MOR showcases exciting exhibits of the motor & mechanical variety
Alongside its famed Siebel Dinosaur Complex, Museum of the Rockies unveils a pair of new exhibits for the curious during the winter months. LUSTER: Realism & Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile & Motorcyle Painting and Human Plus: Real Lives + Real Engineering open January 22nd and will be on display into spring. A members-only preview event will be held the evening prior. Here’s a closer look at what’s in store.
The birth of the modern car occurred over 150 years ago in Germany. The first internal combustion, a petroleum-fueled motorcycle came out of Germany 25 years later. In the United States, Henry Ford Company was established in 1901. A year later it morphed into Cadillac Motor Company which Ford left, along with the rights to his name. A new Ford Motor Company emerged in 1903 in Detroit with backing from a dozen investors, including the Dodge brothers.
The same year, Harley-Davidson, was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its chief rival was the Indian Motorcycle Co. which emerged out of a bicycle manufacturer in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1901. Much has changed since those early automotive years, but perhaps nothing more so than America’s love affair with cars and motorcycles, which has expressed itself culturally and artistically in so many ways.
LUSTER: Realism & Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile & Motorcyle Painting features a selection of dazzling paintings of vehicles from the birth of the automobile and motorcycle to the present. LUSTER is a celebration of automotive design and style, and contemporary, artist virtuosity.
Human Plus offers visitors a chance to explore and create a range of low- and high-tech tools that extend the abilities of the human body. Visitors can ride a mono-ski in a simulated ski race, control a DJ station using the wheels of a wheelchair, “feel” the music with a special touch panel, engineer solutions to unique design challenges and even discover how someone can control a neuroprosthetic limb with their thoughts.
Human Plus also showcases compelling stories from a unique field of engineering.
MOR is open from 9:30am–4:30pm daily. For more information about these exhibits and other museum happenings, visit www.museumoftherockies.org. •
