Young people at the Labyrinth workshop for the Cycle Babble project © Martin Everett

Cycle Babble

Youngsters are being given the chance to tell their own stories about cycling for an Arts Council England-supported performance in Hastings. Co-organiser, Cathryn Kemp, bubbled with enthusiasm when she told Hastings Online Times all about the project.

Cycle Babble is the name of the project which is run by Telling Stories: Hastings, Radiator Arts and the From Pier To Eternity biking group as part of the Coastal Currents festival. It is also supported by Hastings Borough Council and East Sussex County Council.

Young people at the drop-in community bike workshop on the Marina in St Leonards had their biking tales recorded on sound equipment.

The resulting collection of stories, jokes, fables and experiences will be made into a sonic art work which will be broadcast from a mobile sound machine as part of the From Pier To Eternity procession which travels to Hastings Museum and Art Gallery on September 21, 2012 for the opening night of the Telling Stories: Hastings exhibition.

“This project is all about giving young people a voice and including them in a contemporary art project,” said Cathryn Kemp, project curator of Telling Stories.

“The youngsters have a chance to actually become the artwork just through telling their stories about their best and worst cycling moments. We’ve all got a story to share – and as the bikes will be part of our opening night we felt that cycling stories was a nice way to engage those who might not have access to public art.”

The team of artists and volunteers include Patrick Nicholson and Andy Tompkins, from Hastings Urban Bikes and From Pier To Eternity, Erin Veness and Mary Hooper from Radiator Arts, Lucinda Wells and Alex Brattell from Telling Stories with Telling Stories photographer Martin Everett.

Armed with recording equipment , the group spoke to young people and adults dropping-in to the community bike workshop which runs every Wednesday evening, 6-8pm at The Labyrinth on the seafront.

Once all the stories have been collected the team will edit the sound piece and then build a sound machine which will play the stories as it travels with the bicycle procession up to the museum, starting at Hastings Pier.

For more information, go to the project website, or contact Cathryn Kemp 07816 780159

Also in: Community Arts