Aeolian Ride

source: highlike

Woork: Aeolian Ride, is an international art event where the public becomes inflated sculpture on bicycles, transforming the landscape of each city.  The effect is a sort of joy loop: those riding feel the elation of being a child at play, dazzling bystanders who become giddy, returning joy to the riders. Come join the fun!

The world’s only inflatable bike ride has inflated 22 times in 19 different cities around the globe. In 2004, the first Aeolian Ride passed through lower Manhattan hoping to lift some dark residue from the traumatic and senseless act of violence of September 11th with a joyful and seemingly senseless act of art.

Anyone can sign up to ride in one of 75 inflatable costumes. The original designs: white bubble, bunny and drop, contrast the chaos of the surrounding street. In 2012, kids costumes made from colorful recycled parachutes blasted off at Rockaway Beach, reflecting the rainbow of the future.

Aeolian Ride is an exploration in making the impossible possible via contagious joy, people power, bicycles as perfect machines and wind energy. Aeolian Ride was created by artist, Jessica Findley, and has been supported by people who love to play.
Photographer: Jessica Findley
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source: velo-city2013

Aeolian Ride is an international event where public art meets cycling. Up to 100 riders sign up free online to meet and ride bicycles in sculptural costumes which inflate as they ride, transforming the landscape. The original ride was founded for adults and has now expanded to kids. Founded in 2004, by artist Jessica Findley, the ride has inflated 23 times in 18 cities around the world.
Aeolian Ride is a public art work which makes the public themselves into the artwork. The ride is free to the public and is both a spectator and participant activity. Up to 100 riders sign up free online to meet and ride bicycles in sculptural costumes which inflate as they ride, transforming the landscape.

The effect is a sort of joy loop. Those riding feel the joy of being a child – to play freely, and those watching are captured by the spectacle and return the joy to the rider.
This project is an homage to people, bikes, wind, the contagious power of joy and making the impossible possible. The shapes catch the energy one feels the first time riding a bike. The worker’s commute, the neighborhood street, the everyday bike lane, transformed into a dynamic landscape which temporally changes the public memory of the environment.

The ride was originally designed in-part in response to the trauma which took place on September 11th. The project was a small counter to the senseless acts of violence which ended in sadness with senseless acts of art which cause joy. The ride was created as a project which could not exist without the support of the people

The costumes are designed to catch the wind as the rider moves. The original ride was designed in white ripstop nylon – to add contrast to the chaos of the streets around them. There 3 original shapes, bubble, bunny and drop. In 2012 the first kids costumes, designed from colorful recycled parachutes, took their first spin at Rockaway Beach with the Rockaway waterfront Alliance kids.

All costumes were designed and made by artist, Jessica Findley, who’s work explores ideas of play via unusual use and altering space, often in public spaces. Her projects, often temporal or kinetic, evoke emotion and curiosity blurring the line between spectator and participant.
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source: worldwidecyclingatlas

Jessica Findley lives in Brooklyn, where she works as a “freelance designer, illustrator and animator.” This brief description hardly encompasses all of Jessica’s many activities and talents: she makes animated movies and reversible dolls; she draws and sews; she is a web designer and an artist whose work has been shown at the New Museum (New York), the Issue Project Room (New York) and the Dublin Museum of Science. Her work takes her far beyond traditional venues for art, however: Findley also organizes performances and interactive installations around the world.