The car is the most quintessential product and symbol of the Industrial Revolution. When the Model-T Ford was introduced on the market, it was accompanied by the slogan “a car for every worker.” Its success lay in a combination of production line standardization originating in Gutenberg’s printing press, and the wisdom that produced the first “classless” society. The willingness to accept the car as a symbol and a status, and to publicize the use of spacious models for the executive class, is the trademark not of the car, but rather of the split brought about by capitalism in reshaping norms of class, rank and function.

Open meetings of groups of men driving All-Terrain Vehicles are held throughout the world, provoking hostile responses on the part of the environmentalist community. The increase in the number of ATVs on urban roads may be traced back to some point in the mid-1990s, concurrent with the dot.com prosperity. The car is a fashion item, an economic and social status symbol, and more than any other product, it is traded by means of its image beyond practical functionality. In his book Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan dedicates an entire chapter entitled “The Mechanical Bride” to the car’s place in the development of the electronic technologies. He suggests to car manufacturers to follow the successful comeback of the horse, which was transformed from a “means of transport” to a leisure pastime. He predicts that vehicles as a major mode of transportation will lose their place with the development of remote control technologies such as teleporting.
Challenge driving is a perfect sport for masculine technologies that celebrate competition. The male identifies the car with the bullet shape, experiencing the thrill of orgasm, death and future. Driving with 4-wheel drive is charged with social as well as personal meanings. The motor vehicle is the modern incarnation of the cowboy’s horse or the mythological Pegasus. The experience of flirting with danger plays an important role in ATV driving. There is a sense of achievement and challenge that is reinforced by overcoming the danger, as an experience of control in the face of death.

While her earlier works delved into rituals and symbols identified with the State of Israel, here Yael Bartana follows a social ritual. Most rites are based on the principle of recurrence – repeating the same rituals linked with holidays and festive days or those marking private or public events, over and over again. The steady annual repetition generates a sense of constancy and stability. Similarly, our daily, routine actions acquire an air of a ritual with fixed rules that we often set for ourselves. As we grow older, we cling to our private rituals, feeling that they are unique to us and express our values and worldview.

Galit Eilat

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