Technical Museum in Vienna : Sweeping the Bend: Motorcycles 1945-2005
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VIENNA, Austria, November 18 -- An exhibition entitled "Sweeping the bend: Motorcycles 1945-2005" will be on display at the Technical Museum in Vienna, Austria from November 17, 2004-April 3, 2005. The show recounts the history of motorbikes, starting from their humble beginnings during the post-war period as an inexpensive means of transportation, to their emergence as luxury playthings that hold out the promise of freedom from humdrum reality.
What fascinates us so much about motorbikes? What prompts people to brave wind, weather and perfectly avoidable risk to life and limb, rather than getting from point A to point B in a well protected and warm vehicle that has four or more wheels.
The 100 motorbikes featured in the exhibition (from a broad range of manufacturers) show how this means of transportation has evolved technically since 1945, and also shed light on the socio-cultural background of this evolution. Motorbike racing is the "leitmotif" of the exhibition, which displays in a spectacular fashion the technical progress that motorbike manufacturing has made over the past five decades.
In addition to the technical evolution of motorbikes, the exhibition also focuses on the evolution of the motorbike's significance from 1945 to the present. In the 1950s the rise of the automobile prevented motorbikes from being regarded as a viable means of transportation. During the 1960s the European motorbike industry collapsed, but motorbikes subsequently took on much greater importance when Japanese models began flooding the European market.
The exhibition is for motorbike aficionados as well as for all those who have never driven a motorbike but who are interested in the technical and historical evolution of these two-wheeled vehicles.
Information: Barbara Hafok, Technisches Museum Wien, Mariahilfer Strasse 212, A-1140 Vienna,Austria, Phone: +43-1-899-98-1200, E-mail:barbara.hafok@tmw.at
