Cycle of Dread

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Waterloo, Ontario – Wednesday Aug 5, 2009Marcel O’Gorman sits on a penny farthing bicycle in a workspace near city hall in Kitchener, Wednesday. The bike will be hardwired to a computer so that a pedalist’s speed and heart rate control an animation projected onto the walkway between GoodLife and Delta over King Street. Mathew McCarthy, Record staff – see story by Colin Hunter. Request #-Local Arts_4:25:56 PM-05/08/09-Waterloo

This project is the second part of a “triathlon” series that began with Dreadmill. Cycle of Dread involves hardwiring a stationary bicycle to a computer so that a cyclist’s speed, distance, and heart rate control the outcome of a multilinear, animated narrative. The first iteration of this project, subtitled “Bridge of Infernal Methods,” is a site-specific piece designed for projection on a walkway over King Street in Kitchener, Ontario. The narrative of “Bridge” consists of imagery taken from William Blake’s illustrations for Robert Blair’s poem, “The Grave” (1743).

City of Kitchener, 2009