Jonathan Monk

Less Is More Than One Hundred Indian Bicycles

What does it mean when the borders between art and everyday life cease to exist ? Does it create new free spaces, through art or are visitors caught between a rock and a hard place, because they are solely responsible for their actions? The bikes, which were originally form India, and assembled on-site. Monk also was inspired by the work of Rirkrit Tiravanijas, a Thai artist and one of the major protagonists in the Relational Aesthetics direction, which emerged in the 90s. Tiravanijas’ work as well as a Rolls Royce from the 60s serve as the conceptual point of focus for Monk’s installation.

After the opening on 20. June, a bike will be takes out of the installation every day and placed at different locations throughout the town of Dornbirn, to be taken free of charge. This way, the sculpture dissolves bit by bit into the infrastructure of Dornbirn. The artist transfers the control over the fate of the bikes to the new owners. They will be able to decide for themselves if they want to use , sell, trade the bikes or just return them.

Stefan Tasch, Curator