Bycicle Race

Derek Kreckler’s Bicycle Race was staged twice in 1978. The first time was in a suburban back lane, and the second performance took place in Canberra, Australia’s national capital, as part of the performance art festival ACT 1. The footage shown here in Madrid is from the initial performance in Adelaide, South Australia.

The transformative discovery of DNA marks the beginning of modern biology. Today, its image—a graceful yet dynamic coil, constantly winding and unwinding—is ubiquitous in culture, advertising, art, and of course, science.

While Bicycle Race utilises the double helix as its foundation, it is not symbolic or distinctly narrative in nature. Instead, it explores the tension between structure and chaos, impulse and abstraction. Performers on bicycles were tasked with following a double helix drawn in poured flour, highlighting the tension between the world’s growing population and the resulting food security issues. The work also delves into themes of the rule of law and the consequences when patterns of behaviour, systems, and structures fail.

The performance had formal parameters, but performers were not directed in their behaviour. Each rider had the freedom to choose their bicycle, demeanour, and persona during the performance. The cyclists were accompanied by a man on crutches dragging a broken Vespa motorcycle with a rope, symbolising a form of irritation or the ‘other’. Cyclists adhered to simple rules: follow the drawn circuit as accurately as possible and ensure each preceding rider completed two laps of the double helix before the next rider followed. This continued until all cyclists were on the helix, an impossibility that led to chaos. It was an abstract circus act that lasted around thirty minutes.

The result was a drawing: a distorted 2D double helix made by evidence of the bicycle tyres marked by flour. The document Bicycle Race 1978 is a digitised version from the remaining Super 8 footage.