La commande

In 1951 the ACMA factory specialising in the production of Vespas opened at Fourchambault. While the new venture quickly turned out to be a success from both the economic and social points of view, difficulties in contending with the competition led to the factory's closure in 1962. For the 2001 Eurovespa meeting welcoming Vespa clubs from all over Europe and elsewhere, Fourchambault was chosen as the host venue by the International Vespa Federation. The Vespa Club of Fourchambault used the opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ACMA factory as well. Various events were organized. The intervention of an artist likely to enhance the status of the Vespa, bring it up to date as an industrial myth and show its worldwide relevance was wished for.

L'œuvre

The installation presented at the Fourchambault Maison du Peuple on 23 and 24 June 2001 and at the Écuries Saint-Hugues de Cluny from 30 June to 18 July 2001 mixes elements produced in the context of the Fly me to another world exhibition and others made specifically for the Eurovespa events (parades, exhibitions of scooters, a procession in the streets...). It included a full-size fibreglass representation of Inson Wongsam and his scooter, and a house made of wood and cardboard packing boxes adorned with painted banners showing the different places he had travelled through on his odyssey. Working from documents associated with the history of the Vespa Club, Rawinchaikul made a large narrative fresco with EUROVESPA inscribed across it. Vespa-shaped benches were offered to the visitors where they could read illustrated works, inviting them to be time travellers. They could also take part in a karaoke resulting from a montage of amateur videos made by members of the Vespa Club. Several layers of time came together, so updating the myth of the Vespa.

Navin Rawinchaikul

The mediator suggested Navin Rawinchaikul with whom he had already collaborated in the context of an exhibition at the Consortium de Dijon, Fly me to another world (2000), an installation based on the story of a Thai artist, Inson Wongsam, who in the early 1960s made a two-year journey by scooter, travelling from Thailand to Rome. During the exhibition Rawinchaikul set out across Europe for a fortnight on a scooter. Mixing art and life, bringing art to the public, questioning the links between biography and fiction, are constants in the creative work of this artist, who has been active since the early 1990s. His protean work also includes paintings borrowing from the style of cinema posters, strip cartoons and photographs as well as recordings and events.