SATURDAY, 12 MARCH 2022, 10 PM
farO PRESENTS HOT WHEELS
With works by Susan Mogul, Anne Lefebvre, Chris Burden and David Askevold
Rua de S. Joaquim nr. 2, Campo de Ourique, LISBOA
(entrance on the left side of Igreja de Santa Isabel)

From a failed project to build an auto-tuned mandolin was born a faster and cool-looking matchbox vehicle:  THE HOT WHEELS. These tiny wheeled cars have been rolling with calculated hazards for more than sixty years, on a plastic orange track (sold separately).
Sixty four times smaller and as easy to grab at the supermarket checkout as colourful candy, Hot Wheels finally fulfil Ford’s dream of making the car affordable and accessible to everyone.
But regardless of the scale, when it comes to wheeled vehicles, there’s about two kinds of people. Those who couldn’t care less, for whom they’re just shuttles to get on track from A to B. And those who have a spitfire connection to the machine, a group that includes car lovers and car haters.
Tonight we’re presenting personal accounts by artists who take this matter to heart.

* TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY *
Mourning the loss of his partner and disenchanted by being an artist, Chris buys a 1952 Ford freight-truck named Big Job. He set off with huge business prospects. He would either turn it into a cross-borders roadshow truck or a mobile TV station or the first mobile car factory to build cheap cars on site… Right after the purchase he realises the huge wrecked tin is barely able to drive around the block and even just that was illegal, since he didn't have a license to drive it. After six months of nightmares about the truck rolling backwards and killing someone, he sells it half price. But the truck continues to haunt him with the burden of a crime he didn’t commit…

* TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY *

Susan has just moved to LA to study at Cal-Arts and there’s only one thing stopping her from making it in Hollywood. She can’t drive and is afraid of learning because she had been in a fatal car crash with her boyfriend. After several feminist attempts she’s no longer stuck on that passenger’s seat, she’s mobil! She cruises town on a 1967 Volvo Amazon, making a name for herself pasting billboards. Now she runs her own merch line, selling great art at budget prices, which she’s sure will help advance her career.

* TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY *

David knows nothing, and doesn’t care, about cars. He talks to his gallerist who knows everything about them. Every time a car passes outside the window, David asks what colour it is and takes a bite off of a different chocolate, while the other spills information about costs, horsepower, fuel consumption… With this process, he conditions himself to memorise what it’s useless. For David, cars are just metal shells wrapped in colour, with different fillings.

* TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY *

To this day Anne can’t drive a car, but she set herself the challenge of taming a 200 kg HONDA VF400 sports bike. She managed to beat the clock every time and became a master of bike acrobatics, but only on a fixed circuit. As soon as she got off the track she would become a disaster. After an actual accident, in which she hit the breaks instead of accelerating and landed on her head, Anne dropped the steer forever. She sold her bike to a famous wheeling champion and became a passenger on glider aircrafts.
* TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY * TRUE STORY *

David Askevold
LEARNING ABOUT CARS AND CHOCOLATES
analogue video transferred to digital, b&w, sound, 21’11’, 1972
courtesy of Canada Gallery

Chris Burden
BIG WRENCH
analogue video transferred to digital, 15’ 12’’, colour, sound, 1980
courtesy of Chris Burden Estate. copy from the EAI collection

Susan Mogul

MOGUL IS MOBIL VOLUME III REDUX
analogue video transferred to digital, b&w, sound, 4’37’’, 1975/2022
courtesy of the artist
MOGUL IS MOBIL POSTCARD
offset print and stamps, 13.3 × 25.6 cm, 1974
courtesy of the artist
*reprint comes with a bonus car charm!*

Anne Lefebvre
BX 1
digital colour photograph, variable dimensions, 2019
courtesy of the artist

We thank Susan Mogul and Anne Lefebvre, Canada gallery and David Askevold Estate, Chris Burden Estate and Electronic Arts Intermix for making this session possible.
Produced with the support of Fundo de Fomento Cultural Garantir Cultura Compete 2020 República Portuguesa–Ministério da Cultura.
The session had the technical support of Carlos Gaspar and Borja Caro; and photo coverage by Pedro Alfacinha. Anne Lefebvre’s photograph was printed by Blues studio. Our weekly programme is printed by António Rijo de Carvalho. At the entrance, as always: THE SLANT STEP.

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FarO
Rua S. Joaquim nr. 2
Campo de Ourique, Lisboa

Entrada do lado esquerdo da Igreja de Santa Isabel

http://www.oportolisboa.blogspot.com/