The Motorcycle: DESIGN, ART AND DESIRE

The concluding part of a two-part feature, in which the history of motorcycle evolution is examined and a new book’s author interviewed.

- RACHAEL CLEGG

Halfway across the world, a queue is snaking outside the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Australia. The long line is comprised of avid motorcycle fans, eager to gawp at the dozens of machines on display which together illustrate the fascinating evolution of motorcycle design.

The exhibition – entitled The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire – bears all the hallmarks of a contemporary art display: artworks (in this case motorcycles) are generously spaced-out and mounted on slick white plinths and accompanied by perspex-cased text panels. We are thus reminded that our beloved two-wheelers are not only technologically impressive but also beautiful works of art in their own right. It’s no wonder that the exhibition has received rave reviews.

And fortunately, we don’t have to travel 9526 miles to experience The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire either: art publisher Phaidon have saved us that job by producing an accompanying book of the same name. Its authors – Charles Falco and Ultan Guilfoyle – are also the show’s curators and, as such, the book itself is a sort of exhibition, albeit a paginated one.

In last month’s TCM we embarked on the first part of a ‘tour’ of The Motorcycle with its author and TCM reader Charles Falco and now, it’s time for part two…. Design comes in many forms. In the last issue of TCM, Charles Falco described some of the influences that have determined the development of motorcycle technology, such as the magneto. But as for the way a motorcycle looks, that’s a whole other story…