Turning Bike Racks into Works of Art
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 08.17.08
Interesting Bike Rack Designs
David Byrne, "an installation artist, author, blogger, recording executive, photographer, film director and PowerPoint enthusiast," is also an avid cyclist whose "interest in bicycles has expanded from riding them to thinking seriously about the role they play in urban life." Given his eclectic background as artist, designer and part-time urban planner, he was asked to "to help judge a design competition for the city’s new bike racks." Well, it turned out he was so excited by the competition that he started submitting his own designs. The results are rather unique. (see photos of them after the fold)
The designs consist of "simple shapes to define different neighborhoods around the city: a dollar sign for Wall Street; an electric guitar for Williamsburg, Brooklyn; a car — “The Jersey” — for the area near the Lincoln Tunnel." They are practical--made out of "the same square metal tubing used in the familiar U- or M-shaped racks"--yet beautiful and interesting.
Making Cycling Cooler
As a result, they serve to give cyclists an easy, safe place to secure their bikes, while at the same time helping to make cycling more cool. In David Byrne's words, riding a bicycle, “used to be completely uncool. . .Now it’s cool in different ways: for some people it’s cool if you have an old junker. For other people it’s cool if you have a racing bike. Anyway, it doesn’t immediately relegate you to nerd status anymore.”
After all, when gas is $4 a gallon and obesity is an endemic problem, it's hard to see cyclists as nerds anymore. . .
Via: ::NY Times
Images Via: Davidbyrne.com
More on Bike Racks
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New Bicycle Parking System Comes to Riverside, CA
How to Prevent Bike Theft
7 Ways Cities Can Make Your Bike More Secure
Young Environmentalists Protest Anti-Bicycle Policy At Their High School
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If you want to see good bike rack art, check out Louisville, Kentucky.
The Scottish Parliament building by Enric Miralles has some fun bike racks that create images if you look at them from a certain direction - I took a picture, which y'all can see at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davemorris/12943126/
Wow, those will look great.... in somebody's loft.
For another perspective on this, see:
http://practicalcyclist.blogspot.com/2008/08/byrne-bike-racks-and-design.html
Byrne's designs are hip, but ultimately "cutesy". They should be compared to the work of Dero (discussed in the link above.)
Just a quick follow-up.
We have one of DB's racks installed around the corner and I'm yet to see a bike locked up to it. I don't think anyone knows what it is, or maybe that it looks too easy to unbolt.
For now, bikes continue to be locked to the street signs.