Since their birth in the early decades of the 19th century bicycles have captured the imaginations of artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers. H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett, Naguib Mahfouz, Iris Murdoch, Charlie Chaplin, and Stephen King are but some of the men and women who cycled and hailed (and sometimes satirized) the invention.
In the first half of the show we talk with Professor Jeremy Withers, co-editor of Culture on Two Wheels:The Bicycle in Literature and Film (University of Nebraska Press) about some of these portrayals. In the second half we are joined by cartoonist Andy Singer who for the past two decades has featured bicycles in many of his works, using them to critique technological society and to suggest a different future, as well as make folks smile. In a time where it's needed more than ever, this show will explore the effect bicycles have beyond the physical into how we see the world.
- KBOO