Kenneth is an art student from Germany. He did an exchange study in Shanghai in 2018. Towards the end of his program, he decided to build an electric motorcycle and ride it back to Stuttgart from Shanghai for his graduation.

We conducted this interview via Skype on May 22, 2018, while Kenneth was on the road trip staying in a small hotel room in Xinjiang.

How are you? How have you been?

To be honest, I had a really bad day yesterday. I came to Urumqi and we ordered some parts. Basically, my scooter goes about 38km an hour. It’s painfully slow. So, I figured out some parts I could use to make it faster. I bought one of the parts, and I thought I could get other parts locally. Turns out I cannot…

- Skype call interrupted due to poor signal.

After trying to reconnect…

I’m not sure if it’s me or your WiFi.

I think it’s my shitty Xinjiang internet. The internet in Xinjiang is horrible. I had 4G internet at 3,000 meter elevation in a place where there was literally nobody. But in Urumqi, I only have 3G. And even the WiFi is shitty.

Is that intentional?

I heard that from a friend of mine. I heard you are not able to use a VPN as a Chinese in Xinjiang. I don’t know, my VPN works very well. There is no 4G and I assume that is on purpose, yeah. Because the moment I reached Xinjiang, it was only 3G internet.

I read your WeChat posts about your journey. It seems like this isn’t the first time the bike has broken.

Yes, there were different problems. Design problems as well as just what I have to maintain. Basically, before it was like once I had to repair something, and most of the time it’s maintenance. I think it’s ok. It’s a cheap scooter.  I mean, I’ve gone 1,000 km already.

How did you come up with the idea of assembling a scooter by yourself and then riding it back to Germany?

So, I did some artworks about motorcycles before, predominately American motorcycle culture. My father was a rider in a men’s motorcycle club, and I did some works about that. I did some works about the significance of the motorcycle, blah blah blah. And here, I got more interested in a more local approach to wheel transportation as well as how machines determine our lives. So my thoughts were, first, how do people identify with motorcycles, and now it’s more like how do we identify with technology in a broad-ish sense. Coming from a motorcycle background, I thought of this scooter as a daily regime, and a daily giver of routine could be a good metaphor to approach that.

Did you intentionally choose to have scooter that’s kind of DIY and slow? Maybe even one that breaks all the time? Is this element part of the purpose of your project? 

Well, I assumed I’m a good mechanic. Basically, the Taobao Ads promised me 45 km per hour of speed, which would be fair enough, would give me a good average speed to reach decent mileage each day. I was kind of on time and doing well. But I was not an expert on motorcycle ergonomics, so my back started hurting, my hands started hurting. And I basically attributed that to my daily 6-7 hours on the bike.

Is it just holding the same position all the time on the bumpy road makes it hard to sit on?

It’s more  of being  in  the  same position.  It’s more  comfortable  now.  I put  the handlebar higher up, I changed the position of my legs. So that got better. Now it’s just basically cutting the hours on the saddle. I’m just making it a little bit faster and a little bit more pleasant to ride.

Why did you start this trip? You mentioned maybe it’s a project, you’ve done similar projects with motorcycle culture before. So, is this also an art project you are doing?

Yes, basically. Growing up, I was the son of a motorcycle rider, but I never spent a long time on a motorcycle. I never did tours, never felt for myself what it means to ride – what this connection to a motorcycle means. So, I assumed I would get closer to that on a rather extreme trip.

And now that you are doing it, what do you think of it now?

Yeah, it’s really interesting that you kind of have this… you are sitting in the same position for hours, and what it does to my body, it really feels like factory work I did before. But unlike factory work, my brain is less occupied with repetitive tasks, and I have  more  time  to  actually  think  and  reflect.  It’s  pretty  interesting  where  my thoughts go, what actually occupies my mind and stuff.

Yeah, I was wondering about how you’re feeling along the way. Do you feel lonely, travelling alone all this time? Do you get bored sitting in the same position? What’s going on in your mind when you are riding?

