Image sent to me my Jan A. Tjemsland

'Jim' at the Oil Museum.

Another messages via email...

Thank you for the experience of the Pedal Power Project. I was pleased to read about the last evening meeting under the bridge on your blog. The project made me think too. About energy flow, about how many can contribute to their local and global environment, and about how to bring light to dark places.
GT and Kristel

Thanks

Thanks to Storhaug Skole SFO for the article about Pedro on your school website at
http://www.linksidene.no/minskole/Storhaug/pilot.nsf/VArt?Openview&u=SFO

And I await eagerly the forthcoming link at
http://www.norgesvenner.homepage.t-online.de/

Also to GT and Kristel for the image and text on your blog. It's interesting reading about the event from the other persons perspective. Many people saw me disappear into that door, but you were the only one who waited to see me come out.
http://kandgt2008.blogspot.com/
It was great meeting you both

Finally, there should be an article about PEDALPOWER in next months edition of the magazine Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth) see
www.putsj.no

Art and Culture in Lisbon

In Lisbon I had the honor of seeing first hand the fragmented manuscripts of Fernnando Pessoa - 'The Book of Disquiet' at the National Library. Written on hundreds, if not thousands of scraps of paper, old envelopes and notebooks, and not published until long after his death, these treasured jigsaw pieces, discovered in an old suitcase, are one of the literary treasures of Europe, and I held them in my hand! After this euphoric moment I went out to celebrate and found this contraption on the street outside a restaurant - A chef sharpening his kitchen knives. A man after my own heart!

PECSRL - The Permanent European Conference for the Study of Rural Landscapes, Lisbon

After leaving Stavanger I travelled to Lisbon, Portugal to give a paper at the PECSRL conference - 'Landscapes, Identities and Development'. My paper 'Sculptural Intervention as Action Research; Pedal Power at Bybrua Bridge, Norway' was in the special session about renewable Energies - 'Emerging Energies, Emerging Landscapes'. As an artisit in a conference dominated by geographers and anthropologists, I felt quite daunted to begin with. However, the paper seemed to go down well and although I did come at the subject from a very different angle, many of the issues of scale, ownership and community participation were shared. I also learned a great deal from many of the the other researchers.

Another comment via my email...

Justin, maybe the open and humane manner in which this project has been carried out led naturally to your unexpected meeting under the bridge? The makers and "peddlers" (producers and consumers) showed a terrific open spirit. Over 1000 people sweating in order to (en)lighten a dark underpass!!! - well done everybody.
martin

It's not about the bike...

After the final guests left the gallery it was time to pack up the work - everything except the lights which came down a few days later. This image of all the technical components demonstrates quite simply that the project was not about the technology, but about the people. Without those who made this project - and the lights - come to life, the basic mechanics meant nothing. In fact I remember that moment when I unpacked the small crate at the beginning of the project thinking; shit, there's nothing here, I have made a complete mistake! But time and experience have fortunately proved me wrong!

Presentation of project and discussion

To end the project I gave a short presentation using the blog and website to a small but well informed group in the gallery. This included local politicians and residents who are justifiably concerned about the proposed plan to build a 3 floor underground car park in front of the Art Centre on Nytorget, set to have a 600 car capacity.

BBQ at Rogaland Kunstsenter

On Saturday we had a BBQ at the art centre to mark the end of the Grasrota and Pedalpower projects. 'Jim' was placed in the parking space between the mural and the grass and people were able to contribute freely to the system by pedaling. In doing so participants contributed almost 5AH of power to the lights, ensuring that on this final night the lighting system kept going all night. One person even decided to ride 'Bridget' around the gallery for a few minutes - something I hadn't expected when I positioned her there. Special thanks go out to all the children who contributed through 'Jim' despite the very high seating position.

A Big Thank You!

I need to thank a great many people for their part in this project. We have had nearly 1000 people actually help pedal in schools, gyms, cafes, cultural centres, parks and on the street. Thanks also to those of you who have helped with accomodation and equipment including the art school and Tou Works. But there are two people in particular I need to thank, without whom this project would never have happened in the way it has. Will Foster, who has been central to the design of my website and most of the printed material relating to this project. He has also helped implement the work and document it. Thanks Will - I owe you one! Also the fantastic Torunn Larsen whose enthusiasm is infectious. You have been a fountain of knowledge and energy. I appreciate everything you have done to make this project happen!

A Meeting under the bridge

A special thing happened tonight when I went to turn on the lights for the penultimate time. When I was leaving the bridge store room a man approached me outside and asked if I was something to do with the project. I introduced myself and he explained that he had come all the way from Forres to see the lights being switched on. He had been following the project on the blog and wanted to come and see it for himself. I was delighted to see him and showed him inside the bridge and explained that you can actually walk from one side of the bridge to the other, inside the structure. The bridge is in fact a tunnel. I joked about the contrast between the firework display/rock concert which took place last night at the harbour - attended by what seemed like the whole of Stavanger - and my quiet light intervention powered by hand. But he didn't seem disappointed by the effect and continued to ask me questions.
This meeting made me reflect on the project as a whole: It had been my intention to make the site beneath the bridge more of a meeting place and less of a passing place, but I didn't expect it to happen in quite this manner, with me being part of that meeting. I don't know if the lights have made any difference to the space but I hope the effort to make the lights come on each evening has had some kind of impact. I have enjoyed every single meeting I have had - under the bridge and otherwise - it's been a great journey. I'm so glad I made the decision to move away from the original proposal of having pv panels and wind turbines on top of the bridge, and instead deciding on this human powered system. This project isn't about technology, it's about people. Yesterday I asked myself "what is human energy anyway"? Obviously it's kjoules, but it's also something else - it's about motivation. Hopefully this project has motivated people as others have motived me, and maybe that motivation will be carried forward in weird and wonderful ways.

