c h r i s t o p h e r r i l e y
video installation
Apollo Raw and Uncut
Premier at the London Science Museum - July-August 2009
Screened at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Quebec - November 2009 - February 2010
Between 1966 and 1972 NASA collected around 22 hours of 16mm film footage shot in space and on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo missions. For the last forty years this unique collection has been kept in very cold storage at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. The film rolls have only been brought out of storage a handful of times to transfer onto new tape formats, and only brief portions from a few of the most popular clips have ever been used in documentary films.
In a unique collaboration with the online archive film company Footagevault, visitors to the Science Museum, London, got a unique opportunity to see the entire Apollo film archive for free in high definition. The screenings ran through July and August 2009.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity", said Doug Millard, Senior Curator of Space Technology at the Science Museum. "Alongside the Science Museum’s peerless collection of space technology visitors this summer got the exclusive chance to see exactly what the Apollo astronauts saw forty years ago. Not only are these films fascinating, but they are also beautiful and inspiring."
Filmmaker and Principal Curator of Footagevault Dr Christopher Riley commented, “I’ve been delighted that we have been able to partner with the Science Museum for this special anniversary screening of the entire Apollo film archive. ‘Apollo Raw and Uncut’ is a unique project which will, for the first time, present the Moon shots to the public - without the usual editing which documentary filmmaking enforces on our view of the Apollo story."
An estimated 3000 visitors passed through the event during its 40 day run in London during the summer of 2009. One visitor commented that the footage really took him back and that he "was really mesmerised by it all."
In the autumn of 2009 the installation moved to the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, where it played for six months as "Secrets of Apollo", as part of their exhibition Intermission: Films From a Heroic Future.
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