Bicycleography...

Wheel. Reel. The similarity between the bicycle wheel and
the film reel does not lie in design alone. Their relationship
proves to be a source of inspiration for the members of Bik-
eRespect, who wheel into the city on their 50 bikes, laden
with sounds and images.
‘‘It was a regular afternoon in the centre of Thessaloniki, and I
was walking amongst strangers, trying to finish up in time some
of the tasks that pop up every day and need to be taken care
of. Coming out along with the continuous grey sound of car and
motorcycle engines I also heard notes, notes that were lively,
slow, intense, calm, notes from a violin, notes from drums…
and then I also heard words, words coming out of crystalline
voices, everyday voices, female voices, male voices, voices of
anger, laughter… notes and words from films… And then I saw
colours… Yellow, red, orange, black, blue, green, white perfectly
round open umbrellas. Umbrellas that were joyous, optimistic,
umbrellas that were on colourful bicycles…And I remembered
the bicycle lane I’d first seen a couple of days before, and I
thought how noiseless the bicycle is, and how much it reminded
me of my buried childishness, taking me back on a trip to care-
free times. I saw a lot of bicyclists together, with all of those
umbrellas and film soundtracks…All of these together were so
similar, with the bicycles and the umbrellas, but at the same
time so different, as they were women, men, children, young
people, people who were middle-aged, advanced in years, all
of them were together…so as to remind me of scenes, images,
snapshots in which a bicycle or an umbrella is the protagonist,
in its very own big or small still. And I felt myself breathing-in an
air that was different; something’s happening out there, some-
thing different is happening in the city.”