JIMMY'S TALL BIKE ADVENTURES : TANUNDAARRGH

Another tall packing tour tale of stretched proportions comprising a blissful weekend of pedalling and camping, taking in the scenery of South Australia's southern Barossa region.  Beginning in Williamstown this adventure was mostly along unsealed fire roads, loosely following the Heysen trail through the Mount Crawford Forest district, to Tanunda, then return.  The distance was about  50 km's a day, made easier by only needing the minimum of gear.  Being a late November outing, it fell just inside the fire danger season, precluding us from camping in the forest proper.



Jimmy's Tall Bike Adventures - Tanundaarrgh from James Dodd on Vimeo.

Past adventures at the links below.

http://wild-motion.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/fleurieu-tall-ramble-video.html

http://wild-motion.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/three-tall-bikes-one-long-weekend-final.html

http://wild-motion.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/cudlee-creek-overnight-mission-captains.html

TUTTI ARTS : OZASIA FEST : SHEDDING LIGHT

There have been so many great shots of this project.  I have collated some of my favourites together with a bit of an overview which you can view over my website.  More process and build shots are here on this blog.

TUTTI ARTS : OZASIA FEST : SHEDDING LIGHT LED DRAWINGS

 

Each of the LED adornments for the Shedding Light Sepeda Lampus was developed in response to drawings and artwork created by Tutti Artists. Wire form interpretations were created and then wrapped with battery powered LED strips. Everyone pitched in with their ideas and contributed to the construction of the LED components.  James' 3 headed snowman was the first to be completed, followed by William's unicorn and Joel's Shark.  The team of wonderful creatures became the perfect figurehead presence throughout the project.

 

TUTTI ARTS : OZ ASIA FEST : SHEDDING LIGHT BUILD PICS

 This project has been a real cracker and completely amazing for me as my first project with Tutti Arts.  Below are some great pics of the just some of the process of working together  with the Tutti team on making the Sepeda Lampus and Kaki Limas which became a central part of the OzAsia Fest Shedding Light project.

TUTTI ARTS : OZ ASIA FESTIVAL : SEPEDA LAMPU

As part of a large-scale project I am currently working together with a number of Tutti Arts artists to realise a bunch of things for Oz Asia Festival 2015.  In this case I have been working together with James Kurtze on a Sepeda Lampu, or a kind of illuminated pedal car.  There is a bunch of background information relating to Sepeda Lampus in the previous blog post.  James is an artist who has a particular interest in filmmaking and you can check out one of his great works here.  The particular character that we using as the basis for this outcome is a three headed snowman.  The Oz Asia Festival had it's media launch the other night and James' sepeda lampu was featured on stage, with him delivering the festival director, Joseph Mitchell, in a grand entrance on the Playhouse theatre stage.  The following post gives a bit of an overview of the creative process so far.

This is James and I waiting side of stage for the moment where James rode the sepeda lampu across the stage in front of a full house at the Playhouse theatre.

The machine, here, in the last phases of it's development before the launch.  The LED strips are powered by a battery carried on the bike.

A copy of James' concept drawings for the sepeda lampu served as the reference point for translation into a wire form that becomes the frame to fix the LED's to.  I used a board to mark up the drawing first before manipulating the steel rod and holding it in place with some tabs before welding.

 

Final testing of the mechanics of the bike before committing to finishing.  The wooden frame that creates the elevation for the LED frame work was chosen over steel in order to keep weight down.  The frame also is removable in order to pack the whole lot into the back of a van. It's quite easy to see here that the basics of this sepeda lampu are formed by a pair of factory build bicycles.  Whilst a number of the earlier Indonesian sepeda lampus were handmade, many of the current ones use a factory pedal car, such as a Surrey, as their base.   The Surrey's are quite heavy duty and can handle being ridden every day with a full load and come with a price tag that reflects this.  Our build matches the resources and short-term outcome that we are working with.

It's a little bit tricky to see in this shot with so much going on but I made a heavy weight steel frame and a set of interfaces to clamp all of the bits square before tacking.

