Art Ride 2007

Once every ten years, four major international art events take place in three different yet geographically connected, countries. All four events host opening ceremonies within two weeks of each other: La Biennale di Venezia 52nd International Art Exhibition (Venice, Italy); Art 38 Basel (Basel, Switzerland); documenta 12 (Kassel, Germany); skulptur projekte münster 07 (Münster, Germany). In response to this unique once-a-decade occurrence, I decided to realize a project that would intersect both the art world and the everyday. In collaboration with Petra Chevrier, we traveled to each of the four events by bicycle. From 8 to 19 June 2007 we covered roughly 1,600 km entirely fueled by determination and human-power. While seeing the art was a component of the tour, the central proposition was to explore the effect of physically ricocheting off of the art events and the surrounding landscape. How such an endeavour alters body, perception and interpretation of the events.

• First Day: La Biennale di Venezia
• Stage 1: Venice-Mantova
• Stage 2: Mantova to Palazzolo Sul’Oglio
• Stage 3: Palazzolo’Oglio to Chiavenna
• Stage 4: Chiavenna to Chur
• Stage 5: Chur to Winterthur
• Stage 6: Winterthur to Art 38 Basel
• Stage 7: Basel to Baden Baden
• Stage 8: Baden Baden to Heidelberg
• Stage 9: Heidelberg to Alsfeld
• Stage 10: Alsfeld to Kassel
• Rest day in Kassel : tour documenta 12
• Stage 11: Kassel to Münster
• Last day: tour skulptur projekte münster 07

Loaded with maps, cameras, phones and notebooks, and outfitted in limited edition, artist-designed cycling jerseys, I logged our trouvailles and mapped out our parcours. The Situationists were known to use walkie-talkies on their dérives. Similarly, I exploited today’s technology. Daily activities involved collecting ephemera from the expositions and tour, using video and time-lapse photography to map the geography of the experience and record the multiplicity of interstitial spaces between these four mega art happenings. Our entire journey was documented using time-lapsed photography and video with a camera mounted in my handlebar bag. Each day’s log entries were uploaded to this blogsite hosted by WARC (Women’s Art Resource Centre) World Wide WARC. Maintaining a record of the borders crossed and the landscapes traversed; while dealing with the elements – the Alps and other mountain ranges that happen to be in the way – and the punishing fatigue that is at the core of long-distance cycling. Physical endurance forms a central theme of the exploration. The use of the body in displacement is central to the project – the body is a deeply integrated and necessary part of the physical experience of the landscape and art events - literally bringing the project to life.
A multi-media exhibition is scheduled for November 2008 at WARC and will explore several intersecting themes that emerged from the intervention, including the nature of evolution in individual/virtual cartographies and the interplay of liminal spaces in contemporary culture and art.
I would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Art Ride 2007 sponsors: Archive Inc. Gallery and Art Library; Art and Art History Program (University of Toronto and Sheridan College), CAMERA, Cinecycle, Giant Step, Goethe-Institut (Toronto), Istituto Italiano di Cultura (Toronto), Tatar Gallery, Urbane Cyclist and Women’s Art Resource Centre.

Last day: tour skulptur projekte münster 07

Beautiful day to tour skulptur projekte münster 07

What a perfect ending for Art Ride 2007. As the curators note, Münster has become an “open-air museum for contemporary sculpture in public space”. A “museum” that encourages the viewers to tour the exhibition … by bicycle!
Ran into Natalie Kovacs (curator-artist-consultant and Art Ride paparazzi) who accompanied me on the tour and helped record the experience. Over coffee we reviewed the locations of the various artworks and mapped-out a bike tour. It was quite a scavenger hunt within the old city centre especially since we were vying for space on small cobblestone roads and walkways with tourists and city dwellers. We did end up catching a glimpse of public installations by Andreas Siekmann, Deimantas Narkevicius, Gustav Metzger, Marko Lehaka, Silke Wagner, Isa Genzken, Hans-Peter Feldman, Nairy Baghramian and Michael Asher.
We got to hang-out with the some real animals in Mike Kelley’s Petting Zoo. Futher along our route we hop on bikes of another kind … stationary bikes … that power the video screens on which we see Guy Ben-Ner’s film “I’d give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it”. You can make it as short or as long as you’d like depending on how fast you pedal. We meander Lake Aa where we see Rosemarie Trockel’s sculpture made of Yew bushes. We listen to Susan Philipsz’s sound sculpture. Then back along the bike route around the lake to view a few remnents of Skulpur Projektes past … permanently installed sculptures by Jorge Pardo and Ilya Kabakov (both from 1997) and Donald Judd and Claes Oldenburg from 1977.
We cycled through Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s sculputre garden Roman de Münster. A theme park of 1:4 scale replicas of sculptures she selected from previous installments of the Skulpur Projekte. And on our way back to the city centre, we stop to see Dan Graham’s Oktogon für Münster (from 1987). It’s a beautifully subtle work installed in the Schlossgarten.
Just when we thought our tour was over, having returned the bike Natalie had rented, we stumble on Thomas Schutte’s Modell fùr ein Museum (Model for a Mueum) which essentially consists of a glass structure placed over a fountain erected by the Chamber of Commerce in the exact spot of his 1987 sculptural contribution, Kierschensäule. Interesting how the artist was able to reclaim his previous space, incorporating the fountain into a new work that is essentially a concept maquette for a museum structure that may never be realized. A striking critique on the fragility of this ‘open-air museum’, or the relationship of public art and its host communities.
There were some strong works, and some that are not so successful, yet there was a sensitivity and consideration by all the participating artists to the chosen locales creating an overall experience that was engaging, enjoyable, fun even, that it was well worth the (Art Ride) tour.

