Nov 1st, 2018 : Salvage or Theft

[xoxoxoBruce]

In 2007 the container ship MSC Napoli, carrying 2323 containers, sank in a storm off the coast of Dorset, England.
Many of the containers washed up on shore and people flocked to the beach to grab the booty from the broken open containers.
But then they started breaking the sealed containers open while the confused police watched, not knowing if it was salvage or theft.
One container held 17 brand new motorcycles and BMW files a theft report. After a couple years of legal wrangling BMW gave up
and declared the bikes the property of the salvors/thieves.

Austrian artist Christian Kosmas Mayer watched the debacle unfold on TV with the rest of the world.
“The whole story was fascinating to me and I read everything I could find,” said Christian.
“I also tried to follow the aftermath of the events and what happened to the objects that were taken home. The news stopped covering that soon after but I kept it in my memory.”
When the opportunity came up in 2018 to make an artwork at an emergency mooring station for ships in trouble on the Danube in Austria, Christian's mind returned to shipwrecks and to the Napoli.

"Finally I tracked down one of three friends who took a BMW motorcycle home that night. They had never given it back and stored it in a garage without ever having used it. Those three men still live around there and consider that night one of the best nights they ever had.”

Christian agreed to buy the bike from the friends in April 2018, after proving that BMW had relinquished ownership of the bike.
He mounted it in a glass case on top of a concrete model of the Napoli at the side of the river Danube in Austria – he named the installation Cycles Galore!

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