© Copyright: Peter Land
The Ride
The exhibition "The Ride" by Peter Land was shown 16 February - 5 May 2002
Peter Land (b. 1966) is known for his video pieces, which present himself failing spectacularly at whatever he may be trying to accomplish. This is tragic and comic at one and the same time. ”The Ride” is film installation - a small 16 mm film, which is shown on a roller screen by means of an old-fashioned projector, with hurdy-gurdy music composed by the artist himself.
In “The Ride” the audience is treated to the vision of Land as a cyclist. A cyclist, that is, who does not master the simple art of riding a bicycle. He has barely risen from the horizon before he falls. He carefully rights his bicycle again and carries on. And so it goes on: biking, falling, continuing, biking, falling, continuing.
Land models his work on slapstick comedians such as Buster Keaton and Laurel Hardy, characterised by eternal bad luck and miraculous survival skills.
Falls and repetitions constitute Land’s metaphor for the awkward attempts made by modern-day individuals at finding a place within normality in order to justify their presence in the world.
