As part of the 2017 Noviembre Electrónico Festival at the San Martín Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, REMAP’s Fabian Wagmister created the Bicicletas Blancas project—inspired by the anarchist movement Provo’s White Bicycle Plan from 1965, the tango La Bicicleta Blanca (Ferrer & Piazzola, 1970), and “ghost bikes” that mark cyclists’ deaths on roads around the world. Wagmister biked for ten hours (from sunset to sunrise) for six consecutive nights through Buenos Aires, concluding each night by giving a white bicycle to a stranger in tribute to deceased cyclists.
Wagmister’s bicycle was instrumented with sensors and a mobile phone with an application developed by REMAP in collaboration with the Centro Hipermediatico Experimental Latinoamericano (cheLA) and FUNCANDO. The data from his rides—e.g., location, heart rate, pedaling cadence, vibration, sound, color—were processed algorithmically to control a light sculpture and interactive map installed at the Cultural Center.
The app was developed for the PedaLúdico Laboratory, which began as a three-month residency program at cheLA that ran in parallel with Bicicletas Blancas. The program’s artists created data collection and documentation strategies for sensors instrumented on bicycles, leading to an audiovisual installation at the Recoleta Cultural Center.
Now an ongoing module at cheLA—a Buenos Aires center for experimenting with art and technology—PedaLúdico has been using the app for numerous projects, including Prácticas de Periferia (2020) and the 2018 edition of Bicicletas Blancas, when Wagmister biked more than 600 km from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa—with data represented online in real time (map, data, photos, etc.)—concluding with his participation in the Argentine Bicycle Forum. REMAP has continued to provide updates and support.
Buenos Aires, Argentina—2017 & 2018.
