THE MOTORCYCLE AND ART FNAR-2413-A, 2013/01/07-2013/04/22 Mon., Wed., Fri. 11:30AM - 12:20PM- JDH 212Prof. Robin Peck 313 MMH peck@stu.cahttp://www.canadanewyork.com/artists/robin-peckhttp://www.diazcontemporary.ca/Ex2010Peck.htmlhttp://www.canadianart.ca/online/reviews/2011/01/20/robin_peck/

Course Description:

“Perhaps more than any other single object of industrial design, the motorcycle can be considered a metaphor for the 20th century. Predating the automobile by 25 years and the airplane by 36, the motorcycle was the first form of personalized mechanical transport to emerge from the beginning of the industrial age; its subsequent evolution follows the main currents of modernity”

-from the Introduction to the exhibition The Art of the Motorcycle, Guggenheim Museum

This class introduces the motorcycle and art; the motorcycle in art and the motorcycle as art, through a series of illustrated lectures, group discussions, assigned readings, projects, and edited film screenings. Art issues are introduced through industrial culture. Conventional definitions of art are questioned, as is the relationship between art, industrial design and engineering. Arguments will be made both for and against the motorcycle as art.

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The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition presented 114 motorcycles chosen for their historic importance or design excellence in a display by noted American Architect Frank Gehry in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, in 1998. The exhibition attracted the largest crowds ever at that museum, and received positive reviews in the art world. The move to place motorcycles in the Guggenheim came from director Thomas Krens, a motorcycling enthusiast, supported by a corporate relationship with BMW. Described by historian Jeremy Packer as representing the end of a cycle of demonization of motorcyclists, the Guggenheim exhibition served as "a long-overdue celebration of the sport, the machines”.

Assignments and Evaluation:

In a seminar class, participation is expected. 25% of your grade will be based on participation in classroom discussion. Attendance is expected at all classes unless otherwise announced. There are no examinations. Note: Texts must be read prior to class. Be prepared. Any one of you may be selected at any time to lead a group discussion of a text.

There are three required assignments. Each is worth 25% of the final grade.

1. The writing (and submission) of a 500 word exhibition review of the Atlantic Motorcycle Show in Moncton http://www.monctonmotorcycleshow.ca/ . This is to be written as if one were writing about a visual art exhibition, e.g. a sculpture exhibition. It will be submitted to both the professor and to an established visual art journal (examine various art journals1 to select a format for this, provide proof of submission, 500 word minimum, or as per the requirements of the journal).

This exhibition review is due the class in February. The class will visit the Atlantic Motorcycle Show (February 15 - 17, 2013, Friday – Sunday) as a group or individually. Plan ahead and make time for this. You are responsible for the cost of return travel to Moncton and the price of admission to the motorcycle show.

1 Art Journals

Visit these and other art journal websites for publication deadlines, word length and other art review format requirements, etc. ASAP

Border Crossings http://www.bordercrossingsmag.com/

Artforum http://www.artforum.com/

Art in America http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/

C Magazine http://www.cmagazine.com/

Canadian Art http://www.canadianart.ca/

Flash Art http://www.flashartonline.com/

Espace http://www.espace-sculpture.com/

Sculpture Magazine http://www.sculpture.org/redesign/mag.shtml

Artnews http://www.artnewsonline.com/

Modern Painters http://www.modernpainters.co.uk/

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2. Final 1000 word essay. Make an argument either for or against the motorcycle as art. This essay is due on the last day of class.

Essay Format: Introductory paragraph: Give a brief background and state the conclusions that you intend to arrive at through this research paper. This is often referred to as a thesis statement. The last sentence in the first paragraph clearly states the argument or point that you are about to make in the essay. (It is often useful to consider the apparently conclusive final paragraph of your rough draft as a model for this introductory paragraph.)

Body (paragraphs two, three, four etc.): Describe the display(s) physically, including dimensions, medium, technique, etc. Describe the content of the work, its meaningful visual metaphors, the use of allegory and irony, its political or social consequences, etc. In a non-representational work you may be describing the meaning of a specific material or construction technique as the meaning of the work. Place the work in an art historical context and importantly, in relationship to other artworks (or motorcycles) discussed in class.

Concluding paragraph: Summarize your research, restating the Thesis Statement. State what you think it is important for me to remember about the art work. Do not introduce new information in the conclusion but a personal response is appropriate at this stage of the essay.

