9 - 15 July 2018.
Two of my favorite activities: art and party, visiting two museums, one motorcycle camp site and one bike meeting: let's (P)art(y!)

Monday July 9: my first stop was at 'Der Dengelmeister' Hans, who has done a lot of welding on the V8 in recent years. Cup of coffee, a little chat, always cozy at Hans'.

Then on to Solingen, to café Hubraum ('cafe Cylinder Displacement'). Every weekend this is a crowded site for bikers but hey: this was a Monday – the day after – and so there was little to do.

But it had good atmosphere, the 'Wiener Würstchen mit Brötchen und Senf' tasted great, although the alcohol-free beer was terrible.

I continued my trip to Düsseldorf, to camp site Unterbachersee. A very sleepy camp site with mobile homes and elderly. I like thats, nice and quiet. I put up my tent, took the mattress outside, read a book ...

... cooked a meal (salad, potatoes and trout fillets) ...

... took pictures of desolate settings (I really like doing that) ...

... and enjoyed the picturesque view at the waterfront. No doubt William Turner would have painted it.

Rode to downtown Düsseldorf, and fed the CBX along the way; with what else than Ottokraftstoff? ;)

Just like three years ago, I was bitten the first evening by a so-called Blanford fly, in Dutch called 'kriebelmugje' ('itch mosquito'). Quite an understatement, this name: the Blanford fly really bites, after its bite a trickle of blood ran out of the wound.

Three years ago I had to shorten my trip because my blood got poisoned. This time I immediately went for a proper course.

Why Düsseldorf? There is the NRW Forum, and I'd never been there before. It presents itself as 'Ausstellungshaus für Fotografie, Pop und digitale Kultur', and I was especially curious about the exhibition 'Pendoran Vinci', about art and artificial intelligence.

The main attraction, however, was Liu Xiaodong, a leading Chinese artist. Social engagement is his motive for painting. He visits 'outsiders' of society, talks to them, photographs and paints them. Like here: refugees.

Unfortunately, outside the context, this does not produce interesting photography. Not for me at least.

Did I say 'outsiders'? Then transgender people can not be missed.

I was not impressed, sorry for Liu and his target groups.

I did find his last work interesting: 'Weight of Insomnia', an active robot painting based on livestream footage. A webcam continuously records a street scene and the robot brush translates this live into a kind of impressionistic painting.

But I came for Pendoran Vinci, for the exciting combination of art and artificial intelligence. Interesting stuffl: what is creativity, what is artistry, and can machines possess this, or learn?

The VR installation of William Latham offered nothing new: putting on a helmet and looking around in a psychedelic fluid slide. Boring.

A documentary about whether computers can make art. Unfortunately with an open end, with just firing questions and no answers.

This work by Justine Emard was prominently on the flyer of Pendoran Vinci, and I hoped to see this robot 'live'. Unfortunately, it was not more than a video.

The Nefertitibot really hit rock bottom: I could not discovered in what way it was more sophisticated (or less...) than Apple's Siri or Google's Assistant.

Ow yes, and then there was Hello Barbie, the first AI-toy that came on the market in 2015. But Barbie was out of order.

No, that was not a success at all. And as I left, it was raining. Not a big issue, I'm used to it, but it was dangerous this time. Reason: because it hadn't rained for seven weeks (!), the roads were slippery due to oil and diesel residues. Which was clearly visible by the white foam on the asphalt. Fortunately nothing happened during my ride back to the camp site ...

... where I made my dinner. Slow-cooking on an ethanol burner, so relaxing. Spinach with pasta and spiced shrimps this time.

And on the terrace I enjoyed a cool Erdinger and a nice book.

Thunder and lightning all around me, with very threatening skies. But also sunny. Nice combination.

I was at the purple dot, so just out of reach of heavy weather. It did not rain that evening nor night.

Wednesday July 11: let's go to Bonn!

Regulations in Germany are becoming increasingly strict in terms of parking policy, so I put the bike in the parking garage. Pleasant side effect: the engine sound resonates great.

All my luggage fit into two large lockers.

I had great expectations from the expo in the Bundeskunsthalle: the first European retrospective called 'The Cleaner' by performance artist Marina Abramovic. I admire her very much, for many years.

Abramovic explores her physical and mental limits throughout her life. This work is called 'The Artist is Present' in which she sat motionless opposite museum visitors for three months, six days a week. This is all about communication, rest, concentration, and endurance.

There were many students in the museum, and they also participated in many of her performances. Here sitting at a big table ... counting rice grains.

Abramovic says: If you can't count the rice for three hours, you can't do anything good in life." Quite firmy, but that's how she is.

The principle is simple: put on a hearing protector to shut yourself off from the outside world, grab a handful of rice with lentils, separate the black lentils from the white rice grains, count them, and write down the numbers. Then discard the grains again.

I wanted to try that too: first divide the lentils from the rice grains, then put them together in groups of ten, and finally add them up. I thought (and hoped) that a Zen Buddhist calm would immediately come over me, but that did not happen: the first hour my thoughts raged through my head, not a sign of relaxation. It was only in the second hour that I came to rest, and the world became smaller, and that was a pleasant experience: just me counting grains. I was soon the longest resident at the table. And in the end I counted 339 lentils and 2,379 grains of rice.

