The Buscycle Project

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Title: The Buscycle Project
Photo Credit: Heather Clark, Matthew Mazzotta, Ed Dadey
Lead Artist(s):

Contributing Artist(s):
Matthew Mazzotta
http://www.matthewmazzotta.com/artwork/720384_Busycle_Heather_Clark_Matthew_Mazzotta.html

Description:

The Busycle Project is a 15 person pedal powered bus that acts as a story collection vehicle. Across the U.S., the Busycle has traveled in neighborhoods, where anyone willing to pull their weight and pedal can be a Busycle passenger. The Busycle requires individuals to use their own will and physical strength to come together as a group to go from point A to B. The Busycle asks the public to participate in a small "movement," and have a heck of a good time in the process. At the end of routes, story collection spaces have been constructed where everyone has the option of being a participant. Storytelling is an extension of the unique dialogue that occurs between strangers as they pedal - an urban play on the campfire as the traditional space for gathering and telling stories. The Busycle does not presume to be an answer to major ecological or socioeconomic questions, nor does it attempt to be a practical technology. What it does do is serve as the antithesis to the top down approach that leaves so many in the margins and, ultimately, has put us in our current predicament. Artists, Heather Clark and Matthew Mazzotta, conceived the Busycle. It has grown out of the efforts of over sixty volunteers and is built from reused materials ranging from an abandoned van to plexiglass from a hockey arena. Since then it has traveled the country. Videographers, Ann Adelsberger and Adam Cummins, have documented its development, rides, and stories

PROJECT LOCATION

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The Busycle is a Traveling Public Artwork. It travels on city streets. The following lists departure points and story telling venues - Franklin Park, Boston, MA; Experimental Station, Chicago, IL; Altered Esthetic, Minneapolis, MN; Art Farm, Marquette, NE; City Plaza, Cheyenne, WY; North Virginia Plaza, Reno, NV; CITY/SPACE, San Francisco, CA
Minneapolis, MN 55413
United States

click the map to enlarge
PROJECT TEAM

Berwick Research Institute
MIT
Council for the Arts
LEF Foundation
Mass Cultural Council
Boston Art Commission
Fund for Boston Neighborhoods
Black Rock Arts Foundation
The Busycle Project
PROJECT DETAILS

Temporary
$35,000
Mixed Media
Sculpture, reused materials
2006
2007
VIDEOS

Embedded thumbnail for 2007 Public Art Network Year in Review: The Buscycle Project