Dear Mr. Romeu: I have just received your very thoughtful e-Mail. I think you might en joy one of my late father's favorite stories. A famous critic was taken to Caruso's debut. After a stunning perfor mance, he was asked his opinion of the singer. He replied " he san g very well, but his feet are much too big." George Hollenberg, MD
Date: Friday, May 11, 2007 8:21 am Subject: Re: [CR]Cinelli Laser To: Tom Dalton
Cc: gholl@optonline.net, Classic Rendezvous
> Dear Mr. Tom Dalton, rider:
> You and Brian sounds like every painter that I have ever been
> with going
> to a major painting show at a museum. They are not historians,
> but
> analyzing an object with their own legitimate and interesting
> perspective. In this case, Brian is deconstructing the bike
> just how i
> would want my builder to approach the consideration of my frame,
> and how
> i would expect a rider with some knowledge to look at the Laser.
>
> Neither you and Brian are not looking at this from a curators
> perspective. The curatorial staff (specifically for the MOMA
> collection
> which would be obvious if you knew the collection) are not
> looking at
> how a design works for it's particular function, but rather how
> it fits
> the design legacy for the particular time, how it influences
> future
> design approaches, and how it integrates and reinforces their
> presumptions and hypothesis of their current collection (of
> course,
> politics) and writings. It is the tradition that every
> department in a
> museum reflects the particular curator's approach to collecting
> and
> historical scholarship, and the museum's reputation rests on
> this.
> Remember, the museum relies on visual display which leaves less
> credence
> to function, and most 'cutting edge' design requires years of
> refinement. If function was a primary requirement, which
> bicycle would
> fulfill it- would it be by wind tunnel tests, winner of the tour
> de X, a
> Paris brevet, or what sold the most?
>
> The more I hear about the Cinelli Laser (and see it), the more
> it seems
> to fit with the current design collection in MOMA for using
> technology
> ahead of it's time (albeit needing refinement), for the
> aerodynamic
> approach, internally routing all the cables, composite non metal
> component construction, wheels (as you mentioned), oval tubing-
> many
> years before these things became off the shelf products.
>
> It would be most interesting for a design museum to take the
> approach of
> searching out the best functional products for any time period,
> I
> remember the London design museum having their show of the
> evolution of
> the Dyson vacuum cleaner. It would be a nightmare to curate and
> require
> experts of every discipline to participate (and willing to be
> thrown to
> the wolves), and a real topic of controversy on a list like this.
...
>
>
> > While I agree that the Cinelli Laser was both exotic and
> impractical,> I think you may have missed Brian's point. His
> point was that the
> > execution of some of the features was poor, and that these
> > shortcomings cannot be justified by the supposed cutting-edge na
ture
> > of the bike.
>
> --
> gabriel l romeu
> in a foggy chesterfiel nj usa, an hour south of the MOMA
> collection with
> lottsa bikes that fit fine in a rider's collection
> ± http://studiofurniture.com Ø http://journalphoto.org ±
>
>
>
>
>
>
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA