These three photos are from the world premiere in Ljubljana, Slovenia last autumn, but the exhibition, in collaboration with the Danish Foreign Ministry, is scheduled to travel the globe for another year or so.
Bear with me while I'm still in México mode here on Cycle Chic. There was a slough of brilliant events and here's the tale of one of them. The exhibition Dreams on Wheels - Danish Cycling Culture for Urban Sustainability was opening in Mexico City, which was one of the reasons I was there. The exhibition is brilliantly curated by Thomas Ermacora for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Danish Embassy arranged for Prince Joachim and his French wife, Princess Marie to do the ribbon cutting.
The event started with a little VIP 'bike ride' with the Royal Couple, the Danish ambassador, the Mayor of México City Marcelo Ebrard, the Environment minister for the city, Martha Delgado and... um... me. Strange but true. There were another group of dignitaries behind us and about 20 secret service boys 'protecting' us. All of us on bicycles.
From the Mayor's office on Zocalo we rode down to the City Museum. The streets were closed off for the high security affair. I rode alongside Princess Marie and, about halfway along the route she asked me how far we were riding. I pointed up ahead at the waiting mob of press and smiled, saying, "not that far".
We pedalled for abou 400 metres in total. On completely deserted streets completely and utterly sanitized for 'danger' and traffic by metal railings. Which makes the fact that the five others wore helmets a serious case of overkill. Indeed, the Prince, upon arriving at his designated bicycle, saw the helmet and muttered in resignation, "I suppose we have to..." Five helmets surrounded by dignitaries and security men without, on empty streets.
Anyway, 400 metres was hardly time enough to shoot more than a few photos and a bit of film. The above photo is Princess Marie on her Biomega bicycle, looking splendid only ten months after the birth of little Prince Henrik. The Princess is French and her origins can be revealed in her 'heel on pedal' cycling style. As any Danish girl will attest, when cycling in heels you use the sole of your foot on the pedal and don't hook your heel onto the pedal. But we'll let that go. It was only 400 metres and we coasted halfway. :-)
Anyways, here are some photos taken by our photographer for the different events in the city, Kenny Viese. Me looking like a secret service-y kind of guy behind Princess Marie; the three of us rolling up to the Dreams on Wheels exhibition at the City Museum; and, in the two bottom photos, me giving the VIPs a guided tour of the exhibition.
Upon arrival, there were speeches to commemorate the opening of the exhibition. I started the ball rolling, followed by Prince Joachim, Enivironment Minister Delgado and Mayor Ebrard. Then the ribbon cutting and the VIP tour of the exhibition.
All in all it was fun. You get stressed by the pomp and circumstance and the prescence of a small army of security people, but at the end of the day it was a laugh. Here's the group of us stopped at one of three red lights on the bike ride [the streets were closed and we stopped at red lights...] and here's a photo of the charming Lord Chamberlain on the left and security guys on the right. Note the armada of cars, including an ambulance, following us.
All in all it was an interesting, fun and good day for Mexican and Danish cycling culture and for Cycle Chic/Copenhagenize.
Here's a little bitsy film about the whole shebang:
Here's my brief speech to launch the opening of the exhibition: Your Royal Highnesses, Mr. Ebrard, Mrs Delgado, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome to Dreams on Wheels – Danish Cycling Culture for Urban Sustainability. The exhibition has been shown in 18 cities in 14 countries, with many more scheduled this year. We are pleased that it has arrived in Mexico City.
About 130 years ago a machine was invented. It has been called the most efficient machine in history. Poems, songs and books have been written about it. It transformed the face of human society within years of its invention. Liberating the working classes. Liberating women.
The humble bicycle.
Personally, I was pleased when I heard that the Danish Foreign Ministry had chosen the bicycle for this exhibition and for a symbol of Denmark. The bicycle is human. It is right there on the streets carrying Citizen Cyclists from A to B. It is the lead instrument in a human-powered symphony of movement. The soundtrack of a truly liveable city.
The bicycle is a symbol of Denmark and Copenhagen and it's become a symbol of sustainability everywhere. It is people who inhabit our cities and towns. People that form the fabric of life. The bicycle is a fantastic tool for making our cities simply nicer places to live. We're proud to show you what we have achieved in Denmark. It is our hope to inspire.
Thank you to all of our sponsors who have made this exhibition possible. Thank you to the City of Mexico City for inviting us and providing this amazing venue. Enjoy the exhibition.
I'm loving this vintage postcard from the late 1950's Copenhagen. As well as all of these classic rush hour photos from my city. Frightfully stylish, the lot of them.
This is a cartoon from 1899 featuring The Cycling Girl that had [still has - just look at this blog] such a massive impact on society. The text reads:
"The Holy Antonius' Last and Greatest Temptation". A cycling girl offering him a ride on a new-fangled tandem bicycle. The man was sold.
Vintage Danish Tuborg beer advert featuring, yet again, the iconic cycling girl. "A Tuborg tastes lovely on a bicycle ride!"
This latter advert features in a new exhibition at the Copenhagen City Museum called Copenhagen by Bike. All about the history of the bicycle in Copenhagen. I was involved in the exhibition and have a number of photos in it. You can read more about it here on Copenhagenize.com, including how to get there if you're in Copenhagen. It runs until June 2010.
I arrived at Prague Airport and was whisked away down motorways and country roads for an hour and a half. I saw one cyclist on the route.
Then, suddenly, we rolled across the town limits of Pardubice, and it was almost like coming home.
Bicycles, bicycles, bicycles. The town of about 90,000 is the cycling capital of the Czech Republic and it shows. 18% of all trips to work or school are by bike and the vast majority of the people on bikes were just regular citizens pedalling about on, for the most part, vintage bikes like the girl in the photo above. It was brilliant. The occasion of my visit was two-fold. Firstly, I was invited to give my lecture at City Hall about Marketing Bicycle Culture. The Danish ambassador was on hand to say a few words. Secondly, there in a street exhibition of 30 of my photos along the main stretch of town. 30 photos of a Copenhagen bicycle life. I can't tell you how fun it was to see the photos out in the open like that. In a gallery is lovely, but on the streets is somehow cooler and more appropriate. Images from one urban landscape transplanted into another.
The lecture was, by all accounts, well-recieved and it was wonderful to meet so many Pardubicians of all ages and to discuss how the city can take their bicycle infrastructure to the next level.
I was whisked away to Prague, where I had other business the next day and I'll write about that shortly.
If any of you are in the neighbourhood of Pardubice, in the Czech Republic, on the 16th of September, I'll be speaking about Copenhagen's bicycle culture there. In addition, a series of my photographs will adorn the lampposts of the city throughout European Mobility Week.
This popped into the Cycle Chic inbox today, from Sydney. It's a classic cycle chic poster advertisting the Sydney Festival First Night and encouraging people to cycle to and from the events. The festival night was held on 10 January. The poster lives on here at Cycle Chic.
The Dreams on Wheels exhibition of Danish bicycle culture was seen by a couple hundred thousand people in the main Australian cities through the last half of 2008 and now the exhibition has morphed into a bigger and better version 2.0. It has been given wheels and will be rolling into Edinburgh later this month.
If you love the photos here on the Cycle Chic blog, you can see them up front and personal at the exhibition since I did the photography. You can see Danish bicycles and learn about how we developed our bicycle culture.
Dreams on Wheels will be visiting many cities around the world throughout 2009. I'll keep you posted.
Nothing to do with bikes this, but it's a radio plague at the moment. A cool radio plague. Since this is a streetstyle blog, the line about "I want loads of clothes and fuckloads of diamonds" may ring true for many.
