Scooters as art — apps bring people to gallery
With a little geolocational help from one of those scooter apps that have been much in the news, one out-of-theway San Francisco gallery is showing a work of art that has also become an inexpensive marketing plan. Call it an installation piece, guaranteed to bring more than a few people through the door.
John Lindsey has operated the Great Highway, a tiny but energetic art gallery six blocks from Ocean Beach at 3649 Lawton St., since 2011. This week, he installed “Ride to Nowhere” in the gallery window. It juxtaposes those shiny new scooters owned by companies like LimeBike and Bird with the image of a sleeping homeless man — a photograph, printed on a blanket, by artist Rex Mandel.
The scooters can be left anywhere, to be located and unlocked with a smartphone app. They have been the subject of much controversy, as well as a cease-anddesist order issued by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.
Lindsey’s piece is a not-so-subtle commentary on the issue. “I got the idea from a woman on the radio yesterday,” he said via email. The woman was addressing a Board of Supervisors meeting, “talking about being homeless is an act of desperation and riding a scooter is a sign of privilege.”
“I went and got a scooter, put it in my car (as it threatened me that it would call the police — they never came) and pulled out the photo blanket when I got back to the gallery.”
Now, Lindsey said, “People find the gallery by finding the scooters on their app. Then I take it out for them and they ride away.”