Junction design, the Dutch – cycle-friendly – way
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The tunnel where cycling is mandatory
Fernando Traverso
In March 24th, 2001 actual size, black bicycles started appearing in Rosario, Argentina. At the beginning, it was a surprise since nobody knew who had painted them or whether they had a special meaning. Then, one day it was discovered that Fernando Traverso had made them. Fernando Traverso is a plastic artist who militated in the Juventud Peronista in his youth at the same time the bloody dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla took place. Among the abundant crimes it committed such as economic and juridical issues, there was the multiple human rights violations.
Fernando Traverso painted 350 black bicycles and this figure links with one of the darker episodes in the Rosario history. 350 is precisely the number of disappeared people from Rosario under the dictatorship. The Argentinian repression is known first for kidnapping people, then for torturing and finally for disappearing thousands of Argentinian.
There is a red number bellow every black bicycle indicating the number of bike in the series. Not surprisingly, cycles play a central role in this Traverso work. The reason why is that is because an episode in his youth. One day in the grey streets of the dictatorship, he was walking when he came across a friend who was riding a bike. Traverso surprised since he did not say hello to him and after a few minutes he found his friend’s bicycle locked to a tree. The next day, the same bike remained in the very same spot. This detail impressed Fernando Traverso and after some time he determined his friend had been a victim of the dictatorship. He had been murdered.
The project was awarded by the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Juan B. Castagnino in december of 2003.
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Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa is known for being a musician, songwriter, composer and bandleader. As an exponent of the satire American culture, his work is characterized by nonconformity, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and improvisation. If you are asking yourself what is one relation of Frank Zappa with bicycles, just go on reading.
Do you know that the first TV appearance of Frank Vincent Zappa he played… two bikes as musical instruments? It sounds crazy, but I promise it is true. He appeared on Steve Allen’s syndicate late night show in March 27th, 1963. Precisely, he used a bow borrowed from the band’s bass player and drum sticks. Then, the twenty-three year old musician continued by plucking, banging and bowing the spokes of the bikes. As a result, he produced funny, strange sounds from his innovative instruments. Indeed, he announced he had played bicycles as musical instruments for two weeks at the beginning of the performance, as a clear expression of the humor he showed.
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Alireza
Some bike-fantasies deal with the possible relationships of some historical people no matter whether they enjoyed a bicycle or not. Just imagine how it could have been as it comes to King George, Joan of Arc, Gregor Mendel or Grace Hopper. The Iranian painter Alireza Karini Moghadam fantasizes with Van Gogh.
Van Gogh is known for being an impressive painter as well as for suffering psychological problems. Regarding this, some people thought he was always in bad mood, although this is not true. Alireza knows it and tries to express it in their paintings. Imagination paves the way. Indeed, thanks to his deep studies on Van Gogh, he is convinced that the painter loved life and thus paints him with a smile on the same landscapes and similar paint techniques. Vegetables capture most of attention, similarly to the yellow and blue colors, and of course Van Gogh himself. Moreover, Frida Kahlo, Kanagawa, Leonardo da Vinci and Edvard Munch influence him.
Düsseldorf: 1990-2019