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2B. Book Report: Read a book of your choice on the subject of the motorcycles, motorcycling or motorcyclists. Write a 1000 word book report using an acceptable academic book report format (for one example: http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/bookreports.html). In the report, relate the book to the concept of the motorcycle and art. The book report is due at the end of the term. You should choose a book and begin reading it as soon as possible.

Appropriate books to read include but are not restricted to the following:

The Perfect Vehicle: What it is about Motorcycles by Melissa Holbrook Pierson, 1997

Pierson, over the course of ten years of riding her motorcycle in the United States and Europe, capture(s) … the specific what and why of motorcycling. She sifts through myth and hyperbole: misrepresentations about danger, about the type of people who ride and why they do so. …the origins of the machine, the often hidden story of women riders past and present, …intertwined with Pierson's own story.

Riding with Rilke: reflections on motorcycles and books by Edward Bishop, 2005

English professor Bishop rides south from the University of Alberta on his Ducati, to the University of Texas at Austin to do research on writer Virginia Woolf. For Bishop, riding "is an inward experience. Like reading," a parallel that links the elements of this discursive but engaging account—part travelogue, part ode to his bike and part literary criticism. On the ride home he crashes but survives to write.

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Harley-Davidson and philosophy : full-throttle Aristotle, by Bernard E. Rollin, 2006

An investigation into the connections between Marx and Foucault and the legendary symbol of individualism, the motorcycle. Words like Sturgis, Hollister, and Panhead share the page with philosophical giants such as Marx, Hobbes and Socrates. It offers a series of essays, combining humour and philosophical introspection.

Shopcraft as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, by Matthew B. Crawford, 2009

A philosopher/motorcycle mechanic makes a case for working with one's hands. For anyone who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, Shop Class as Soulcraft seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing. Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a "knowledge worker," based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing, the work of the hand from that of the mind.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, by Robert M. Pirsig, 1974

The book describes a journey on a motorcycle. The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions on epistemology, ethical emotivism and the philosophy of science. Discussions are tied together by the story of the narrator's own past self: a teacher of creative and technical writing at a small college, who became engrossed in the question of what defines "quality". This drove him to psychiatric therapy that permanently changed his personality. In the book, this personality begins to re-emerge and the narrator is reconciled with his past.

Rebuilding the Indian: A Memoir by Fred Haefele, 2005

Fred Haefele was a writer who couldn’t get his book published, an arborist whose precarious livelihood might just kill him, and an expectant father. He was in a rut, until he purchased a box of parts and tackled the restoration of an Indian Chief motorcycle. With limited mechanical skills, one foot in the money pit, and a cast of local experts, Haefele goes down the rocky road of motorcycle restoration.

3. The production of a unique work of “motorcycle art”. This is an independent project. Only limited technical assistance will be provided on request and no class time is devoted to this project. However, room JDH 212 can be used as a workroom when classes are not in progress. The work may be a sculpture, painting or drawing, a short film or a photo study, a work of performance art documented with video, the construction or alteration of an actual motorcycle, portion of a motorcycle or motorcycle gear (e.g. a painted gas tank or motorcycle helmet) or some other work of art based on the motorcycle. The finished works will be shown in a group exhibition at the end of term.

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Course Text:

Photo-copies of texts will be distributed. The on-line resources of the International Journal of Motorcycle Studies also will be used (http://ijms.nova.edu/). There is a $10. photocopy fee payable to the registrar.

Class Schedule:

1. Art, Engineering and Industrial Design. A series of lectures on the history of motorcycle design (1894-1998) illustrated with images from the Guggenheim Museum, The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition, 1998.

2. Art, Engineering and Industrial Design. Illustrated lecture(s) on history of motorcycle design, continued.

3. What are a Bunch of Motorcycles Doing in an Art Museum? by Bernard E. Rollin

4. The Motorcycle As Art by David Minton, 2001

5. Art and the Motorcycle Museum by Peter Egan, 2009, and Motorcycle or Motorsculpture? by James Parker, 2007.

6. From Spare Part to High Art: The Aesthetics of Motorcycles by Craig Bourne

7. Adding up to Zero, The perfectly imperfect motorcycles of Japan’s Shinya Kimura by Tom Zimberoff, 2007 and Road Wabi by Jim Gianatsis, 2012. Japanese Aesthetics: Wabi-Sabi (Beauty in the "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”). The ceramic vessels of the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the custom motorcycles of Shinya Kimura. Bosozuku.