A selection of her photos are included below. Thank you Nat!

Stage 11: Kassel to Münster

Last stage of cycling! Kassel to Münster - 200km
Beautiful warm sunny day … no rain! Petra and I enjoy a quiet ride through mostly farmlands and small towns on fairly flat terrain.

Make a pit stop for water and a washroom in Beckum where Petra forgets her helmut. We were so focused on dealing with the traffic in Beckum (we passing through during rush hour) we didn't notice until we were out of the thick of it. We stop, Petra unloads her panniers and leaves me at the outskirts of town to go back and fetch it. Fortunately it was right where she left it.

Rest day in Kassel : tour documenta 12

Touring the various exhibition spaces and presentation venues that comprise documenta 12, I can’t help but feel perplexed and confused. Was it the exhibition structure or was it just me? After so many days of cycling, then spending time video editing, searching for internet access, uploading video sequences to the blog site, and reviewing comments and correspondences, maybe I was just too exhausted mentally to digest what I had just witnessed.
I made the decision to buy the documenta catalogue … not such a big deal unless you still have another 195km to ride from Kassel to Münster and very little panier space to spare … in order to read the curatorial essay and discover firsthand, so to speak, what exactly went into their decisions.

Unfortunately, this year’s documenta catalogue is without any curatorial essay. Only text included by the curator Ruth Novack is a short Preface co-signed with Director, and husband, Roger M. Buergel. They do refer in this preface, that this year’s installment is “an exhibition without form” … period. Not sure how that’s possible for an obviously, tightly curated exhibition. As for any reference to the artwork chosen they proclaim that “art is not without context; each work is attached to a local history.” How then, can they further state that an artwork can, “communicate itself and on its own terms” when it is butted up against and overlapping other works included in the exhibition. The works that seemed to stand out most for me were those I now realize had their own room in which to breathe and thus, allow the viewer to experience independently. Worst case scenario was in the Aue Pavilion. This awkward open-concept, temporary exhibition space didn’t provide much opportunity for contemplation … I kind of feel sorry for the artists whose work was placed there. And there were some beautiful works but they were certainly compromised by the claustrophobic structure of the installation.

Stage 10: Alsfeld to Kassel

Nice day for a solo 80km ride. AM is off to Berlin.

Petra has resurfaced!
After her three day disappearance I find Petra enjoying a beer at the terrace café of the Museum Fridericianum. She invites me to join her and proceeds to inform me of how she decided to forego our designated meeting place in Baden Baden and continue on her own to Kassel, and why she never thought it necessary to update AM nor I on her last-minute change of plans.

Stage 9: Heidelberg to Alsfeld

Bad, bad day. Run into heavy downpour 2 hours outside of Heidelberg, stop briefly under a bus shelter. move on in the rain through beautiful rolling hills until another heavy downpour hits us along with lightning. Cold, wet and distraught it is time to find a train station. Along the way I loose my glasses, which makes incredibly difficult to keep my eyes open with the pounding rain. We stop in Michelstadt to enquire about train routes/schedules. And, at which point I end up loosing my helmut under a train! We decide to continue our journey by train until I can find a bike store and get a new helmut. We end up covering somewhere in the vicinity of 260km unfortunately not all by bike.
Still no sign of Petra, send yet another email and try to contact a few mutual friends to see if anyone has heard from her ... nothing hope she has found a warm and dry place to hang out.

Oh, now proud owner of a German-made helmet.