fahrradkörper

In 1912, Marcel Duchamp visited the Paris Air Show at the Grand Palais together with the sculptor Constantin Brâncusi and the painter Fernand Léger. This exhibition offered the general public an opportunity to marvel at the latest inventions in the field of aviation, following the spectacular headlines made by the Frenchman Louis Blériot in 1909 with his flight across the English Channel. It is a central anecdote in art history that an aircraft propeller made a lasting impression on Marcel Duchamp during this visit to the fair. Duchamp was fascinated not only by the harmonious form but also by the object’s effect. He stood before a sculpture that enabled humans to fly. The landing gear of the single-seat Blériot XI aircraft on display at the time also included two bicycle tires. Perhaps they provided the inspiration for the first ready-made, which Marcel Duchamp constructed shortly after his visit to the fair: a bicycle rim mounted upside down on a wooden stool.

Since the bicycle’s first prominent appearance in art, interest in this vehicle has never waned. As both an object and a motif, it continues to undergo diverse transformations, repurposings, and reinterpretations to this day. It can become a painting or musical instrument; equipped with a chainsaw motor, it gains entirely new potential for striking poses; it serves as an argument in the political debate on the transportation revolution; and as a mechanical prosthesis for the human body, it functions as a social object of communication. Time and again, it takes the form of a kinetic sculpture that invites reflection on concepts such as balance, stillness, and movement.