The Yellow Bicycle | Collection Co–selection

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Adam Garnek

The Yellow Bicycle

1995
installation; metal; 125x320x80 cm

Machines have always been a testament to the creativity of their creators and a symbol of development and social progress. They are also often treated as utopian art objects. From the start of his career, Garnek has been constructing machines that not so much facilitate the performance of certain tasks, but enable users to experience unusual interaction with them as an end in itself. They provide the satisfaction of working in partnership with the machine, and simultaneously, in their design, demonstrate the artists unusual engineering creativity that undoubtedly makes them art objects.  

The Yellow Bicycle is an enlarged and modified version of a regular bike. This mobile is made entirely of metal. Although it is usually presented in a static way in galleries, one could also ride it. It can be set into motion in an unusual way, using two platforms, rather than ordinary pedals. Riding this bike is rather difficult; it requires strength, because the wheels are large and heavy; one part of the steering wheel is used to turn the front wheel, and the other the rear wheel. Whoever who masters riding this bike can become an active part of an art object.

Adam Garnek creates kinetic sculptures and installations most often in the form of interactive mobiles and vehicles. He is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań. Ever since he was a child, machines fascinated him; he has never been influenced by current trends in art, and to this day his favourite material is metal.