A SHOW NOT TO BE MISSED, FROM 18 JULY 2018 TO 24 FEBRUARY 2019, IN THE FASCINATING SETTING OF THE “CITRONERIA OF THE JUVARRA STABLES”. WITH MOTO GUZZI, GILERA AND VESPA. THE BACKSTAGE VIDEO HERE.
An exhibition and happening in Italy – Easy Rider. The myth of the motorbike as art – presents the magical world of the motorbike by investigating its production and stylistic elements, but primarily its anthropological significance as a symbol of “leaving the world behind”, “freedom” and “speeding into the unknown”. The motorbike is not simply a popular myth, but a genuine state of existence. A philosophy, a way of life shared by men and women all over the planet.
Antonio Ligabue Self-portrait on motorbike, 1953. Oil on hardboard, 39x57 cm Private collection, Parma. On display at the Royal Palace of Venaria. Italian painter Antonio Ligabue rode around the countryside in the region of Emilia on his red Moto Guzzi GTV 500.
With its style, speed and performance, the motorcycle has fuelled many myths: travel, the quest for freedom, loneliness in the vast landscape. Understanding the engine, learning to listen to it, soothe it, heal it. The aesthetics of the motorcycle meets the only apparently distant world of culture: literature, cinema, the visual arts, photography. As well as fashion, design, social culture.
Alighiero Boetti, Rosso Guzzi, 1971. Industrial painting on metal, 25x25 cm Courtesy Gian Enzo Sperone. © Alighiero Boetti by SIAE 2018. Work in two parts, including Rosso Gilera. On exhibit at the Royal Palace of Venaria.
With a display of historic models that have entered our collective imagination, the exhibition presents a series of episodes in the extraordinary story of a legend: “The motorbike and Italy” (with Moto Guzzi and Gilera); “The journey” (with the Vespa of intrepid traveller Giorgio Bettinelli); “African trails and the Paris-Dakar myth”; “Japan and technology”.
Detail of an advertisement for the launch of the Moto Guzzi V7, 1969, 700 cc, in the USA. The motorbike is on display at the Royal Palace of Venaria.
Exactly twenty years after The Art of the Motorcycle, the great exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1998, which attracted a record number of visitors (more than 2 million), Arthemisia and Consorzio delle Residenze Reali Sabaude dedicate the exhibition Easy Rider. The myth of the motorbike as art to the world of the two-wheeler. Under the patronage of the City of Turin, curated by Luca Beatrice, Arnaldo Colasanti, Stefano Fassone, and hosted by the Royal Palace of Venaria, in the Citroniera of the Juvarra Stables, from 18 July 2018 to 24 February 2019.
Countless models can be seen in Venaria, many recalling legendary films. Others are directly associated with travel and adventure: the legendary Vespa ridden by Bettinelli over 24,000 km from Rome to Saigon, the special models that crossed the desert sands for the Paris-Dakar, plus enduros, trial bikes, asphalt tracks. Plus an important new section: more than fifty motorbike models “in dialogue” with works of contemporary art, explicit references and indirect associations. Artists include Antonio Ligabue and his Self-portrait with motorbike (1953), Mario Merz with Acceleration = dream (an historic installation shown in a number of museums since 1972), Pino Pascali with 9 sq.m of puddles created in 1967, a year before his death.
The Piaggio Group motorcycles and scooters at the New York exhibition in 1998: the Moto Guzzi C4V from 1924 (above, left); the Moto Guzzi V4SS (1928); the Gilera Saturno (1947); the Gilera Saturno Sport (1952); the Vespa GS from 1960 (above, right); the Derbi 50 Grand Prix (1970); the Moto Guzzi Le Mans 1 (1978); the Aprilia Moto’ 6.5 (1995).
The exhibition also includes: Alighiero Boetti, Rosso Guzzi and Rosso Gilera (1971), the Vejo sculpture by Giuliano Vangi (2010), Gianni Piacentino’s previously unseen photos High Speed Memories (1971-1976) illustrating his involvement in sidecar races, and the sculpture entitled Self Portrait Race (1991-1993). And a real gem: the paintings of Paul Simonon, ex bass guitarist with the Clash and passionate motorbike collector. Movie photos, stills and posters reflect a world with a 360° vision of the motorcycle. The quest for freedom, the desire to escape, of course, but above all the self-discovery bordering on philosophy achieved through travel.
From the exhibition catalogue published by Arthemisia Books: the Italian traveller Giorgio Bettinelli on his Vespa PX, during his trip from Rome to Saigon (1992-1993), from the Historical Archives of the Piaggio Museum, Pontedera (Pisa), one of the bodies involved in the exhibition (with Bettinelli’s Vespa, 1992), together with the Moto Guzzi Museum (with the Moto Guzzi V7 from 1969).
The Easy Rider exhibition recounts episodes from an extraordinary story that has achieved the status of legend: style, speed, performance, the motorcycle has fuelled the myth of travel, of the quest for freedom, of the loneliness experienced by the rider as he crosses the vast landscape on two wheels. Nine sections develop the story: Style, form and Italian design; Japan and technology; Mal d’Africa; Speed; Sì, viaggiare; London Calling; The American myth; Earth, Mud and Freedom; The motorbike and the movies.
The exhibition catalogue (above, the catalogue cover) is published by Arthemisia Books with texts by the curators and contributions from Alessandra Castellani, Franco Daudo, Pietro Grossi, Giorgio Sarti, Ted Simon, Tim Marlow’s interview with Paul Simonon and Moreno Pisto’s interviews with champion riders Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini.
Exhibition produced by: Arthemisia and Consorzio Residenze Reali Sabaude. Curated by: Luca Beatrice, Arnaldo Colasanti and Stefano Fassone. Under the patronage of the City of Turin.
(SOURCE AND INFO: www.lavenaria.it/en).