If I ride more than 150km a day, the last 50km are a real pain. A lot of the time, like the first 50km, I’m getting into riding. The second 50km I think a lot. I often just go back in time and think about things that happened in the past – how they happened, why they happened, why they may have been painful, what I might have done wrong, how I could do it better next time.

And I don’t really get lonely, because I have this girlfriend in Shanghai who helps me through those times with chats and phone calls. And I also have like 20 people I met on the road who I’m still in touch with. Like this truck driver, we exchange locations. We met at Hou Shan Ko, had a beer together, and now we are just like sending pictures of the road, talking about where we are, how we’re doing, how we feel.

How does the truck driver feel? Do you speak Chinese?

Yeah, we are writing in Chinese. He’s from Shandong. Just arrived home yesterday, I think. He crossed China at like crazy speed, and now he’s heading back to Xinjiang. So  he’s  kind  of  driving  in  between  these  two  cities,  and  he  was  like,  “Yeah, tomorrow I’m gonna go to Xinjiang.” And I was like, “Ooooh, shit!” I was writing, “So tough.” I gave him sad emojis. And he was like, “Well, we are working. This is our job.” I felt that at some point, that’s how people react. Like, “Well, this is what we do for a living. I mean it’s not great, but we’re doing this, it’s just what we do. We could be sad, we could complain about it, or we can just accept it.” Probably that’s the way to cope with it, or… I’m not sure.

It sounds like you don’t agree with that kind of approach to life.

I honestly admire it, but I wouldn’t want it for myself.

So the people you’ve met, how do they see you? How do you tell them about what you are doing, and what do they think of it?

So it’s hard for me to explain that this is a university project, and I try to use my basic Chinese to kind of explain it. But even if I explain that this is my graduation project, they don’t understand. And that’s just an artist/non-artist issue probably. So, I always tell them that, yes, this is kind of a vacation thing, and I’m doing this time-lapse movie while I’m riding. It’s just how it is, how it works.

Do they think it’s cool? Or do they think you are crazy?

They are like, from “Wah! Li Hai! [Awesome]” or “Wow!”, to someone saying, “Ha? Three months’ vacation? A three-month vacation… oh my god!”

You said you’ve also been stopped by policemen often. Is that the same story you tell them? And what kind of response do you get from them?

So with policemen, I stress the fact that this is a vacation, and I kind of don’t admit the picture-taking part. I’ll just say, “I’m just riding here, I’m just looking at the beautiful Xinjiang.” But everybody was like, “Oh, oh, oh, Xinjiang, you know that’s kind of dangerous. Not because of the terrorist attacks, but because you may get detained, they may take away your bike.”

On my way to Urumqi, I ran into a sharp piece of metal or something, some sharp object on the road, and go a flat tire. I had to buy a new tire, new back tire and new inner tubing. So I rode, and broke down again. And then there were cops who showed up and asked me, “What are you doing here?” And I was like, “I’m broke down.” They replied, “Damn, this is a highway, you can’t just stay here.” I said, “I’m not, but…” And then they were like, “You know what, we’re just gonna put it on our pickup truck and take you to Urumqi. This is dangerous, you can’t be doing this here.”

So they helped you.

They helped me. First, they put everything in the truck, then they took a picture. And I was thinking to myself, “Why are you taking a picture?” Then they said, “Please stand further from the flashlight, please cover that light. Otherwise, we can’t see you’re  a  foreigner.”  And  these  police  officers  commented  with  “Lihai,  Lihai [Awesome].” Then we went on, and at the police station, we took a selfie in full armor. There was this guy in a bullet-proof mask, and another guy with the SWAT uniform and a machine gun. And then they helped me find a hotel.

So, it’s not dangerous there at all, it’s not like what people were nervous about. The policemen actually helped you.

Yeah. Some police when they see me in a small village, they will be like, “Oh, ohhhh, woooowww, passport.” Then they go away with the passport and call their boss for two hours. And then they give the passport back and say, “You are good. Have a safe travel.”

Do you see tension there?