RADICAL INDONESIAN BIKE ACTION

This post is a little bit of a background introduction to a current project which is a collaboration with Tutti Arts that will have it's outcome as a component of the 2015 OzAsia Festival.  The project takes a number of cues from Indonesian cycle culture, some of which I have been a fan of for a long time, others of which I have come to only recently come across.  There are three main sub genres of pedal-able machines that I will share with you here.

The primary thing that the project responds to are Sepeda Lampus.  The literal translation is 'Bicycle Lights' and refers to the brightly decorated pedal cars that are found in the Sultan's Palace square of Jogjakarta.   These are available for people to take on short-term hire and ride around the square as entertainment.  They often feature sound systems that blare pop music.

The Sepeda Lampus are also referred to as 'Odong Odong', though I feel this refers more specifically to mobile children's rides.  I find these particularly exciting, especially the form pictured below that is like a miniature ferris wheel, powered by a secondary set of cranks on the machine, where your child is inserted into a small cage before being swung around in glee.  These also appear in a more motorised form!

The final reference in this set is that of Sepeda Tinngi, or 'Bicycle Tall'.  Having been a tall bike enthusiast for quite a while there are a number of things that stand out in the Indonesian subculture. Check out this great clip below that gives an overview of Sepeda Tinngi fans - take particular note of the fixed and backwards fixed tall riding demos!

Further to this radicalness, Sepeda Tinngi have a particular style, typified by oversized, triangulated bars.  Of course, these are best when taken to the extreme!

ABSTRACT CRUISER : GLAMOUR SHOTS

This is somewhat of an ongoing project, as many things are.  Playing with the physics and appearance of a swing bike, this is my next level variation.  Absolutely unable to be ridden, this outcome is certainly intended as a sculptural art object, to be encountered and considered in a gallery context.  In this case I have pursued a high level of finish, including a clear powder coat, over sandblasted steel.   I will include the work in an upcoming solo exhibition alongside another bike project and a number of paintings.  Here are a selection of glamour shots.

 

KAKI LIMAS : TUTTI ARTS : STAGE ONE

I have just completed a fleet of ‘Kaki Limas’ for the Adelaide based group, Tutti Arts.  Tutti is an inclusive multi arts organisation creating opportunities for artists with disabilities to make extraordinary art. The collaborative relationship between participants, professional artists and the wider community supports the development of talent across a range of creative disciplines including film and new media.

These are based on food carts that are a common sight on the streets of Indonesia and form the central part of a collaboration with a number of artists from Jogjakarta.  Over the coming months these Kaki Limas will be variously decorated and developed as sites for performance and action by groups of artists working collaboratively.  They will be presented in September of 2015 as a component of the Oz Asia Festival.  There will be quite a range of approaches to the decoration and alteration of the carts - so stay tuned for updates and shots of the final outcomes.

A big thanks goes out to  Standish Cycles Mile End and Bikecorp for their generous support in assisting with the supply of some of the bike specific bits and pieces.

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION NOTES

The final designs are somewhat of an interpretation of the traditional Kaki Lima as a number of the commonly used parts such as the particular wheels are not as readily available in Australia.  They also need to be component based to assist in their transportation and allow as much potential in embellishment process. All of the panels are currently held in place by screws, making it simple to add doors or hatches of any kind. Pragmatically, they need to be able fit through a domestic door frame and also be more mobile than a conventional Kaki Lima.  A brake was another component.  These have been fitted with a single V-brake, as seen on many bicycles, and have the potential to be fitted with a second.

Henry Jock Walker is a local artist who will be working together with Scott Pyle on one of the Kaki Limas.  Jock has also been assisting in the construction phase. 

GENERATOR ROLLERS

A fairly straight forward  lathe job producing a set of rollers that fit an electric motor.  These particular ones will be fitted to a set of stationary cycle trainers and run in reverse, generating electricity, rather than using it.  Look out for Jack Ladd's Leg powered cinema coming to a site near you soon.

LEG OVER BIKE BAR BENCHES : MS LEE'S BIKESCAPE

 I recently completed a bunch of wacky bike furniture and bar dressing things for a component of the Adelaide Fringe Festival venue, the Royal Croquet Club.  Here's a few piccies.