Over the past semester Cruzvillegas and students in the Graduate Program in Fine Arts have been investigating concepts of need and scarcity in relation to object making. Their starting point was the customization and transformation of found materials into bicycles and other functional vehicles. Discussing the forms the vehicles might take, options ranged from a delirious machine to a popcorn vehicle, an art-making trailer, a happy machine, a mirror-reflecting vehicle, a festival-on-the-go machine, a mobile sound system, a half-man half-vehicle, a music vehicle, an elements wagon, a bike raft, and a bird surrey.
The themes inspiring these forms included memories, community, imagination, motion, happiness, celebration, environment, work, speed, energy, and fun. The students also aimed to address issues specific to the Bay Area such as pollution, community, economics, and politics. They visited numerous scrap yards, then collected and recycled parts from old bikes with other found objects and junk to create three vehicles, which will be presented in the nave and paraded in front of CCA's SF campus. On view in the Nave / November 15–29 CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts / San Francisco, California, E.U.A.
Lead sponsorship for the Capp Street Project artist residency of Abraham Cruzvillegas is provided by the Nimoy Foundation. Special thanks to Monica Manzutto & Jose Kuri for supporting the participation of Abraham Cruzvillegas in The Magnificent Seven program.
