If you're a cycling enthusiast, you've probably seen plenty of bracelets made from bike chains, clocks made from chain rings, or other items constructed by local hobbyists from cast-off components. Fun as those kind of curios may be, imagine what you might get if you took 46 established artists from across the U.S., gave each of them a box of 100 brand-new bike components, and asked them to make those into whatever they wanted. Well, that was the idea behind the SRAM pART PROJECT. The resulting sculptures have been shown at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, will go on display in a juried exhibition at a gallery in Chicago, and are about to be put up for auction online.
Besides making and selling road and mountain bike parts under its own name, SRAM also owns components companies Rock Shox, Avid and Truvativ. Parts from all four brands were used in the creation of the sculptures, along with other media such as clay, wood and stone. While some of the pieces are completely abstract, others are readily identifiable as subjects such as a robot, a rollerblader, a fish, and a sprinter.
Starting on Sunday, November 20th, it will be possible to place bids on all the sculptures, via the pART PROJECT website. Bidding will end on November 30th, which will coincide with a public exhibition of the pieces at Chicago's Gallery 1028. Proceeds from the auction will go to World Bicycle Relief, a charity that provides bicycles to people in developing nations, so that they can more easily access health care facilities, educational institutions and economic opportunities.
Source: Mountain Bike Review
