Moon Ride


' Assocreation Assocreation

Over the course of the day, cyclists will be convening on Linz’s Main Square for a “Moon Ride.” They’ll hook up their bikes to one of the countless generators set up there waiting for them to provide the muscle power needed to charge a giant battery. Each revolution of every set of pedals moves the battery charge indicator a little closer to full. After nightfall, the stored energy is used to light up an enormous balloon floating above the cityscape. This discharging process will be visible for miles and can last until the wee hours of the morning.

At a prearranged time after sundown, the cyclists’ output will be switched directly to the balloon; the harder they pedal, the brighter the artificial moon glows in the night sky. The humming of the muscle-powered generators will spread out a blanket of sound across the square as the spectacle is played out: onlookers cheering the bikers on to higher and higher performance until the human dynamos, speeding at the brink of exhaustion, bring the balloon to the peak of illumination.

Moon Ride is a sensory encounter with the myths and rites of our light-and-sound-dominated e-culture. At the same time, it’s a minimalist reflection of our electronic world that makes visible the charging and discharging processes inherent in everyday life.

Although pedaling a stationary bike is a sight more typical of a health club, the manifestation of a prosperous society and a me-culture of wellness, the participants delivering the force that drives this human power plant will be organized like industrial laborers. They form a mighty human battery to combine their output as individuals. This confluence, this visual fusion of the physical exertions of many, brings about a communal experience borne by the pure joy of taking part in a physical act of power and making an oversized source of light glow like a supernova. This is a form of electronic-industrial mass-level gratification whose climax is the final illumination of the balloon.

Translated from German by Mel Greenwald

A commissioned work by Ars Electronica. Supported by the Arts Division of the Federal Chancellery, Austria.
Additional support by: Robert Bosch AG, ICC International Cycle Connection B.V., Meinhart Kabel GmbH, Donau Touristik GesmbH. Special thanks to E-Tech, Linz for the technical support. In collaboration with Ars Electronica Futurelab (Robert Abt und Stefan Mittelböck)