500 Word Rationale

This project is aimed at enhancing the sensory and emotional experience of cycling. From my research into the sensory-ethnography of cycling I found the most important and apparent senses involved are sight and sound. After experimenting with these two senses in order to produce particular moods, I found that using sight to elicit glamour was the most effective.

The idea of glamour is elusive and can be hard to define, with many confusing glamour for simply meaning beautiful or popular. Although it does include these elements, it is more complicated than this. As Sarah-Grace Heller explains, glamour is something that possesses the qualities of beauty but goes beyond this to include ephemeral qualities that captivate the attention of the beholder (2001, p. 936-937). This is a helpful qualification and gives insight into the transient life of glamour, although this need to gain attention can be better explained by another. According to Stephen Grundle, an expert in glamour as a film and television studies professor at Warwick University in England, glamour is not simply elegance but a fantastic blend of high-class and sleaze (2008, p. 107-108). I really like this idea of glamour being something more complex than something that simply looks nice.

For my experiment I aimed to create something that took on an over-the-top style that was a little flashy, possibly to the point of garish, yet still with substance to the design. It is a vibrant design that is aesthetically pleasant while drawing attention to the cyclist. This could prevent many accidents that occur due to the typically low visibility of a bicycle. Glamour, due to it’s nature, is often consider to be distasteful, deceptive and thus a morally bankrupt pursuit. However, it is not merely a false masquerade to gain attention, for instance a person would not be ridiculed in the same way for being charismatic (Gould, 2005, p. 237-238).

The experiment I conducted consisted of attaching glow sticks to the spokes of a bicycle, in order to generate multicolored patterns. The intent is to create a glamorous experience for the rider as the wheels of the bike light up when ridden. This creates a look-at-me affect, far from the somewhat mundane, conventional paradigm of bicycle lighting systems, such as the single coloured front and rear light. This extravagance turns the experience into a colourful spectacle, improving the visibility and thus safety of the cyclist, whilst turning an otherwise routine exercise into a moving artwork.

In the practical application of the experiment, where the bike was ridden in public, I found that people were drawn to the lights ornately attached. The proceedings were extravagant and moderately rambunctious, certainly befitting the indulgent mood glamour.

Gould, C. (2005). Glamour as an Aesthetic Property of Persons. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 63, No. 3

Gundle, S. (2008). Glamour: A History. United States: Oxford University Press.

Heller, S. (2001).Light as Glamour: The Luminescent Ideal of Beauty in the Roman de la Rose. Speculum, Vol. 76, No. 4