Call for Papers, Presentations, Projects - IJMS Conference 2026, Shelton, Washington- deadline for submission: April 30, 2026

I will argue that motorcycling may perhaps be a paradigmatic experience which lends itself to both aesthetic and ontologic realizations: although there are a myriad of ways in which riding potentiates a wide range of experiences of beauty, the act of riding is simultaneously, and fundamentally, a particular way of objectively being in the world; these seemingly distinct and independent experiences are in fact inexorably related, each synergistically amplifying the other. Motorcycling is thus precisely the kind of experience which enables a reconciliation of the aesthetic and the ontologic in a unified, and unifying, experience of harmony.

For 2026 the IJMS conference will be held in Washington State at The Ridge Motorsports Park. July 16th-19th, 2026:  IJMS will venture to Shelton, Washington which is  40 miles southwest of Seattle and 20 miles northwest of Olympia, Washington's state capitol. Shelton is known as the "Gateway to the Olympics" and "Christmastown USA" because of the large Christmas tree farming industry.

UK transport policy has prioritised car driving, active travel, and public transport, while motorcycles remain systematically excluded from planning and policy debates. This viewpoint argues that such omission is driven less by evidence and more by persistent cultural bias and safety anxieties surrounding motorcycling. Drawing on international and UK-based literature, the authors critically examine the potential role of motorcycles in addressing congestion, car dependency, and accessibility challenges, while acknowledging legitimate concerns relating to safety, emissions, and induced demand.

David Walton's The Ambiguities of European Comic Book Bikers makes an important contribution to motorcycle studies by turning scholarly attention towards a previously overlooked cultural artefact: the European comic-book biker publications. This study demonstrates convincingly that these comics merit serious critical analysis as complex cultural texts that both reflect and shape motorcycling identities across Europe.

The Bikeriders, which roared into theaters June 21 2024, is a film that seeks to depict “outlaw” biker culture for a popular audience immersing viewers in the world of the “Vandals” a Motorcycle Club” (MC), founded in the 1960s. The story is primarily told through Kathy’s (Jodie Comer) nasally Midwestern twang, as it is relayed to Danny Lyon (Mike Faist), a photographer.

In his less elaborate passages, ZAMM shows us how the act of seeing while riding a motorcycle coincides with a performative act. Seeing things as “pure seeing” is useful for suspending our innate habit of filtering the vision of things through the intellect.