Well, Urumqi is less than Hami. Hami had some very, very aggressive city architecture. Basically a lot of times, the road was… like, they had a lot of police checkpoints in town. There were times where passageways were blocked. So it really felt like being in a maze sometimes. Ok, this way I can’t, this way I have to go. And a lot of times, just like speed bumps, road blocks, roads blocked for no obvious reasons; so you have to turn around, turn left, go on the car road, go back again. Same for pedestrians – they always have to dodge some fences and stuff. If you want to enter a mall, you have to scan your luggage, you have to have to be patted down, etc.

And how do you navigate? Do you use Baidu [Chinese search engine], or…?

Yeah. It works.

What about batteries? Is your motorcycle an electric one that needs to be charged? What if you run out of battery in the middle of nowhere, and you are out of the battery for your phone too?

Ummm… I charge my phone on the scooter battery, so once the battery dies, usually my phone is 100% charged. That happened to me once in Xi’an. I had to push the bike some 500 meters to find a place to charge. And it happened to me one day before Urumqi. There was a super strong wind, and instead of 100km, I could only drive 55km. And my batteries eventually died like 2km before the next road house/truck stop. So, I had to push. Like, I’m aware of my limited range, so I can plan accordingly. Wind, I know now that it’s dangerous, since it cuts my range in half. But, it’s ok.

Can you tell me again about the whole trip? Just a general idea.

I’m travelling from Shanghai to my university town, which is Stuttgart. It’s gonna take about three months total, maybe more now that I have all these problems. It’s gonna be more expensive than I thought, and I’m gonna be coming home with debts. But that’s kind of fine. I mean, globally, the majority of university students leave university with debts, so I can do that too. I have been travelling for almost 40 days now. Still in China, but China really makes up a third of the whole trip.

So, when are you going to cross the border?

Sometime next week I hope.

And how does it feel? You’ve never travelled to the places that you’ve been through so far, and the places you are going later, right? Are you nervous, or are you excited? You know your goal is to finally get there, but don’t know what’s going to happen during the journey.

Having the goal is more important than achieving it actually. I’m like, yeah tomorrow Urumqi, then I’m going to the Kazakh border. And then I’m really happy. But usually I’m just like, “Ah, I made it. God damn it! Ok… so now where?”

So, it’s less poetic or romantic than what other people might imagine it to be? It’s kind of becoming like a truck driver’s job to you?

A friend of mine the other day was telling me, “You know, you’ll always remember that adventures suck until they’re over.”

Yeah, probably the more it sucked at the time, the more interesting it will seem afterwards when you remember it.

Yeah, adventures are forged in retrospect. I’m pretty aware that, in the end, what will be left in this adventure for anybody but me is just the stories I can tell. Basically, those stories, they are pretty banal if you were there looking at it. But they are also very poetic if you are listening as an outsider, and if you haven’t been there. It really sounds like, “Wow,” but actually it was just a lot of dirt, dust, and sweat. Now that also sounds poetic, but…

You have a name for the project called “People’s 555C”. What does it mean?

It went through some name changes. It started with People’s Republic Scooter Club, then it was The People’s Scooter Club, now it’s like People’s Super Scooter Club. Like SC, Scooter Club, and 5C would be the leetspeak version of it. Just emphasizing the scooter – it could also be Super Speed Scooter Club, or Super Slow Scooter Club, or...

You are going to have an end product from this too, right?

Yeah, the end product is going to be this time-lapse video. It’s gonna be called “Ground Speed 45000km an Hour”.

Did you bring anything to read with you? What kind of music do you listen to when travelling?

I’m  listening  to  hardcore  a  lot.  Like  hardcore  techno.  And  I’ve  been  reading Marx’s “Fragment on Machines” a little bit. There is one part in Grundrisse where he talks about machines in a pretty visionary way. He kind of gets at this machine-determined life theme. But it’s a really hard read, and I’m still struggling with the first page…

But something symbolic and inspiring to bring along.

I don’t know, I was like, “Dude, you have this abundance of time for yourself, you should read. The texts that were part of your curriculum that you didn’t read before. You should maybe read that.”

Do you listen to music while driving?

