Author: Dublin City Council

As part of the Velo-City Conference 2019, an arts programme questioning the place of cycling in the city is taking place in Dublin. For ‘The Citizen Cycle’ curated by Michelle Browne, three artists are working with different communities to develop a series of public performances and visual artworks that will be presented during the Velo-city mass bike parade on Wednesday the 26th of June.

The Citizen Cycle puts citizens of Dublin at the heart of the conversation about cycling in the city, looking at how the city is designed and used.

Artist Rhona Byrne is working with a group of school children in fifth class in Springdale National School in Raheny on a project called Humans on Wheels, focusing on creative thinking and looking at innovation with regards to design ideas for everyday living in our public realm. Partnering with An Taisce’s Green-schools programme, an international environmental education programme that promotes whole school action towards a sustainable environment, the group are looking at different types of human powered wheeled transport considering what a future city might look like. For the mass bike parade, they are creating a miniature cycling park or village to experiment with how we design and share our roads with all things on wheels. This work considers how we behave in and use the city for transport, movement and play and how children can be part of that conversation.

Artist James Ó hAodha is working on a project called Strength in Numbers with a group of over 50s to create an intergenerational bicycle gang. Partnering with Age & Opportunity and the Bealtaine Festival, which promotes creativity as we age, James and the participants have been reclaiming space while building their confidence in cycling in the city. The group has been exploring the artistic potential of collective movement and visual identity, creating and testing group manoeuvres and developing a gang insignia. This seasoned gang will descend on the city for two performances, the first taking place as part of Bealtaine Festival on Friday 17^th May and the second during the Velo-city mass bike parade. The public are invited to bring their own bicycle and join them in cruising, loitering, and making their presence felt in this dynamic performance event.

Cliona Harmey is developing a project with volunteer cyclists from the Dublin Cycle Campaign to create a series of "digital wearables". Participants will experiment with embedding digital signage and sensing devices into clothing. Cyclists will then become the physical carriers of messages and signals as they move through the urban cityscape. Participants sporting these "digital wearables" will form a part of the mass bike parade for Velo-city, playfully generating a form of concrete poetry made of light whilst amplifying their experience of their everyday cycling experience.

The Citizen Cycle is curated by Michelle Browne as part of her participation in Creative Producers International, a global talent development programme that aims to encourage a new kind of conversation with creative communities, citizens and city authorities, to effect change in their cities. The Create Producers International is part of Playable City, which puts people and play at the heart of the future city, re-using city infrastructure and re-appropriating smart city technologies to create connections – person to person, person to city.

These commissions are funded by The Arts Council, Watershed’s Creative Producers International Investment Fund, Dublin City Council, and Age & Opportunity.

For more information on the Velo-city Programme, Exhibition and Registration go to: https://www.velo-city2019.com 
Sign up for our newsletter: https://abbey.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=fd5fa9b846888ef25e85f1973&id=75273fab2e
Follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn