Channel your inner Easy Rider and head into GOMA to check out its newest blockbuster exhibition, The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire when it zooms into Brisbane from 28 November 2020 to 26 April 2021.

The world-exclusive exhibition shines the spotlight on the uber-cool and iconic mode of transportation and will feature more than 100 of the most innovative and influential motorcycles created over the last 150 years. The motorcycle-haven will include memorabilia that will wow motorcycle enthusiasts and non-bikers alike, drawn from private and public collections from around the world. Highlights of the exhibition include a 1868 Michaux-Perraux, the oldest known motorcycle in the world, the earliest Australian-designed and built machines including a 1906 Brisbane-built Spencer and the 1951 Vincent Black Lightning that (at the time) set an Australian land speed record as well as a world record for the highest price paid at auction for a motorcycle when it sold for $1.6 million AUS ($920,000 US) in 2018.

The exhibition will also showcase off-road motorcycles for the dirt-bike fanatics, customised motorcycles that will catch the eye of art lovers and ultra-modern electric motorcycles that utilise renewable energy.

The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire is curated by physicist Professor Charles M. Falco and writer and filmmaker Ultan Guilfoyle, in collaboration with QAGOMA. The exhibition will be accompanied by a public program, an Up Late program and a specially curated film program (think Mad Max and The World’s Fastest Indian), along with a major hardcover publication.

Keen to jump on for a ride? Gather your fellow speed demons and grab your tickets to The Motorcycle: Design, Art, Desire at GOMA’s website.

Image One: Vincent Black Lightning, Australia 1951. Image courtesy: Bonhams.
Image Two: Majestic 350 (detail), France 1930. Photographer: Olivier de Vaulx.
Image Three: Megola Sport, Germany 1922. Courtesy: Guggenheim Museum, New York. Photographer: David Heald.
Image Four: 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.
Image Five: Majestic 350, France 1930. Photographer: Olivier de Vaulx.
Image Six: Vincent Black Lightning (detail), Australia 1951. Image courtesy: Bonhams