No, not anymore. I used to, but the wind is pretty loud when you drive, and it’s already pretty isolated because of the helmet. And then, listening to music while riding further isolates you from where you actually are; for example, I’ll be paying attention  to  what’s  happening  in  the  music  rather  than  paying  attention  to what’s happening in the landscape.

What were you doing in Shanghai before you started this journey?

It was an interesting and fast-paced life in Shanghai. The first month was drenched in alcohol, then I was doing some artwork. I did one sculpture and curated an exhibition. I also performed in a live house thing. Basically, I was hanging around the city, and the people in the city. Surprisingly, I didn’t hang out in the art scene that much.

How long were you in Shanghai? What’s your impression of the city?

I stayed there for half a year, and I would definitely want to go back.

Why? What attracts you there? What’s interesting?

I love the fact that there is this flux of people coming and going. The friendships I’ve made there; great public transportation. And if I get a job and work permit, it is probably better paid than it is in Germany… maybe not better paid compared to Germany, because also the cost of living is higher here. Unless you get a very cheap apartment or something and lower your standards and stuff. But I would say opportunity-wise, life-quality-wise, definitely it’s a better choice than the city in Germany I used to live in. Also, because Germany is experiencing a really, really hard shift to far-right politics right now, and I do not feel hope there. I really don’t want to live there actually.

You think it’s worse than China?

Yeah, Germany has gone to right-wing racist politics. Racist politicians and right- wing politicians are getting normal – more and more normal than not. I don’t want to live in a country where I have to excuse myself for being in support of people seeking refuge in Germany. I don’t want to live there. If I can choose, I want to live abroad. I don’t want to live in my country anymore right now.

How long have you seen this change happening?

I’ve seen it… actually I did a project the last time I was in Shanghai about right-wing tendencies in Germany back in 2013. And I think it started really with the summer fairy tale of having the football world championship in Germany. Everybody was like, all of a sudden it was ok to be patriotic, it’s ok to wave the flag. And it’s less of an inclusive waving the flag. I heard Turkish guys say they were cheering for Germany when Germany won, and the police pulled them over and asked, “Why are you cheering for Germany? You are not German.” But they were like, “Dude, we were born and raised here, yes, we have Turkish names, but hello?! We were born and raised here.” 

Right now, there is this great opportunity to have a multicultural Germany, but people say “No, no, no, no, no.”

You didn’t see this tendency in China? Or was it something you couldn’t see from within your social circle in Shanghai?

I see that, I totally see it. I mean, I studied a little bit of sinology – I’m very aware that Chinese socialism is and has always been a very nationalist version of that. And I see that there is a strong bias against people with darker skin, of central Asian descent, to non-Han people and stuff. And I see that too, it is there. It is harsh and tough,  but  you  don’t  have  burning  refugee  homes,  you  have  no  so-called “activists” burning down places offering shelter for refugees. I am aware, I’m not like glorifying China is so great and stuff. I see the problems, I hate the wage imbalance. I hate that a fraction of the population is extremely rich, people riding Porches and Ferraris to a club, and all that wealth. And of course if I come here and work here, it’s a privilege of mine due to where I come from, due to probably what skin color I have and stuff, that’s super problematic… But here, I’m not going to see any far- right person beat me up because I’m far-left or something.

Is it because somehow being a tourist or foreigner and travelling in China, that gives you this freedom? The kind of freedom that you don’t have in your own country?

Yeah, that’s the privilege of being an outsider to what is happening in the country right now. It’s kind of like, if you are not inside the whole thing, it’s of course a more pleasant experience and you get spared from a lot of harsh realities.

This project originated from motorcycle culture, but there are now all these elements of culture, borders, politics, and the relationship between these countries that you are going to travel through and witness in real life, instead of just reading from the media. That’s pretty interesting. And you were also talking about this migration of refugees, immigrants, where they come from and go – they are also somehow travelling and getting into a new culture… 

They are really, really travelling. I mean, I’m just playing around, having this privilege of being able to do this while other people have to do the same thing to maintain a good living, or even to survive.