John Kormeling’s ferris wheel for cars is at the Power Plant in Toronto now, and I checked it out with my friend Slavica Ceperkovic.
This whimsical and lovely piece is a bit modified for the Toronto manifestation. Normally, people drive their own cars onto the ferris wheel, go around the wheel, and then drive off again. Due to insurance issues, the cars are provided and already on the wheel for you to get into. In this case, brand new Saabs, with barely 10 kilometers on them and still smelling of new car, are on the wheel. We were also asked not to honk the horn unless we had a genuine emergency, which I thought was a rather cute display of Canadian politeness (let’s have fun but not disurb the neighbours).
I think the piece was a bit diminished by taking away the experience of driving your own car onto the wheel. I think a significant part of it is remaining encapsulated in your vehicle, which is an extension of your personal space. It was a bit sterile, sitting in a brand new Saab, unable to roll down the windows, play music on the car stereo, honk the horn, or pick up a drive-thru fast food wrapper from the floor and wave it at the people below.
It was a charming experience nonetheless, and made me think of the simplistic happiness of carnival, and how artists and designers can make small but significant changes to familiar things to make them magical again.
Here are links to pictures (they open in pop-ups):
{{popup wheel2.jpg carsinthesky 400×300}}Cars in the sky
{{popup wheel1.jpg drivein 300×400}}Drive In Wheel!
{{popup wheel3.jpg carclose 400×300}}Car close up
One reply on “What’s Old Becomes New Again”
Yes, the Drive In Wheel was definitely a sweet insertion into the harbourfront parking lot. By the time I made it out there on the eve of the opening, the ticket booth had closed up. Only mildly disapponting.
I was surprisingly moved by Janet Cardiff’s Forty Part Motet – of all her works I know of or have already seen, this is the one I most looked forward to. Despite [or because of] its incredibly simplicity, I thought it was absolutely breathtaking. The way the voices swept across the floor, the sheer gorgousness of the song, and of the individual voices – it is not often one can find gallery goers walk into an exhibition installation and see them stop in their tracks and form a sweet sweet smile while they close their eyes and sigh.
But enough romance…