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.