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'suffolk deluxe electric bike, I', by dev harlan and olek, combines crochet work and digital projection
a collaboration between new york -based artists olek (agata olek) and dev harlan,
'suffolk deluxe electric bicycle, I' takes a men's road bike as the site of a realtime intermeshing
of objects and material texture inseparably from light and video projection.
covered in white crocheting, the bicycle becomes the canvas for colour, pattern, and movement projected onto its surface.
the 3D mapping is designed to mimic the effect of knitting, through not only the textured appearance of many of the projected images
but also the realtime evolution of the patterns, which incorporates stop motion animations of real crocheting
and thus appear and disappear on the bicycle as if crocheted, unrolled, or unstitched.
the hyperreal piece unites the visual aesthetic of olek's pieces-- in which bicycles, cars, sculptures, and people are encased
in colourful hand crocheted skins-- with the technical production process of dev's new media and projection mapping works.
'suffolk deluxe electric bicycle' is on show in the LZ project space of manhattan's NY studio gallery
through march 12th, 2011 as part of the verge: art brooklyn art fair.

installation view of the work

bike projection of a crochet piece depicting the artists' names
image courtesy of artlog

the projections include segments of stop motion documentation of real crocheting

closer view



artist dev harlan's documentation of the bicycle on display
another installation video of the piece
where can I buy it?
So what I think happened is a hipster first covered his fixie-bike with paper, then another make it a wool sleeve…you know, all for the irony, then some VJ hipster saw it and decided to map it for projection. Not really impressive or original. I’ve seen better projection mapping at warehouse parties.
this to me screams trustafarian boredom. but then again what doesn’t these days in NYC.
@stcynik, I actually think the integration of stop motion animation into the video is pretty original, as most of the projection stuff I see is a lot of color and pattern but without any kind of physical referent. Especially since it’s being projected ONTO the same material… I don’t know what the effect is like in person, but conceptually I like the blurring of the boundary between where the physical stops and the digital begins.