Day 8 - Cafe Culture and Skate Park

Government Minister hears about PEDALPOWER for Bybrua

In the picture is Tora Aasland - Minister for Kunnskapsdepartementet (Higher Education and Research) who was told about the project by Torunn Larsen (Rogaland Kunstsenter) and given a flyer. The man next to her is in charge of organising the multi-million pound conference.

Day 8 -Oil North Seas Conference (ONS)

Having met a few of the ONS delegates at the Oil Museum yesterday, I decided to cycle out to the conference centre with Torunn in an attempt to exhibit 'Bridgit' there. The generator and battery were connected so I managed to generate over 5AH of power during the 3 or 4 mile trip. Needless to say, getting the bike in was impossible - security was tight and entry was expensive, so I cycled around the conference venue before returning to the Art Centre.

Day 8 - Going Door to Door.

We placed Pedro on top of the crate we have been moving all of the equipment around in (the same one the work was shipped out here in but with wheels on the bottom) and took it door to door along Nedre Dalgate - the street that links Rogaland Kunstsenter with the Bridge. The response was good; a mixture of amusement and surprise. Nearly everyone who was at home contributed at least a couple of minutes energy (amounting to over 1.5AH). We were then able to invite them along to the BBQ tomorrow which is at the art centre at 12. The highlight for me was meeting the owners of the house next to the bridge who invited me and Will in for an afternoon beer in the back garden. Thank you - we appreciated that big time.

Norwegian Radio

For more information on the Radio feature mentioned earlier follow the links to:
http://nrk.no/programmer/radio/nitimen/1.6196534
Even if you don't speak Norwegian there are some nice pictures of the bike in action.

120 Students visit Art Centre. Then we visit Oil Museum and Storhaug School SFO

Lots more pedal power today collected from Storhaug school, the oil Museum, and at the Art Centre where we had a visit from 120 students doing a course in ecology. Thanks to everyone who gave us a minute of their time and energy. Storhaug school SFO managed to donate almost 5 Amp Hours of energy - enough to power the lights for a whole night! At the Oil Museum we had everyone from trainee drillers, tourists and corporate lawyers on the bike. Tomorrow I will cycle 'Bridget' to the huge ONS (Oil North Seas) conference which has visitors from all over the World.

Day 6 - Kulturhus, National Radio and Pedersgata.

Last minute permission was received from the Kulturhus to place 'Jim' in the foyer in a space between the cinema, a sweet shop, the childrens museum and the library. This was great because Torunn had just received a call from Norwegian National radio to do a piece on PEDALPOWER for BYBRUA.
After we arrived at the Kulturhus interaction was slow as we struggled to work out a strategy for approaching people in this busy situation. However, as soon as we had our first participant a healthy queue formed for the best part of 2hrs. Nationalities ranged from Norwegian, British, German and French. Apparently the radio programme (which was recorded today but goes out tomorrow) will reach 1 Million people! Listen in between 9-11am.
In the afernoon we moved into Pedersgata, one of the streets that connects Rogalandkunstsenter to the bridge site. It was pretty busy by 4pm and for two hours we had a steady stream of volunteers. The image you can see here is of the generator in a sheltered shopfront space. I was standing with my back to the 'love shop'. The weather was awful today but we still got loads of energy and met some great people. Thanks to everyone who made the effort today!

Message for Vic from Mary sent to me

Dear Justin,

I tried to put this on your blog spot as a comment but for some reason I was not allowed even though i am registered and tried to reregister again but to no avail - will you put it up for me as I would love for Vic to see it. Thank you for giving him a great afternoon with a story to tell.

Regards

Mary Gregoriy

Comment:
That's my boyfriend on the bike. He skyped me this evening (I'm living in Ireland at the moment) and told me the whole story. He was well tickled by the whole thing. I love the whole triangle thing. He is from Liverpool. Stavanger and Liverpool are joint capitals of culture this year. I am an artist living in Cork which was the capital in 2005, although it feels like yesterday. He was thrilled to be part of something. It made his day and it made mine too when he shared it with me. It is never a dull day living with Vic Singleton, he is performance art on tap! And I will be living with him again soon as I am coming to Stavanger at the end of Sept. thanks for giving us a memorable day even though we are apart.

Day 5 - Shopping around

We took 'Jim' to one of the shopping centres in Stavanger and placed him in an area close to soft chairs and coffee tables, near to a fast food chain. Within two minutes we were approached by security and asked to move on. So we went outside the shopping centre and placed the generator centrally outside the tourist office next to the market traders. We had lots of donations of energy - the best of which was a man who happened to be on his way to SATS gym. He happily donated a few minutes of energy and then said he would come back in 15mins. Sure enough he came back - already changed into his tracksuit, and proceeded to do a 40min bike workout in the fresh air. When I asked him afterwards what had motivated him to give so much time and energy, he simply said that the effort he made would have otherwise been wasted.