Tag Archives: GOMA

Win passes to GOMA motorbike exhibit

How would you like to win one of five double passes to the “one-off, world exclusive” Motorcycle: Design: Art, Desire exhibit at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) running until 26 April 2021?

It’s easy to enter. Just read this article and pick out the bike that you most want to see at the exhibit and then leave the name of the bike in the comments section.

We will pick five random winners and name them next week. GOMA will be in touch to arrange delivery of the tickets.

If you miss out you can buy tickets now on the GOMA website.

Prices range from $18 for a GOMA member to $25 for non-members with concession prices for children, families, seniors, pensioners and season passes. Buying your tickets online in advance will save you waiting at the door with permitted numbers restricted by COVID policies.

It arrives just in time for border openings and school holidays.

I just attended the media preview of the exhibit of motorcycling through the ages and into the electric future and I can tell you picking a highlight is not easy.

There are more than 100 motorcycles from the 1860s to the present day, drawn from private and public collections across the globe.

The world-exclusive exhibition that takes up the entire ground floor in three big rooms features some important bikes, some major coups and some of my personal favourites.

Other highlights include:

Apart from the bikes, there is also a collection of motorcycle helmets painted by 15 contemporary Australian artists at the entrance to the gallery.

GOMA motorcycle exhibit
Literally a brain bucket!

There are also interactive displays where you casn create your own custom bike.

Scattered among the exhibits are big screens that from a Motorcycles on Screen exhibit within the exhibit.

It features old racing and riding footage plus iconic films classics such as The Wild One (1953) and Easy Rider (1969), cult favourites Scorpio Rising (1963) and Akira (1988), plus recent films Finke: There and Back (2018) and The Wild Goose Lake (2019). GOMA motorcycle exhibit

The Motorcycle exhibition will be accompanied by virtual talks and tours, storytelling events, trivia nights, and  ‘Motorcycles on the Green’ on 27 February and 18 April 2021, featuring more than 60 motorcycles from local community groups, live custom bike builds, DJs and more.

You can also grab a gift from The Motorcycle Exhibition Shop, including exclusive exhibition apparel and accessories by cult brand Deus ex Machina, and bespoke design pieces produced by local heroes Ellaspede. 

As a memento, you can buy the publication The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire is  at the QAGOMA Store or online.

You can also show off your ride by posting with #MotorcycleGOMA.

GOMA Director Chris Saines says the exhibition will appeal “not only to bike and motor sport enthusiasts but to anyone with an interest in social history, popular culture, design and technology”.

The GOMA exhibit has been curated by American physicist Professor Charles M. Falco and US filmmaker Ultan Guilfoyle in collaboration with GOMA.

They were co-curators of the landmark 1998 Guggenheim Museum exhibition in New York, ‘The Art of the Motorcycle’ that ran for three months.

It was subsequently seen in Chicago, Bilbao, Spain, and Las Vegas, with a total attendance of more than two million people.

Prof Falco described himself as a passionate motorcyclist who had his first motorcycle at 15, his first crash at 15.5 and last year rode a 90-year-old motorcycle across the USA.

“For a sustainable future, the world needs motorcycles for personal transportation,” he says.

His co-curator says motorcycles are an example of how “design drives everything”.

Chris says the exhibit will include the earliest 19th century steam-powered motorcycle, right through to electric motorcycles and future designs.

“Over its 150-year history, the motorcycle has undergone extraordinary reinvention, from steam power, to petrol-fuelled internal combustion engines to battery, and from humble backyard creations to custom-made, high-tech chrome speed machines,” Chris says.

“More than just a means of transport, the motorcycle is a design object, with forms and styles that reflect innumerable cultural and societal influences.”

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ exhibition opens on November 28

The Motorcycle at GOMA
28 November 2020 through to 26 April 2021

A stunning exhibition examining the history of the motorcycle from a design and artistic perspective will be on display from late November at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

‘The Motorcycle’ will feature more than 100 motorcycles from the 1870s to the present day, right across GOMA’s entire ground floor.

Harley-Davidson Chopper c.1973 (engine: 1941) Private collection, Mackay
Photograph: Andrea Beavis

It will run the full design gamut from the earliest 19th century steam-powered motorcycle, the circa 1870 Perreaux Vélocipède à vapeur on loan from Paris, right through to new electric bikes heralding the future, such as the Savic C-Series Alpha, a 2020 release from Australian automotive designer Dennis Savic.

Savic 2020
Courtesy: Savic Motorcycles Photograph: Jason Lau

The exhibition will appeal not only to bike and motor sport enthusiasts but to anyone with an interest in social history, popular culture, design and technology.

