Cities in the dark
Good things happen when they’re people-powered.
The grid is down, the oil has run out…
Within our over-populated city we have a sensorial glut that leaves us numb and sedate. There’s too much music, too much light, too much passive screen watching which leaves us over-indulged, slow and ill prepared for the looming dark age that is almost upon us.
Well that was the general premise that led a couple of friends and I to create Cities in the Dark!!
Initially, we set up a series of power-cut parties where the more people who turned up with torches and pedalled, the louder and brighter the event would get. After persuading venues to switch off the power to create a convincing blackout situation, we set up our own bike-powered generators and invite the audience to participate in powering the party for themselves. As well as having strict no torch no entry door policy we encourage a “Human Dynamo” dress code which created a bizarre home-made electrical carnival atmosphere.
One of our crew has links in Uganda so by July this year we were setting up pedal powered cinemas in remote Ugandan villages as well as organising a bike race for the Boda-Boda riders in Kasese (Ugandan bicycle taxis). The race was a big success and looks set to be a much bigger event next year. We’ve shown our film of the race to London couriers to encourage them to join the race next year. Our most recent activity has seen Cities in the Dark entering gallery spaces with a series of people-powered installations and screenings.
So next time the power goes down you know what to do… start pedalling!!