| For Immediate Release
CHRIS BURDEN
B-CAR
April 1-30, 1977
The following is a description of the work by Chris Burden. "During the two month period between August 24 and October 16, 1975, I conceived, designed, and constructed a small one passenger automobile. My goal was to design a fully operational four-wheel vehicle which would travel 100 miles per hour and achieve 100 miles per gallon. I imagined this vehicle as extremely lightweight, streamlined, and similar in structure to both a bicycle and an airplane.
Once the project was conceived, I was compelled to realize it. I set the goal of completing the car for two shows in Europe. I saw building the car as a means toward the end of driving it between galleries in Amsterdam and Paris as a performance. When I arrived in Amsterdam, I knew that the accomplishment of constructing the car had become for me the essential experience. I had already realized the most elaborate fantasy of my life. Driving the car as a performance was not important after the ordeal of bringing it into existence.
The car is not completely engineered; most of the parts are hand-made, and many of the decisions in design and construction were based on hunches. As I worked, I kept all the sketches and drawings as a record of the process. Displayed with the car, they became documentation of the construction. The car and drawings represent a vision - my fantasy as an artist of what a car should be."
The exhibition will consist of this fully operational car that the artist has designed and constructed. In addition there will be 120 drawings, photographs, and a video tape explaining the car's construction.
There will be a reception Friday evening, April 1, 5:00 to 8:00, at the Feldman Gallery.
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