Bike, Art, City: A Virtual Exhibition on Sustainable Urban Mobility
Bike, Art, City. | ©Eugen Korda
When: 02.12.2024 - 31.12.2024
Launched in December 2024, Bike, Art, City was a virtual exhibition showcasing the work of five artists—Chelsea Kim, Irène Mélix, Jana De Troyer, Nora Tormann, and Yeon Sung—who participated in the CYCLE UP! artist-in-residence programme across Berlin, Bratislava, Katowice, Prague, and Tartu. Each residency looked at how to start conversations around sustainable urban mobility, specifically infrastructure, visibility, and urban pollution through art.
The exhibition took place in a 3D virtual space, which allowed the audience to experience the artworks as part of a unified series despite the fact that the residencies took place in various cities. We wanted to bring the artists together on one common platform, to show the different perspectives and creative approaches to the same theme.
It was really important that we had such an approach to the exhibition because of the project’s vision of sustainability - we wanted to eliminate the need for travel and constructing or transporting the artworks across Europe, while making the exhibition accessible to a global audience. Visitors from Namibia, Morocco, Iraq, Peru, India, as well as our partner countries visited the exhibition, gaining insights into diverse cycling cultures and urban mobility challenges.
Key exhibits included Aru Ray Tormann’s cycling manifesto in an interactive 3D format including a zine on cycling utopias which was created through multiple community consultations during their time in Bratislava, and Chelsea Kim’s interactive installation, ‘Veins of Strain’ which visualised challenges in Prague’s cycling infrastructure using data from AutoMat, a NGO focused on cycling advocacy. Additionally, Jana De Troyer’s Noise Maps, was inspired by their musical bike ride in Tartu, which highlighted discussions on cyclist visibility and safety.
The exhibition also facilitated discussions through virtual talks and tours with the artists and the CYCLE UP! curatorial board.We held virtual talks and tours over the duration of the exhibition as we also wanted to give a platform to the artists to discuss their works with others, discuss the participatory nature of the residency and the challenges that they faced.
While the exhibition is not available to visit anymore, we hope to open the exhibition again during 2025 and 2026.
Read more about the Goethe VRsum: goethe.de/goethevrsum
