The Motorcycle: Design ~ Art ~ Desire

[BoschZEV]

It might be worthwhile to have some context for this exhibition. With the exception of 'The Art of the Motorcycle' at the Guggenheim, a typical "motorcycle show" that most people here would have seen would have involved perhaps a dozen or two volunteers to distribute posters and emails ahead of time, and to tell lenders where to place their bikes, direct traffic, and sell tickets.

In contrast, 'The Motorcycle: Design ~ Art ~ Desire' has had at least 50 skilled professional curators, designers, conservators, registrars, photographers, cinema experts, writers, editors, carpenters, painters, machinists, etc., some of whom have been working on the exhibition full time for over 18 months. Just the installation, which has been ongoing since early September, will have required over five person-years of skilled labor by the time it's completed. This isn't a typical "motorcycle show."

Last night I had a FaceTime walking tour of the exhibition as it stands now. The first of the three rooms still has work taking place, but has over 90% of the bikes installed so it's possible to get a very good idea of what it will look like on opening day in less than three weeks. The second room has the plinths and screens installed (for short clips), but none of the bikes as yet, and the third room is a beehive of activity. All but two of the bikes are in hand, with arrival of the last two imminent.

The exhibition looks truly amazing. I dearly wish I could see it in person. Sigh...

[BoschZEV]

As I wrote in the first post in this thread, if these were normal times QAGOMA would get 30% of its visitors from interstate and internationally. So, since Queensland's borders are now set to open on December 1, and barring another outbreak, attendance at 'The Motorcycle' has the potential not to suffer much at all from what it would have been in a normal year. As the first major exhibition at an international museum created specifically with the post-covid world in mind, there's even reason to believe this might be the right exhibition at the right time to exceed expectations.

Of course, the situations we face are different, but in the U.S. an estimated one-third of all museums remain closed because of covid. The financial loss of nearly a year's income thus far means some of them are being forced to sell off parts of their collections to survive and, even with that, not all of them are expected to ever reopen.

For most major museums, a successful "summer blockbuster" exhibition provides the operating income for the remaining three-quarters of the year. Given how dire the Australian situation looked in March-April and again in July-August, museum directors who thought they were preparing for the worst by curtailing activities are now unprepared for their big summer season.

Creating a blockbuster art or design exhibition requires a few years, not a few months, to scour the world and secure the necessary international loans, so it's not something that could be done starting when the Australian situation began to look hopeful at the end of August. For example, the exhibition this time last year at the National Gallery of Australia was of two major European artists, entitled 'Matisse & Picasso', that "brings together masterpieces from collections across the world and includes paintings that will be on display in Australia for the first time." In contrast, this year it's 'Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now' with works "Drawn from the National Gallery’s collection and loans from across Australia." Clearly, this year's exhibition was not years in the making, nor does it have the potential to draw the same number of visitors as last year's.

Firmly in our mind throughout the entire process of putting this exhibition together wasn't motorcyclists, because we knew they would come. Rather, it was the soccer moms, young families looking for something to do on weekends, boys and girls on school or club field trips, and tourists in town on holiday who felt compelled to drag their kids to someplace cultural. If those people come away from the exhibition with an appreciation for objects they may never even have given a second thought to before, we will have been successful.

Motorcyclists should love it because they'll get to see some amazing machines they've only read about, displayed in a way only a world-class art gallery knows how to display them. Non-motorcyclists will – we sincerely hope – love it because they'll see motorcycles in historical context as the fascinating design objects they are, as well as learn about the interesting designers who created them.

Phrased differently, we will have been successful if both types of audiences come away from what they see saying "I had no idea!," albeit for different reasons.

For what it's worth, despite all the uncertainty, stress and hard work since the world changed in March, Ultan Guilfoyle and I are both very pleased that QAGOMA's Director, Chris Saines, never wavered in his vision to have this exhibition open as planned on 28 November. Given how it all worked out, he is quite pleased as well. Opening is now just a few days away.

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[BoschZEV]

Against all odds, somehow the exhibition has made it all the way to April, with having been briefly shut down only a couple of times by local outbreaks of Covid. But, with State borders opening and closing without warning, any Australians who haven't seen the exhibition and still plan to (or would like to see it again), you only have four more weeks before the doors will shut for good.

To paraphrase a MasterCard commercial that first ran 20 years ago:

Seeing your book in print, satisfying.
Receiving your first royalty check, priceless.
There are some things money can't buy. But for this book, there's MasterCard (or Visa, or American Express, or...).

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This is almost certainly the only book on motorcycles written by an award-winning physicist and an award-winning filmmaker. With electric vehicles featuring prominently in the U.S. President's proposed $2T infrastructure program, our essays on 'Technology' and on the 'Past, Present, and Future' of personal transportation are timely, if not prescient. An additional feature of the book is that, unlike what you may hear, watch, or read elsewhere about electric vehicles, the book contains verifiable facts.

[BoschZEV]

Anzac Day commemorates the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli during WWI, and because it falls on a Sunday this year, Queensland will celebrate it as a public holiday on Monday the 26th. Not coincidentally, that also will be the last day of 'The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire'. Which means, this holiday weekend is the last chance to see the exhibition before it closes after a very successful five-month run, and the bikes are returned to their lenders around the world.

Special circumstances aside, when results are tallied they very well may show 'The Motorcycle' set a record as the most heavily attended art museum exhibition of 2020 in the world. Since that would be a step up on 'The Art of the Motorcycle', which only set an all-time attendance record for the Guggenheim, if we ever curate a third exhibition it would have to achieve a galactic attendance record to top our previous two.

Seriously, a few of you who are reading this helped us in various ways, for which we are most grateful. Also, our thanks go to those of you who attended the exhibition, or bought the book, or both.

Ultan Guilfoyle
Charles Falco

[TH47Indy]

Congratulations! I visited your exhibit in Las Vegas, and I purchased the book for that exhibit, and then couldn't find it so I bought another on Ebay.
It brought back great memories, and my wife also just found the exhibit t-shirt I bought my daughter and included it in a quilt that she just made for our first grandchild!

[panthersteve]

I attended the exhibition yesterday, it has been amazing how quickly the time went and I ended up with 3 days to fit it in. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have bought the book. I have not had a chance yet to look through the book but will send some feedback when I do.

[BoschZEV]

I attended the exhibition yesterday,...

Sadly for us, although Ultan and I both have been fully vaccinated since the end of February, Australia's border restrictions kept us out (I don't blame the country for the restrictions, since much is still unknown about modes of transmission). So, all that we've had are virtual tours.

As I write this it's a little before 2am on the last day of the exhibition. In about 8 hours they'll try to pull off an on-line interview with us, for the assembled last day crowd who are outdoors. I wish we could be there to do it in person. Sigh...

[BoschZEV]

The next best thing to attending the 'The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire' exhibition in person ... well, actually, since it's now closed, the only way to "attend" the exhibition is via a rather remarkable "3D video" that has just gone live on the QAGOMA website. It allows the viewer to tour the entire exhibition, pause, zoom in on any of the 100 bikes, turn around, and even look at the floor and ceiling. There are enough features in this video that it will require returning to it more than once to find them all.

[TH47Indy]

Thanks for sharing, the virtual tour is awesome. I plan on spending more time exploring.

[BoschZEV]

Admittedly there were special circumstances, but when the final tallies are in 'The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire" may well way turn out to have been the most highly attended art museum exhibition of 2020 in the world. Not too bad for a bunch of old (and new) motorcycles, eh?

[BoschZEV]

QAGOMA just issued a 58-page report from the exhibition, a few relevant excerpts are:

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With the Guggenheim's 'The Art of the Motorcycle', and now with QAGOMA's 'The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire', Ultan Guilfoyle and I are two for two in curating successful motorcycle exhibitions at major international art museums. Not many people can say that… hmm, come to think of it, no one else can say that. At the moment there are no plans to try for three for three.