PURPLE PATH: Inauguration of "Motorbike, Medusa Motorbike"

Location

Caroline Mesquita's two sculptures Motorbike (2018) and Medusa Motorbike (2017), made from sheet steel and pipes, are reminiscent of futuristic vehicle designs that could have come from Syd Mead's film sets for "Tron" or "Blade Runner" (both 1982). However, the vehicle sculptures by the artist, who was born in 1989 and now lives in Brest and Marseille, are just as little intended for driving as the retro-futuristic visions of technology: Their function is to transport the imagination. Mesquita rolls, bends, welds, hammers, etches and paints sheet metal until "the personalities of the sculptures finally emerge", as the artist herself describes her working process. Her sculptures playfully reject any concrete formal definition and manifest a world of prototypical machine creatures by bringing together technoid and humanoid set pieces.
The location of Motorbike and Medusa Motorbike in Hohenstein-Ernstthal refers to at least two site-specific world events: Hohenstein-Ernstthal also became famous for the legendary "Sachsenring" race track, where motorbike races have been held since 1927. It is not just motorsport fans who make the pilgrimage to the races, which, with interruptions in the 1930s and 1940s, are celebrated like folk festivals and established a specific Sachsenring culture here. On the other hand, Mesquita's fantastic vehicles of the imagination could be associated with the stories of Karl May, the most widely read author in the German-speaking world to this day. born in Hohenstein-Hohenstein in 1842, he created journeys to Arab countries, North America and Mexico solely from his imagination. May's adventure novels depict novel heroes such as the Mescalero Apache Winnetou and his German blood brother Old Shatterhand or the storyteller Kara Ben Nemsi, fleshed out down to the smallest detail and with every conceivable character trait. Fantastic figures that have become identity-forming for many generations. Mesquita's works will be shown temporarily in the Textile and Racing Museum and from 2025 in a specially developed garage.

With words of welcome from:

• Lars Kluge, Mayor of the town of Hohenstein-Ernstthal
• Representative of the Free State of Saxony
• Representative of the City of Chemnitz
• Stefan Schmidtke, Managing Director Programme European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 gGmbH

Introduces the work: Alexander Ochs, Curator of the Purple Path