The Motorcycle’ offers multiple interactive experiences for visitors of all ages and it includes a green screen motorcycle riding experience, a motorcycle design studio where you can build and customise your own virtual bike and a mobile companion site to help you navigate 150 years of motorcycle design history and learn the stories behind each of the bikes on display.

Henderson Four 1912
Courtesy: Clyde Crouch Collection Photograph: Robert LaPrelle

Curated by distinguished US-based design curator and physicist Professor Charles M. Falco and writer and filmmaker Ultan Guilfoyle in collaboration with QAGOMA, the exhibition explores pioneering motorcycles and classic commuters, off-road bikes and speed machines, as well as custom creations and motorcycle designs of the future. Among the many highlights in the exhibition will be:

A rare 1906 Spencer, one of the very earliest Australian motorcycles designed and manufactured in Auchenflower, Brisbane;

Spencer 1906
The Australian Motorlife Museum – Paul Butler Collection Photograph: Penelope Clay

A 1920 Indian Scout “Munro Special” created by the legendary NZ rider Burt Munro;

Indian Scout Streamliner 1920 Courtesy: Clyde Crouch Collection Photograph: Robert LaPrelle

A 1927 Harley-Davidson FHA 8-valve speedway racer with sidecar;

The 1951 Vincent Black Lightning that set an Australian land speed record in its day and more recently a world record for the highest price paid at auction for a motorcycle;

Deus Ex Machina ‘The Drover’s Dog’ 2009
Courtesy: Joseph Mildren / Deus Ex Machina, Sydney Image courtesy: Deus Ex Machina

Impressive speed machines such as a 1916 Indian 8-valve board track racer, a 1974 Ducati 750SS and a 1994 Britten V1000, created by New Zealand design engineer, John Britten;

The 2016 Dakar winning KTM Rally 450 motorcycle ridden by celebrated Australian motorsport champion Toby Price;

KTM Rally 450 2015
Toby Price Collection
Image courtesy: Future7Media and KTM GROUP

Sleek custom objects of desire including the 2016 Black Knight designed by Max Hazan, Bandit 9’s 2016 Eve Mk II, Craig Rodsmith’s 2018 Corps Léger and the 2019 Fuller Moto ‘2029’.

Rodsmith Corps Léger 2018
Collection: Bobby Haas and Haas Moto Museum © Haas Moto Galleries LLC.
Photograph: Grant Schwingle

During ‘The Motorcycle’, audiences can also experience ‘Full Face: Artists’ Helmets’, a showcase of some of Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary artists responding to the motorcycle helmet. Artists featured in ‘Full Face’ include Archie Moore, Brian Robinson, Callum McGrath, Eric Bridgeman, eX de Medici, Ghost Patrol, Guan Wei, Kate Beynon, Madeleine Kelly, Monika Behrens, Nell, Reko Rennie, Robert Moore, Shaun Gladwell and TextaQueen.

Cake Kalk OR 2019 Courtesy: CAKE

Accompanying the exhibition is a major film program screening in the Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque that includes classics such as The Great Escape 1963 starring Steve McQueen and contemporary interpretations of motorcycle culture captured in films such as Akira 1988, The Motorcycle Diaries 2004 and Finke: There and Back 2018.

Indian Chief with sidecar 1940 Arundel Collection
Photograph: Anne-Marie De Boni

‘The Motorcycle’ is accompanied by a hardcover 320 page book co-published with Phaidon. Celebrating the history and future of the motorcycle, the book includes images of the motorcycles featured in the exhibition and essays from the exhibition co-curators. Purchase at GOMA store or online at qagoma.store.

Spencer 1906
The Australian Motorlife Museum – Paul Butler Collection Photograph: Penelope Clay

Tickets to ‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ are now on sale at qagoma.qld.gov.au/motorcycle.

Vespa GS150 1960
Courtesy: Vespa House and Frank Tonon Photograph: Anne-Marie De Boni

‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar.

Source: MCNews.com.au

GOMA motorcycle exhibit confirmed

A special motorcycle exhibition in Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) planned for November has been confirmed with the centre reopening after closing during the pandemic.

The Motorcycle: Design: Art, Desire exhibit will be a “one-off, world exclusive” at GOMA from 28 November 2020 to 26 April 2021.

It will include more than 100 motorcycles from the 1860s to the present day, drawn from private and public collections across the globe. 

Antipodean highlights will be a Brisbane-designed and built 1906 Spencer and the Kiwi-designed 1991 Britten V1000.

work of art
Britten Motorcycle Company Ltd, Christchurch, 1991 Britten V1000 purchased 1995 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds (Collection: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa)

GOMA Director Chris Saines says the centre will reopen from 7 August 2020 after the Queensland Art Gallery reopened on 23 June.

