Arts
Abandoned bike becomes endangered art project
This is an fitting follow-up to our photo essay on Toronto's abandoned bikes last week. The Neon Bike Project is one of those little DIY street art interventions that I tend to think make the city are far more interesting place. The work of Caroline Macfarlane, a staff member at the OCADU Student Gallery, the repainted bike is a rather literal example of "re-cycling," and we've seen photos of it popping up all over Flickr.
Here's the story. While outside cleaning the gallery windows one day, Macfarlane was struck by the fact that an old Raleigh bike that was locked in front of the gallery wasn't likely to ever be ridden again. "It occurred to me that the Raleigh had never been moved from that spot for as long as I could remember," she writes on her blog. "It was a permanent fixture on the street, a gorgeous skeleton of an antique bicycle long forgotten... I began to feel sorry for it, and that's when I decided that Vanessa and I should reclaim it. The student gallery is on a rather gray, dismal strip of Dundas St; it's all cement and no trees. We would plant some flowers in bike's basket, even better, we would also paint the frame of the bike, all of it and in NEON."
Cool idea. Trusting that the bike actually is abandoned — which by all rights it seems to be — why not brighten up the street a bit? Similar "installations" like the Kensington Market garden car and the more recent tree planter revitalization project have been successful at just such a task.
Here's where it gets silly, though. After having completed the beautification of the bike, Macfarlane arrived a couple days ago to find that it had issued one of the City's infamous abandoned bike removal notices. "The funny thing is that this bike has been sitting in the same place for years, unnoticed by the city," she explains. "However, once it is brightened and made beautiful, it's got to go." A face-palm worthy moment if there ever was one.
Given that the removal notice is dated May 30th and gives a one week grace period, that leaves five days for Macfarlane to save the bike. She's asking that people write to blogthegood@gmail.com with reasons why the neon bike should remain a part of the streetscape. Who knows? Maybe Rob Ford's love of the little guy can be leveraged here?
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Eat sh*t Caroline.
Get rid of that crap.
Makes sense.
Like "the lemur" I am a little peeved about the absence of a functioning bike spot, but as long as this is an isolated or sporadic art project I think it's alright.
And this is why Toronto lacks the charm of major European cities.
Art!!!!
Nothing else?
The city should be more diligent about abandoned bikes, sure (though I don't really understand how they get abandoned. The bike goes from ride-able to not worth unlocking, suddenly?) but spraypainting a frame doesn't transform it from "bike permanently locked to post" into "art we must defend." It's a bike on a post, it should have been sawed off long ago. Changing its colour doesn't change what it is.
And it's taking up public space that could be used to park bikes that people actually use.
Good riddance.
I'm a cycler and I don't mind walking an extra block to find a space. Stop and smell the bike flowers people.
Throw it in the scrap heap and start again.
Toronto can do better than this.
No city in North America is going to be either, and don't tell me otherwise.
It cannot be said better.
If the only way the city can tell that a bike has been abandoned is when someone paints it pink, the bylaw is clearly unenforceable and should be repealed.
You should tell that to painters!
Artist: "I took so my time painting this piece, it's really a reflection of our societel..."<you cut in>
You: "It's just a canvas. Changing the colour and painting on it doesn't change what it is"
Everyone: "Huh?"
Welp, bye! (p.s. I'm not coming back to check replies to this, so eat it)
Thankfully this bike is a happy bike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb8oNlAqiLw&;feature=related
Turn it into an art bike cycle.
http://www.waytwogood.com
http://www.waytwogood.com
If you're saying "The student gallery is on a rather gray, dismal strip of Dundas St", the gallery is contributing to that gray dismal strip with our without the bike. Come on gang, lets add some excitement to the student gallery store front!!!
I am a Toronto citizen who would not like to see the neon bike, city beautification, instillation project on Dundas Street removed. Quite frankly the bike is not in my way, but a part of my way. Seeing the neon bike on my casual, but frequent walking commute brings a smile to my face. As the city begins to demand more and more money through taxes for its specific plans, that are pushing community art and habitat projects aside, and out from city funders view, you should be thanking Caroline Macfarlane instead of removing her project. The city did not have to pay for the beautiful public piece. This is a gift, and should be considered as one, by the City of Toronto.
Thank you,
Jeba
As someone said above, it is charming - my vote would be to leave it be. If we have too many of them, however, the charm would dissipate. Anyone remember the dreadful moose?
Clearly no law is higher than art, and if anyone calls you out on it, just say that no one was using it anyways! After all, if the owner isn't in sight, its yours to destroy because they abandoned it.
not really. The parking space didn't get taken away 'as a result' of this idea. The parking space was taken by someone who abandoned the bike years ago, and not the paintjob.
and really - if I saw a painted bike like the one above, complete with a painted U-Lock, I'd just lock my bike to it - it's not like someone's coming to move it.
What disgusts me most isn't the vandalism, I even agree with the idea of either beautifying or removing these eyesores. What disgusts me is the self-righteousness as if god himself came down and gave you permission to destroy something that doesn't belong to you, and the way people act as ifthe city is in the wrong for enforcing its laws.
I don't think anyone except foff is actually upset that the bike was painted, they're upset at the attitude of people who think that they're giving a gift to the world by vandalizing private (the bike) and public (the post) property.
You'll never get 100% of people to agree with you. Discussion is good.
Remember 51% approval is considered a landslide in politics. If you can get half the people to agree with you thats good.
We're allowed to be negative and positive on this issue.
Remove the friggin bike!!!
We're in for a long and boring mayoralty if we keep resorting to pointless arguments about whether something that isn't destined to be purely functional (anymore) and seems to be mainly decorative is or is not art and whether what happens surrounding it is either indicative of the supposed tyranny of art over taxpayer populism or some kind of mayoral agenda.
Somewhere between this bike becoming rusty all over and possibly abandoned, the city's policy on such things and one person's idea on what to do with it lies the potential for better municipal service <b>and</b> an opportunity for people to get creative without other people feeling inconvenienced and/or offended at supposedly being asked to assign 'art' status to something.
I think it's pretty telling that various passing cops approved of the process. And that the city's failure to deal with this particular abandoned bike was highlighted, although that was probably not the intention.
I passed it while it was being primered (it just looked like light green paint at that point) and I figured it was just someone trying to enliven her own bike, maybe make it distinctive enough not to get stolen. But not a comment on the city or a way of forcing 'art' on people who don't like hearing the word.
I figure we can have an effective way of dealing with abandoned property (including buildings, which are a much bigger deal, especially for those living near them) AND allow for people to pursue their own creative ideas. Maybe this one should be somewhere else. But it seems people would rather bitch about what it is and what it represents than think about the implications and the possibilities.
Have you ever been to Europe?
Have you ever been to a whore house?
R-Rodney
First off Stefanie is a stalker who ramdomly posts on alot of things. In her usual ignorant way.Just type in her name and you can see. First she would know all about whore house cause she is one. She is with another womans man. So why she chooses to be so ignorant and annoying comes from sleeping with another womans man. She is a cold hearted woman with nothing more to do than leave rude posts about things she knows nothing about. While her man is home with his woman and there kids. She needs to grove up. Get a job and get a life. Toronto is diverafied and unique.As with all citys there is always something to complain about.Stefanie needs to be ignored and go crawl in her hole and die.