Björn Schülke: Air Bike

The Kiel-based artist Björn Schülke has positioned his airborne object at the entrance to Schwetzingen: his “air-bike”, set high up on a graceful stainless steel pole. By adding elevators, wings with ailerons, and propellers, Schülke has turned this readymade into the semblance of a fully functional bike-based flying object. But he is pulling the viewers’ leg, because the wings are no more than a tracery of rods that let the air through. The bike is quite incapable of flying!