Death May Wait

The installation Death May Wait is the first in a series of investigations into death, dying and remnants of technological progress. In the forensic laboratory as a setting Steinvåg examines the inter zone between life and death where the death process itself, its mechanisms and forces on the body are determined. Specifically in the area of high-risk management, the interconnection and interdependence between the body and technology is strongly visible, directly or indirectly traces of technological violence can be read on the body. Evidences collected by forensic researcher on the crash site as scrapnel and microscopic samples of melted bodily/vehicle fibers emphasize the dynamics of the forces involved. In the physical force field between life and death, constructive and destructive fields interact in non-linear ways making outcomes sometimes difficult to oversee. Steinvåg explores the remains of the fatal event and anesthetization of these objects in the forensic setting.

Death May Wait centrepiece is a reconstruction of the iconic remains of Vladimir Komarow's, a Russian pilot and cosmonaut who died during the mission Soyuz 1 meaning ‘Union’ on April 24, 1967. The launched space shuttle had over hundred of technical flaws and according to Yuri Gargarin who tried to stop the launch it was a death trap. Komarow went yet on one condition, if he died his body would be displayed in an open coffin. The mission was a failure. Komarow manually managed to navigate the shuttle back to Earth, but due to a parachute failure he crashed in the fields of Kazakhstan. In the burnt-out descent module then completely disintegrated Komarov's remains was strapped to the center seat. Komarow's only recognisable part of the body not melted from the heat of the crash was a fragment of his heel bone. Doctors declared the cause of death to have been from multiple blunt injuries, and an official autopsy at the Moscow military hospital verified the cause of death according with the conclusions of the field doctors. Komarow's remains were placed in an open coffin at the space headquarters.