8. Dirt Bikes and Earthworks: The motorcycle-made earth drawings of artist Michael Heizer. Group Discussion of text: The Films of Roger Corman by earthwork artist Robert Smithson. Edited screening of The Wild Angels, 1966 (60’s anti-establishment/drug culture and the motorcycle) Roger Corman, Director) and On Any Sunday, 1971 (Bruce Brown, Director. (Endless Summer, 1966) Steve McQueen sponsored pro-motorcycle sport documentary.

9. Group Discussion of text: The reel life of Rockers by Jerry Clayton, 2001. Edited screenings of films:

The Leather Boys, 1967 (Social alienation in the London working class café racer motorcycle scene of the early 1960s,)

Quadrophenia: London, 1979. (Rival youth cults in 1964 Britain: the scooter riding “Mods” vs. the motorcycle riding “Rockers”.) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHXoqBhqChk)

Girl on a Motorcycle, Starring Marianne Faithful, 1968 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7OHjK3QHyI)

Motorcycle music from Leader of the Pack (1964,The Shangri-Las) to 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson, 1996).

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10. Ezra Pound’s writing on the “machine aesthetics” of Cubism, Futurism, and Vorticism. The sculpture of Boccioni and Duchamp-Villon. D.-V.’s Great Horse, 1916 and the motorcycle industrial designs of Hans Muth of Target Design: BMW, Suzuki and KTM. - Song of the Sausage Creature by Hunter S. Thompson (café racer) http://www.latexnet.org/~csmith/sausage.html Writing an art exhibition review. Atlantic Motorcycle Show in Moncton.

10. –Iron and Lace: The sculpture of Cal Lane. The motorcycle in advertising art from Art Nouveau and Art Deco posters to Katrien (Davida/Guzzi), Keira Knightly (Ducati/Chanel), and the studio i.d.e.a. human motorcycles (http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/human-motorcycles-made-from-body-painted-yoga-gurus.html).

-The signage of the graphic logo (ideogram) from Peter Behrens’ 1906 hexagonal AEG logo to

Harley-Davidson , Victory ,and , ( ).

Assignment: Produce a motorcycle or motorcycle club logo (for portion of participation mark).

11. The motorcycle in film: edited film screenings. Selections from:

The Wild One, 1953 (Fictional version of the 1947 Hollister riot. Stars Marlon Brando) Famous “motorcycle scenes” from films including, Lawrence of Arabia, 1962 and The

Great Escape, 1963 The Wild Angels, 1966 (60’s anti-establishment/drug culture and the motorcycle) Roger

Corman, Director) Mad Max, 1979 (Science fiction: vengeful motorcycle cop vs. violent motorcycle gang in

a future dystopic Australia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max) Torque, 2004 (Action movie about California sport bike gangs.) Produced by Neal H.

Moritz, known for his The Fast and the Furious film series.) The World’s fastest Indian, 2005 (Docudrama of motorcycle racer Burt Monroe) and Burt

Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed, 1971 (Documentary). Both directed by Roger Donaldson.

Brittown (http://www.brittown.com/), 2008. Independent film by Scott Di Lalla & Zack Coffman.

Korean motorcycle culture film, Quick, 2011.

12. Creating the Exhibit “Motorcycle: Beschleunigung und Rebellion?” by Suzanne Ferriss, 2010 (International Journal of Motorcycle Studies) Final critique, installation and opening of class Motorcycle Art exhibition.

There will also be field trips to a motorcycle dealership and a custom motorcycle shop. Dates to be announced.

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Websites

Guggenheim Museum, The Art of the Motorcycle: http://pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org/motorcycle/

GM: http://senum.com/sak/Classics/1868.html

GM, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motorcycles_in_The_Art_of_the_Motorcycle_exhibition

Atlantic Motorcycle Show: http://www.monctonmotorcycleshow.ca/

International Journal of Motorcycle Studies: http://ijms.nova.edu/Spring2010/IJMS_Artcl.Ferriss.html

Shinya Kimura: http://www.chabottengineering.com/menu.html

Book Report Format: http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/bookreports.html

Source for Motorcycle Books: http://www.abebooks.com/

Advertising: http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/human-motorcycles-made-from-body-painted-yoga-gurus.html

Motorcycle Terms Glossary: http://motorcycle-glossary.com/

Art Terms Glossary: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/scripts/glossary-art-a.html

Note: It is not necessary to be familiar with motorcycles in order to take this class. However, if the class consistently uses motorcycle terms with which you are not familiar, consult the Motorcycle Terms Glossary. Similarly, if the class consistently uses art terms with which you are not familiar, consult the Art Terms Glossary.

Note: This is an outline only. All readings and projects will be further described on the dates indicated. The class schedule is subject to change.

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