I also took time for the rest of the expo, as did most visitors. I stayed at the exhibition for six hours, and can't remember ever having spent so long in a single museum. But with your eyes closed, on your socks, standing in large pieces of natural stone, such experiences count. For me at least.

Good to see so much youth in the museum; presumably organized from schools but anyway: this performance phenomenon is a must.

On the video you see 'Rest Energy' (1980), in which her then partner Ulay points an arrow in a tense bow at her heart, and holds it for four minutes and ten seconds. Microphones at their heart record their ever increasing heart rate.

I wasn't familiar with this video work yet. It's called 'Holding the Milk' (2009), in which she is stands motionless with an overflowing pan of milk in her hands. Almost frozen, similar to the work of Bill Viola, which I also love.

All in all an unparalleled and unforgettable exhibition.

Still quite impressed I rode back to Rheincamping Siebengebirgsblick ...

... and cooked my dinner; this time red beets with apple, mozzarella ravioli and South African turkey steak.

I happened to meet Werner Wagner, co-CBX driver, who took his motorcycle out of the garage to show it.

There was a beer evening – for me with, for him without alcohol – and when it was dark he left.

Thursday July 12: after the familiar breakfast ...

... I left for Neuendorf, to visit Vetus Tempus ('(Good) Old Times'), Rob and Mia's biker camp site. It was obviously extinct because I came during the week, ánd in the preseason.

But hostess Mia and host Rob were hospitably present and served a nice cold beer.

I put my tent on their beautiful lawn.

A text on the wall that nicely summarizes my motorcycle love.

(Although the v must be an f ;))

Rob (on the right, sitting) can talk for hours about his motorcycle collection. Tempus Vetus all over the place.

Behind him: Theo, also a visitor that day. We 'know' each other from Koning Zelfbouw in Hengelo: I've coincidentally named and shown his bike, a Spondon TRX, in my previous post. It's a small world after all.

Over the course of the evening two young guys from around Dordrecht arrived on their sports bikes, and we ended the day with a few Bitburgers.

Friday July 13: starting the day with a well-groomed breakfast, and free entertainment of their two dogs Duca and Kaatje. The love for Italian motorbikes even manifests itself in the names of the dogs.

Quite a long ride to the motorcycle meeting, sometimes on bumpy roads ...

... and sometimes on perfect curvy asphalt, as the Eifel is known for.

On the way, I was surprised by a huge downpour (Friday the thirteenth, was not it?), and after that the idling speed was much too high. So I disassembled the tank and searched for the cause ...

... which turned out to be in a muddy stationary adjustment screw. Easy fix. Quite useful if you know your bike a bit.

During this stop I found out that I'd left my cell phone at the previous gas station. Stupid, of course, but I'd rather blame Friday the thirteenth. ;)

Same for the endless traffic jams I ended up in. That was debilitating.

But in the end I ended up at the meeting in Grossostheim that took place for the thirty-fifth time. Dozens of volunteers ensured that the plus-minus 800 motorcyclists did not lack anything. Older volunteers but also young ones.

When I asked him which bike was on his shirt, he had no idea. Not even when I said it was a CBX. Ah, today's youth... ;)

'My' group arrived one hour later. I'd met them three years ago, at this same event.

'Motorradfreunde Ottweiler e.V.'. No, not a MC but a MF (Motorcycle Friends), they emphasized time and again.

The beers go per liter. Saves a lot of unnecessary walking trips.

Two men take eight liters with at a time. They are sometimes so wonderfully efficient, those Germans.

Then, of course, take a well deserved rest. This is Achim, a very funny and entertaining biker. Even if you do not understand anything he says, like me.

Everyone sprayed Anti Brumm, against annoying insects. Me too, and I also consistently wore long pants and socks.

Many bikes, good atmosphere.

In the course of the evening tyres were smoked, an entertaining tradition.

Outside everyone had a good time ...

Talked, had a lot of fun ...

Saturday July 14: next morning, slightly hungover, I had a long conversation with Bernd who once owned a Münch TTS and trades in Indians and Vincents. He took a Vincent with him. A beauty.

During the day we went with the whole team to the local swimming pool. Swimming, lazing, a small beer. Some bikers went off the slide; no, I do not name names. ;)

Back at the event, the traditional and inevitable pose-on-the-CBX photoshoot took place.

Manuela, the (unwillingly) primal mother's of the gang, smiling her most cheerful smile.

It was particularly busy around the CBX. Comments ranged between "Hat was..." ("There is something about it...") and "Du bist Gott!" ("You are God!").

I'd forgotten my red and white crime-scene tape so there was a lot of pinching, knocking and turning. Danny (under the arrow) voluntarily acted as a bodyguard to point out bikers about their undesirable behavior.

A group photo of the entire club. Danny (far right) this time in more relaxed condition.

The evening was similar to the night before. However, the band was better.

And there was a prize-giving ceremony: Motorradfreunde Ottweiler e.V. turned out to be the second largest club.

Are you happy with the price, Manuela? Point at the photo ...

Sunday July 15: the body still wanted to sleep but the sun on the tent disagreed. And the sun was right as it would be an extremely hot (30 degrees) and long (445 km) riding day.

I had to take a detour to pick up my forgotten phone ...

... which was given sanctuary by the staff at Rastplatz Grenzau. I donated quite a tip as a thank-you.

Nice to be away for a week, and nice to go home again too. It was a good week.