The Motorcycle: Design ~ Art ~ Desire

[cmfalco]

As background, just over twenty years ago Ultan Guilfoyle and I were co-curators of the record-breaking 'The Art of the Motorcycle' exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. During its time at the Guggenheim in New York, Chicago, Bilbao (Spain), and Las Vegas over 2 million visitors saw the motorcycles we selected, a quarter-million bought the 432-page catalog, and countless others watched programs about them on television and read about them in upwards of a thousand magazine and newspaper stories.

Officially announced yesterday is that Ultan and I are now creating a completely re-imagined look at the past, present, and future of motorcycles with the title 'The Motorcycle: Design~Art~Desire'. The exhibition, drawing from some of the world's most significant collections, will open at the Queensland Art Gallery|Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane on 28 November 2020 as their summer blockbuster and run through April 25, 2021. QAGOMA is one of Australia's most important visual arts institutions with more than one million visitors annually, 30 percent from interstate and overseas, making it equivalent in mission and attendance to the Guggenheim. We also are in initial discussions for the exhibition to travel outside Australia following its run in Brisbane.

I'll post brief updates in the months to come on my Instagram feed @charlesfalco

https://motorbikewriter.com/goma-exhibi ... torcycles/

[nevhunter]

A lot of motorcycle design IS art. ON some it's a bit minimal. All the best to your venture. . Nev

[Keith.owen]

Congratulations!
It's a shame I'll not be able o make it to Oz!
Keith

[Steven.Carter]

Good luck, hey, did the bike get blown over?

[Bob.Murphy]

Good luck with the exhibition.

I was wondering who donates the bikes for the event

Bob.

[cmfalco]

I was wondering who donates the bikes for the event

They're not donated, but rather are loaned. After creating a list of the machines we want we get the interesting, but exhausting, job of flying around the world to look at motorcycles and convince the owners to loan their bikes, then we turn it over to the Registrar to arrange the actual loan. I'm currently in Brisbane but fly back to the U.S. on Sunday.

[Bob.Murphy]

Hmmm, Bad choice of words on my part - I expected the owners to get them back after the event.

I guess Insurance is a bit of a nightmare .

Are the British "National Motorcycle Museum" and the "Sammy Miller Museum" on your list ??

Bob.

[JohnnyBeckett]

HI it look like it is going tobe a very good show and good luck with it and hope you keep going with it

[cmfalco]

I guess Insurance is a bit of a nightmare .
Are the British "National Motorcycle Museum" and the "Sammy Miller Museum" on your list ??

Insurance isn't an issue for an institution like QAGOMA. The machines will be fully insured as well as packed and transported as if they were priceless Rodin statues. Once at the museum they'll be handled by trained art conservators where they will be treated better than they've ever been treated before.

We developed a list of the machines that will tell the stories we want to tell, and then have been securing the loans of those machines from individuals, significant collections, and museums on three continents. It may sound like it's splitting hairs, but it isn't, but this is an exhibition of design that is based on motorcycles, not a motorcycle exhibition. Because of this motorcyclists should love it (although wondering why various significant-to-them machines are absent, while marveling at others that they had never seen before), but the general public should love it as well.

[Vincent.vanGinneke]

Succes ! I assume that the dreaded Australian no asbestos import ban is no longer in use ?