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Yasutaka NAKANOWATARI: PHAEDRUS
Events
Written by KALONSNET Editor   
Published: January 15 2011

"Super B to the Future Project PHAEDRUS" (1994)
All reverse 4 speeds motorcycle, silkscreen print, 100x300x120cm
Courtesy of Roentgenwerke AG

Super B to The Future Project PHAEDRUS
In the 1970's one book earned the distinction of being American hippie's bible, succeeding Jack Kerouac's On the Road, the beatniks' bible. it was entitled Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

In its first pages, the book deals with the ancient Greek theory of time. According to the Greeks, the past lies in front of us, and the future behind us. This is understandable in a sense because no doubt the past is visible to us, whreas the future is not.

Nakanowatari, who is a motorcycle maniac, knows from experience that the faster the vehicle runs, the narrower the rider's visible field gets. Is it not the case that people of the present era, frantically dashing toward the future, are increasingly limiting their scope of vision and confusing their sense of direction?

Thus the artist proposes a backward moving motorcycle. The heart of this vehicle is a Harley-Davidson, and its body is custom-made for drag racing. Due to one additional gear attached to it, it can not go anywhere but backward.

We may find an interesting irony in the very fact that a critical comment on our contemporary society is expressed by a finely assembled motorcycle, symbolic of the latest stage of machine civilization.

The motorcycle ever running backward presents a severe criticism against contemporary postmodern society, which is rushing blindly with neither a center nor a vision for the future.

* The text provided by Roentgenwerke AG.


Opened dates: February 4 - 26, 2011
Venue: Roentgenwerke AG

Last Updated on February 04 2011
 

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