During his month-long residency in the Estonian city of Tartu, Silvan Hagenbrock, a German artist and videographer based in Berlin, delved into the world of abandoned, forgotten, and so-called “trash” bicycles. Through this exploration, he uncovered not only the stories behind these bikes but also the many methods of repairing and maintaining them, and why the act of repair carries deeper value.

His stay was marked by numerous collaborations with local organizations, interactions with local citizens and a whole new way of seeing bicycles, both physically and as an important part of a person’s life.
 

Bicycles in the city

During the early part of Silvan’s residency, he spent much of his time driving around the city, constantly searching for discarded bicycles he could repair, or at the very least, salvage for parts. But his encounters weren’t limited to what he found on the streets. He often connected with local residents, sometimes by simply knocking on their doors and striking up a conversation. These interactions occasionally led him to more abandoned bikes, but also to distinctive, personalized ones that seemed to tell silent stories of their own. What began as chats about bicycles often unfolded into rich family histories, revealing just how meaningful and significant these often-overlooked objects were in people’s lives.

Hands-on learning

Silvan was no expert at fixing bikes when his stay in Tartu began, but he was determined to learn from anyone and everyone. That is why he worked closely together with a local repair shop “Paranduskelder” to learn as much as he could about bikes and how they worked. Amusingly, one of Silvan’s most unexpected teachers turned out to be a young boy who showed him how to replace a bike chain. Along with this hands-on lesson, the boy shared a piece of wisdom that stayed with Silvan and continued to inspire his work: “It’s good to fix bikes—it saves money and our environment.”
 

Returning the bikes to circulation

To mark his time in Tartu and invite others to see bicycles from a new perspective, Silvan created a 20-minute documentary in collaboration with many of the people he had met during his residency. The film featured voices from across the community, including a historian, a mobility expert, and a local pro-bike activist, each offering their own insight into the cultural and personal significance of bicycles.

The documentary was screened at the Ajuokse Hangar to an audience of 60 people and was followed by a bicycle auction. All of the abandoned bikes found a new owner, proving that a bicycle is never truly trash; at times, it’s simply waiting for a second life.

Silvan Hagenbrock is involved in several artistic projects at the interfaces between performance art, urbanism, and moving images. He is part of Kollektiv Raumstation since 2013 and the performance initiative 030 lingsanling and studied Social Design - Arts as Urban Innovation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Urbanistics at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and Tongji University Shanghai. He has been co-initiated the Sino-German yì magazine by Goethe-Institut China in 2019 as a video maker and cultural worker. His works were presented at several festivals such as Rotterdam, Odense and Budapest Architecture Film Fest, Milano Design Film Fest, re:publica 24 and Theater der Welt Frankfurt.