“Now, in line with the Queensland Government’s Roadmap to Recovery and our COVID-19 safety plan in place, we look forward to welcoming visitors back to our second site the Gallery of Modern Art as we prepare for our must-see summer exhibition, ‘The Motorcycle’,” he says.

“The exhibition will appeal not only to bike and motor sport enthusiasts but to anyone with an interest in social history, popular culture, design and technology.”

GOMA exhibit

work of art
1922 German Megola 640cc touring model (© Bonhams Auctioneers)

The GOMA exhibit has been curated by American physicist Professor Charles M. Falco and US filmmaker Ultan Guilfoyle in collaboration with GOMA. 

They were co-curators of the landmark 1998 Guggenheim Museum exhibition in New York, ‘The Art of the Motorcycle’ that ran for three months.

It was subsequently seen in Chicago, Bilbao, Spain, and Las Vegas, with a total attendance of more than two million people.

GOMA director Chris Saines
GOMA director Chris Saines

Prof Falco described himself as a passionate motorcyclist who had his first motorcycle at 15, his first crash at 15.5 and last year rode a 90-year-old motorcycle across the USA.

“For a sustainable future, the world needs motorcycles for personal transportation,” he says.

His co-curator says motorcycles are an example of how “design drives everything”.

Chris says the exhibit will include the earliest 19th century steam-powered motorcycle, right through to electric motorcycles and future designs.

work of art
1930 Majestic 349cc (Photographer: Olivier de Vaulx)

“Over its 150-year history, the motorcycle has undergone extraordinary reinvention, from steam power, to petrol-fuelled internal combustion engines to battery, and from humble backyard creations to custom-made, high-tech chrome speed machines,” Chris says.

work of art
1869 Michaux-Perreaux steam-velocipede, collection du musee du domaine departmental. (Photograph: Olivier Ravoire)

“More than just a means of transport, the motorcycle is a design object, with forms and styles that reflect innumerable cultural and societal influences.”

The exhibit will include bikes, films and interactive displays to appeal to “anyone curious about social history, popular culture, design and technology”.

Tickets are available now on the GOMA website.

GOMA marketing head Bronwyn Klepp says they are looking at extending motorcycle parking opportunities around the centre at least for the duration of the exhibit.

Goma parking
GOMA parking?

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Fuller electric has transparent wheels

This electric bike from Fuller Moto features transparent wheels, a super-slim body and 3D-printed titanium parts, but it has a century-old body design.

As LA bike designer Roland Sands says, electric bikes don’t have the constraints of traditional motorcycles (engines, petrol tank, exhaust pipe), so they can be quite revolutionary in design.

The Fuller 2029 Majestic certainly is revolutionary even if it is based on the French 1929 Majestic with similar sleek body and hub steering.

Majestic 1929Majestic 1929

Incidentally, a 1930 Majestic outfit will be a highlight of a special exhibition in Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) later this year.

work of art1930 Majestic 350 (Photographer: Olivier de Vaulx)

The Motorcycle: Design: Art, Desire exhibit will be a “one-off, world exclusive” at GOMA from 28 November 2020 to 26 April 2021.

Fuller Majestic 2029

Like the 1930 Majestic, the only place you will be able to see the Majestic 2029 is in a museum as it was commissioned by the Haas Moto Museum and Sculpture Gallery.

Fuller 2029 Majestic electric motorcycleBryan Fuller at work

Designer Bryan Fuller has put a lot more 2029 than 1929 into his electric bike including a Zero Motorcycles FXS electric drivetrain, 3D-printed titanium parts, CNC machining and transparent polycarbonate 23-inch wheels.

He also inverted the FXS chassis and repositioned the batteries.

“I was inspired by 3-D printing, allowing my creativity to run wild and create organic shapes that are nearly unmakeable by traditional means,” Fuller told Robb Report. 

“With no limits to design, I was able to create something unique that could only exist in the space between craft and the innovation of technology.”

The Zero FXS pumps out 34kW of power, 106Nm of torque, has a top speed of 137km/h and 161km of range.

There are no tech specs yet on the Majestic 2029, but it should be a lot more than the 1929 version with a meagre 10kW of power and top speed of 90km/h.

Fuller Majestic 2029 gallery

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ showcase in Brisbane

150 years of iconic motorcycles to be celebrated at GOMA

In a world exclusive, ‘The Motorcycle’ promises to showcase one of the most spectacular and priceless collections of motorised two-wheel travel to be seen under one roof anywhere in the world.

