A train journey through Siberia to Moscow in 1973 by rock legend David Bowie is now the subject of a museum exhibit. “David Bowie in the Soviet Unionat the Wende Museum in California features his friend Geoff MacCormack’s photos of the rock star at the end of his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane world tour, in which the photographer took part as a singer, percussionist and dancer.
After a concert in Yokohama, Japan, Bowie – who had a phobia of flying due to a fortune teller’s prediction that he would die on a plane – suggested to him and the members of his entourage, to take the Trans-Siberian Express train, along the longest railway line. world line some 5,772 miles, en route to Paris via Warsaw and East Berlin. Using a Japanese Nikkormat camera, MacCormack (aka Warren Peace), who had known Bowie since he was eight years old, captured intimate moments with the musician throughout the train journey.
Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie in front of the Trans-Siberian Express1973. Courtesy of the artist and Wende Museum.
Bowie and MacCormack mingled with fans and partied with soldiers and sailors, with the consequences described in MacCormack’s David Bowie after long binges on the train (1973). MacCormack also documents everyday moments like a woman jumping rope on a train platform and Russian boys posing for the camera. Leee Black Childers, photographer and writer, photographed Bowie and MacCormack on the train and in Moscow.
The show includes Bowie’s own The long way back, a nearly eight-minute documentary, shot on 16mm during the trip itself, which includes their participation in the May Day parade in Moscow. MacCormack’s photos are intercut with footage of Bowie. Also included in the film’s program is a 20-minute interview with Bowie in the USSR in 1996 by Artemy Troitsky. The exhibition is curated by Olya Sova, an independent curator who divides her time between London and Los Angeles and runs the arts organization The new company.
MacCormack published the photographic memoir David Bowie: Rock’n’Roll with me this spring. It is named after a song from Bowie’s 1974 album diamond dogs which he co-wrote.
The accompaniment of the show is a reading list put together by the non-profit Los Angeles online radio station dublab.
See more photos from the show below.
Leee Black Childer, David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack on the Trans-Siberian Express (1973). Courtesy of the artist and the Wende Museum.
Geoff MacCormack, David Bowie after long binges on the train (1973). Courtesy of the artist and the Wende Museum.
Geoff MacCormack, jump lady (1973). Courtesy of the artist and the Wende Museum.
Leee Black Childer, David Bowie and Geoff MacCormack at the Red Square May Day Parade (1973). Courtesy of the artist and the Wende Museum.
“David Bowie in the Soviet Union” can be viewed at the Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA, through October 22.
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