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The Bicycle Model MD is similar to a classic racing car, but it cannot be driven - the wheels only turn when the car is stationary. It is the latest work by the Austrian artist Hannes Langeder
Photo: Erich Goldmann
Hannes Langeder, born in 1965, has now come to a standstill with his work.
“Fahrradi Model MD” is the name of the Austrian's latest work, but unlike previous objects, it is no longer drivable - only the shape is reminiscent of a classic racing car and thus of speed.
After all: if you jack up the thing, the wheels can be turned.
And then it dawns at the latest: The chassis of the Bicycle Model MD is a four-fold quote from the famous readymade by Marcel Duchamp (hence the name "Model MD"), who in 1913 mounted a balance bike and fork on a kitchen stool and declared this to be art.
Back then, this impulse gave art history a whole new direction.
The sculpture based on it, looking as quick as an arrow and painted in "rosso corsa", the typical Ferrari red, is more of an end point, namely that of an artistic braking path that began more than ten years ago.
Langeder used to design bizarre bicycles.
Later he constructed two-lane tandem models: the Ferdinand GT3 covered with gold foil and the gullwing Fahrradi Farfalla FFX.
The artist cycled through his hometown of Linz in both pedal cars, which are fully roadworthy and compliant with registration regulations, and caused quite a stir.
"I was partially overtaken by pedestrians," he reported about his claim to achieve maximum deceleration in the form of the greatest speed.
Now nothing works anymore.
"The top speed is 0 km / h," says Langeder of the MD bike model.
In addition, the property does not offer any space for a passenger, making it impossible to drive.
But it is not without function, emphasizes Langeder, because the wheels can be turned when jacked up.
When Duchamp rotated the "bicycle wheel" mounted on a kitchen stool more than a hundred years ago, he explained that watching it was as beneficial and comforting as watching the flames in a fireplace.
Standstill in Ferrari red
Rotate and stand still at the same time?
The sculpture goes very well with the »Corona-G'schicht«, as Langeder calls the current pandemic.
The slowdown or even temporary cessation of public life enforced by the virus is on the one hand a problem.
Langeder normally operates the »Salon Ship Fräulein Florentine« on the banks of the Danube in the center of Linz.
On the other hand, the corona-related pause offered the opportunity to create the bicycle model MD, for example.
What should come now?
Langeder may be reviving a project that explores the connections between speed, luxury and contemplation on the water.
Years ago, he had started building a luxury yacht with pedal drive, but did not get beyond the first shell studies.
Or the artist's long-cherished dream will finally come true: a car manufacturer contacts him to jointly produce a small series of emission-free, exclusively designed and health-promoting pedal cars - similar to the Ferdinand GT3 or the Farfalla FFX bicycle.
Langeder: "In my experience so far, there would be some interested parties for such a vehicle."
Incidentally, the sculpture Fahrradi Model MD can currently be seen in the exhibition "Posterwachsen" in the Knoll Gallery in Vienna.
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