One Second In Montreal1969

"A collection of snow scenes, all still photographs of potential sites for a monument in Montreal (thus distinctly not 'artistic' photographs) follow, one another for 22 minutes." – P. Adams Sitney "This serial procession of pictures is utterly fascinating and hypnotic in spite of the fact that the images themselves are quite ordinary. An overwhelming sense of mystery and deja vu is generated as the parade of odd bleak photographs moves by .... One is made to analyze and concentrate on the images far more attentively than one normally would. It becomes clear that Snow has forced an extremely intense subject-object relationship, not simply by the fact that he has held certain pictures longer than others, but because these durations are structured mathematically, are given a pattern and logic which seems purposive, that is, seems to move teleologically toward some 'meaning.' The only meaning, however, is one's relation to this temporal structure. Thus ONE SECOND IN MONTREAL becomes a sculpture which exists in time without motion. It is typical of Snow's genius, a gift best described by John Cage when he said: 'Where beauty ends is where the artist begins.'" – Gene Youngblood, Arts Canada