More than 100 motorcycles drawn from private and public collections across the globe will go on display at GOMA when ‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ opens at Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) from 28 November 2020 to 26 April 2021.

MegolaccTouringModel Bonhams

MegolaccTouringModel Bonhams

Megola Sport , Germany 1922
Courtesy: Guggenheim Museum, New York
Photographer: David Heald


Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
Director Chris Saines

“The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ includes the earliest 19th century steam-powered motorcycle, right through to electric motorcycles and exciting design propositions for the future. Over its 150-year history, the motorcycle has undergone extraordinary reinvention, from steam power to petrol fuelled internal combustion engines to battery, and from humble backyard creations to custom-made, high-tech chrome speed machines. More than just a means of transport, the motorcycle is a design object, with forms and styles that reflect innumerable cultural and societal influences. We look forward to presenting this comprehensive survey of a universal machine designed to inspire freedom and escape through affordable mobility. At this turning point in the way the world thinks about powered transport,‘The Motorcycle’ will be a timely celebration of exquisite design and a look at what the future holds. The exhibition will include interactive experiences for visitors, and appeal not only to bike and motor sport enthusiasts but to anyone curious about social history, popular culture, design and technology.”

Velocipede OR

Velocipede OR

Michaux – Perreaux steam vélocipède 1869
Collection du musée du domaine départemental. Photograph: Olivier Ravoire


Situated in the now very trendy Southbank precinct of Brisbane, GOMA is surrounded by restaurants and hotels that draw tourists and locals alike.

Gallery of Modern Art GOMA

Gallery of Modern Art GOMA

Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)

Next summer they will also be able to enjoy a visual feast that showcases many of the most iconic, innovative and influential motorcycles created over the last 150 years.

‘The Motorcycle’ is curated by renowned design curators, physicist Professor Charles M. Falco in conjunction with writer and film maker Ultan Guilfoyle, in collaboration with QAGOMA.


A snapshot of highlights

A 1868 Michaux-Perraux, the first steam powered velocipede and oldest known motorcycle in the world.

The earliest Australian designed and built machines including a Spencer produced in Brisbane in 1906.

VincentccBlackLightning Bonhams

VincentccBlackLightning Bonhams

Vincent Black Lightning, Australia 1951
Image courtesy: Bonhams

A 1951 Vincent Black Lightning that set an Australian land speed record in its day and more recently a world record for the highest price paid at auction for a motorcycle…

Symbols of speed from a 1930s Triumph Speed Twin to a 1970s Ducati 750 Super Sport to the 1990s Britten V1000.

BrittenV TePapa

BrittenV TePapa

Britten Motorcycle Company Ltd , Christchurch.
Britten V1000 motorcycle 1991. Purchased 1995 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Collection: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Off-road motorcycles highlighting a rich history of bikes built for dust and dirt.

Customised motorcycles at the intersection of art and design.

Ultra-modern electric motorcycles, demonstrating the future of transportation in the age of renewable energy.


Majestic ODeVaulx

Majestic ODeVaulx

Majestic 350 , France 1930
Photographer: Olivier de Vaulx

The exhibition will be accompanied by a public program, Up Late program and specially curated film program, along with a major hardcover publication. ‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art Desire’ is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland. Minister for Science and the Arts Leeanne Enoch officially announced the show to the press at GOMA.

MegolaccTouringModel Bonhams

MegolaccTouringModel Bonhams

Megola Sport , Germany 1922
Courtesy: Guggenheim Museum, New York
Photographer: David Heald


Minister for Science and the Arts Leeanne Enoch

“The Queensland Government is providing funding of $4 million over two years (2019-20 and 2020-21) to support QAGOMA to show exclusive exhibitions like this in Queensland, attract visitors to our state and enhance our reputation as a globally significant visual arts destination.”

Leeanne Enoch

Leeanne Enoch

Minister for Science and the Arts Leeanne Enoch


Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones

“We invest in events because they support local jobs. Tourists want to experience something they can’t get anywhere else when they’re on holiday. Bringing this exhibition exclusively to Queensland will be a major draw card for thousands of tourists. We expect this exhibition alone to generate more than 63,000 visitor nights for local businesses. To date, the Palaszczuk Government’s support for exclusive exhibitions through QAGOMA has generated almost $85 million, with close to 78,000 people travelling to Queensland specifically for these events. When it comes to major events, we’ve got the runs on the board. We’ve more than doubled the value of Queensland’s major events calendar which will generate around $880 million for our state in 2020.”

Majestic ODeVaulx

Majestic ODeVaulx

Majestic 350 , France 1930
Photographer: Olivier de Vaulx

Tickets to ‘The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire’ are now on sale at www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/themotorcycle

Source: MCNews.com.au