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Our prepared Bicycle for "Kunstfietsen in de stad Leiden" (Art Bicycles in Leiden City) curated by Galerie Diana Lepelaar, here on the Breestraat, Leiden. The exhibition consisted of 28 bicycles left on the streets around the city as part of a the Leiden Signature Arts and Culture festival, for 4 weeks.
This bicycle needed new tyres
and so inspired by the use of wood
on bicycles during World War Two
due to a shortage of rubber, we
recycled short pieces of wood. These
wooden blocks have two functions.
They force you to 'cycle' slowly and
they make a sound.
The cotton ‘sails’ inserted into the
wheels and, bearing prayers from
diverse religious traditions are written
in the languages familiar to the artists.
The clapping sounds made as the wheels
turn sound like a cross between a horse
trot and Tibetan prayer wheels.
To use this bicycle, you walk with it, slowly,
as a meditation, until the rhythm of
tapping wood and slow spinning of
prayers, takes you into another realm.
The prayers were written in the 3 languages Carmen knows well, Dutch, Greek + English.
