I just spent ten days in Sydney working with one of my art idols Blast Theory. Yes I am a fanboi and yes it is a little bit creepy, but it was great to meet them and make a connection for the future.
Rider Spoke is a work that is participatory and a quiet ambient work – in many ways different to their fast and furious works of the past. Participants are issued with a Nokia N800 and then given a bike which they ride around recording messages and listening to others responses. The work has a very subtle backbone (or arc) with the questions that are asked, but really the riders are the ones that choose their pathway and trajectory.
It rained the last week in Sydney which made things difficult but people still came out and rode the work which was great.
I rode the work in the first week and was wondering what more there was. I think this may be the interesting thing about this work, if you go in expecting something you will be disappointed – the way you sit in the work and listen or record is part of the work. If you try and push against it then it won’t respond to you.
