Category: Bicycles

The Coffee Shop on a Bicycle: Charries Café

The Coffee Shop on a Bicycle: Charries Café

Posted on by Kbaumlier

There has been lots of news about people riding more bikes in Mexico, China, and other countries as a affordable, eco-friendly alternative to driving.  The bike can be used for more than transportation – it can be a coffee shop on wheels.

Created by Japanese-born Rie Sawada, Charrie’s Café, which moves around each day, serves hand-brewed coffee as well as Japanese tea.

Her coffee bike debuted in Berlin in Spring at VELOBerlin, one of the biggest bicycle exhibitions in Berlin.

To know where Sawada will be next with her mobile coffee shop, check out her blog  or give her a call. (her number is on her site)

Links:

Charrie’s Café Blog

 

1000 Bicycles – as Never Seen Before

1000 Bicycles – as Never Seen Before

Posted on by Kbaumlier

The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has a new exhibition at Taipei’s Fine Arts Museum that opened yesterday which features  a giant installation made of 1,000 bicycles piled in layers.  The work is meant to reflect Ai’s perception about the rapid pace of Chinese social change.

The artist is currently confined to Beijing so the Taipei Fine Arts Museum had daily email exchanges with the artist to get instructions on how to mount and setup the show.  The Chinese government says his previous two-month detainment was for tax evasion charges though many believe it was for his openly critical stance against their policies.

The show, entitled “Ai Weiwei, Absent, “  also features  will feature 21 works includes photographs, 12 outsize bronze heads representing the Chinese zodiac, and the bicycle installation.

Through his work Ai addresses issues pertinent to contemporary China; including the loss of historic material culture due to rapid modernization and the effects of the global economy on traditional modes of production. His work also investigates broader themes, including perceptions of value, mass production and brand globalization, such as Coca Cola.

The exhibition runs from October 29, 2011 to January 29, 2012.

Links:

Ai Weiwei artist site

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Free Ai Weiwei site