The PedaLúdico Laboratory began in 2017 as a three-month research-arts residency program at the Centro Hipermediatico Experimental Latinoamericano (cheLA) in Buenos Aires. Eight artists from diverse geographic and disciplinary backgrounds collaboratively created six designs, i.e., six different data collection and documentation strategies for sensors instrumented on bicycles ridden around the city. REMAP worked with cheLA and FUNCANDO to develop an application for mobile phones, which were installed on the artists’ bicycles, enabling data and image collection. The information captured by the phones was used for an audiovisual installation at the Recoleta Cultural Center, containing an expressive digital map of the city built in real time from the territory covered by the artists.
Concurrent with the program, REMAP’s Fabian Wagmister executed the Bicicletas Blancas project, wherein he biked 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. Using the same application, data from his rides were processed algorithmically to control a light sculpture and interactive map installed at the San Martín Cultural Center.
Now an ongoing module at cheLA—a center for experimenting with art and technology founded by Wagmister in 2003—PedaLúdico has been using the app for numerous projects, including the 2018 edition of Bicicletas Blancas, when Wagmister biked more than 600 km from Buenos Aires to Santa Rosa, and Prácticas de Periferia (2020). REMAP has continued to provide updates and support.
The initial PedaLúdico Laboratory was part of the Young Art Biennial Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires, Argentina—2017-present.
