Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

328 reMeMberING the SpaCe aGe
The Apollo Prophecies are, in fact, a series of staged, edited and photoshopped
black-and-white photographs that document a purely fctional event. the work
centers on the apollo landing on the Moon and the subsequent discovery of
a lost mission of edwardian astronauts who colonized the Moon nearly three
quarters of a century earlier.
The Apollo Prophecies is both humorous and well researched. Drawing from
both the history of photography and the history of the apollo missions, the
two fne art photographers Nicholas Kahn and richard Selesnick wrote, staged,
acted, photographed, and edited two seamlessly woven, multi-page panoramas
that portray a two-man crew, their launch, journey, landing, discovery, and
return to earth. In addition, the two photographers also wrote and created an
accompanying booklet, “apollo: a prophecy” that conceptually chronicles the
mission profles from apollo l to apollo xxxl. the booklet contains portraits
made to appear turn-of-the 20th century and hand-drawn. the illustrations detail
the edwardians and the artifacts from their lunar colonization. In the “editor’s
Note” the authors ofer insight into the philosophical subtext of their work:
It is a little known fact that when the apollo astronauts
returned from the Moon, they brought back evidence of a
previously unknown lunar expedition. this evidence comprised
several cardboard canisters containing lunar breccia
and, more signifcantly, a document written by the early
explorer that prophesied the future arrival of the NaSa
astronauts themselves.
Most saw the documents as a forgery, not least because the
early explorers viewed the coming astronauts as cosmic deities.
Whether the prophecy is authentic or not, its vision is hard to
deny—if any man is to be transformed in to a god, what better
candidate is there than the one who has ascended into the
celestial sphere and stood alone on a distant world? 77
On the surface the tone of the narrative could seem authentic but as
readers and viewers, well aware of space history, we know it is not. In fact, we
muse at Kahn and Selesnik’s posturing. Calling the apollo astronauts “cosmic
deities” in the eyes of the early explorers is absurdly comical. Yet, there is also
an irreverence that alludes to a belief on the part of some people that the apollo
landings were staged.
Within the panoramas of the book, though, a number of Gemini fight
and apollo surface photographs can be referenced to compare with some
77. Ibid., see accompanying pamphlet “apollo:a prophecy” (without page numbers), additional text
by erez Lieberman.