“Contrail” is a design concept that enables cyclists to increase their visibility to cars, pedestrians, and each other. Conceived by Pepin Gelardi and Teresa Herrmann, this frame-mounted device would allow cyclists to make their mark on the street with faint lines of chalk. The rear wheel spins a smooth trail of color onto the pavement as the bike whizzes along.
The driver of the art work Shared Propulsion Car was arrested by Toronto Police on October 25 on Queen Street West in Toronto. The revolutionary vehicle is an art work create by the just-announced winner of the 2007 Sobey Art Award Michel de Broin. It was made of a Buick Regal 1986 body stripped of its engine, suspension, transmission and electrical system and propels by the will to power of its passenger. The vehicle retains the illusion of the mass-produced luxury automobile, but is now reduced to a shell with a top speed of 15km per hour. This unique car needs no petrol, produce no toxic emission and is not responsible for the innocents people killed for petrol in the Middle East. Furthermore, in this individualist society, this convivial car was proposed as a good solution to bring people together and take over the street. Dean Baldwin an experience driver, took the steering wheel and with his fellows Elaine, Dave and Dan drove the car carefully on the street. The reaction of the public was enthusiasm, solidarity and sympathy. They drove 9 blocks (from Lisgar to Strachan) before being pulled over by the police.
The driver and passengers were left to wait for 30 minutes in the car while we suspect the cops tried to determine which exact law was broken. They settled on “operating an unsafe vehicle” and a tow-truck was called.
We believe there is noting in the law against this car, the problem is only in the perceptions: police can’t accept a car to be modified and to be moving without petrol. They gave the driver an order to appear before a judge on the 21 of November. The problem for the court will be to argue that the Shared Propulsion Car can be dangerous while we all know that the danger remains in the use of petrol car. It is rather the other car that are obviously dangerous. We believe the court is taking a big risk of bringing our car to spotlight. It is always striking when art become politic and win its right publicly. Our Plan is to tow the car to the courthouse, win our cause and then be able to drive the car freely on the street of Toronto.
I say, “Put a bunch of these things *facing* each other and create a huge artificial valley.”
Apparently in a new Old Town location (4th and couch), i’ll check it out later today and post a pic.
New INTHECONVERSATION : :
: : Art Leisure Instead of Art Work: Randall Szott of LeisureArts and Dilettante Ventures talks to intheconversation about collections, cooking, and infra-institutional activity. : : Randall Szott and Pamela Fraser are starting an exhibition and event series in their home called He Said, She Said.
: : Field Test: Hideous Beast’s investigative restaging of N55’s iconic SHOP. Exploring reenactment as a form of critical theory, Josh Ippel and Charlie Roderick’s report back from their field testing of N55’s SHOP at the Open Engagement Conference. : : Hideous Beast is currently conducting a new Field Test at XPACE in Toronto.
: : Service-Works: Josh Greene funds his own series of artist grants with nights of waiting tables. Intheconversation presents a selection of four Service-Works grant projects by Helena Keeffe, Jenny Zhang, Amanda Herman, and Stuart Keeler with stories about the nights Josh Greene spent earning the money to fund them. : : Josh Greene’s Some Parts Might Be Greater Than the Whole: A Social Studies Initiative is on view now at the Arizona State University Art Museum.
INTHECONVERSATION presents texts and documents about experiential, participatory and social artworks. Your comments are welcome.
Quick notes of stuff to check out:
hugg.com : like digg, but for green lifestyle stuff.
The Thing : an art object subscription periodical.
ecospace.cc : a sustainability blog.
