The Bicycle Project

The other sound that is consistently heard through the course of the film,however,is far more interesting. On the two wheels of a bicycle,in the area usually reserved for the spokes,are attached strings from an electric guitar,stretched tight across the diameter of the wheel. At either ends are tuners from the headstock of a guitar. A playing card was then attached to either wheel and served as a plectrum,plucking away at the strings with each turn of the wheel as the performer — Mumbai-based Nikhil Raunak who has been involved in a number of other such projects — cycled through Mumbai.

The inspiration for this project came to Tripp partially from the work of American composer John Cage,who famously created a ‘prepared piano’ in 1938 — he altered the sound of the piano by placing various objects in its strings. “Cage applied a street technique to the piano to change it,” Tripp explains. “Change always comes from the street,so I have brought this project back to the street. It’s about creating music of change,which comes from the street sounds mixed with the sound of the bicycle.” Part of the aim,she says,was also to “take art out of the museum and into the streets”.

Approximately a fortnight from now,Tripp will leave Mumbai with the prepared bicycle,after which she will go to another city in another part of the world and continue the project. “By the end,there will be seven different bicycles made in seven different countries and then I’ll have one ride in some city with all seven bicycles together,” she says. This last city she hasn’t decided on yet — the others include Rio de Janeiro and Hanoi — but all,she says,will be “places in transition”.

Incidentally,Mumbai being chosen as the city to begin the project in was no accident. “In a time of crisis and protests with Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring,Mahatma Gandhi represents a historic figure of civil disobedience,encouraging everyone to believe in their power for change,” says Tripp.

This was why the ride began from August Kranti Maidan,symbolic for being the place where Gandhi issued his Quit India speech.