapp. Shot during Snapp’s recent travels through southern Morocco, the video and enlarged video stills in “Continental Drift” explore the theme of tourism and its relationship to the natural landscape.

Filmed entirely through the windows of tour buses, trains, taxis and rental cars, the video Continental Drift acts to highlight moments of collision between the observer and his cultural restrictions. The soundtrack consists of a series of field recordings Snapp took while in the Sahara. Synthesized from such disparate sources as insects, prayer calls and a butane torch, the recordings at times seem a natural soundtrack to the video while at other points the audio and visual are dissonant. This disconnect creates a record of, and a nostalgia for, an invented moment. 

Though derived from the video footage of Continental Drift, the stills, titled Latitudes, offer respite from the fragmentation of the video. The reflection in a swimming pool of a veiled woman averting her eyes from the camera, the back of one tour bus as seen through the windshield of another, a group of tourists taking photos, palm trees bathed in a supernaturally eerie glow. Often obscured by the confines of the vehicles, and tinged by reflective glass, these video stills are a visitor’s impressions of the landscape he himself inevitably imprints.

Born in 1982 in Washington state, Colin Snapp lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Recent exhibitions include “Discovering Slowness” at Tabacka Cultural Center, Kosice, Slovakia; “Proyectos Ultravioleta” at Foto>30, Guatemala City, Guatemala; “Times Square AEO LED Billboard Project,” New York, NY; Sculpture Center, New York, NY; “Colin Snapp / Daniel Turner” at Martos Gallery, New York, NY; a series of screenings at Jericho Ditch, Isle of Wight, VA and a screening at The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Colin Snapp’s work was most recently featured in “Two Works” by The Journal Gallery at NADA Miami Beach, 2011.

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