BLINK
Participatory performance that gathers the city’s seasoned and casual cyclists to perform a piece for bicycle bells. Riders travel through a selected location, following a score transmitted from the lead bike via a special helmet pre-programmed with lights that cue bicycle bells of different pitches. Through the piece, riders collaborate with each other and generate music that interacts with the soundscape of the area.
Premiered in December 2013 with the support of MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK as part of MAKE MUSIC WINTER: 2013
Also presented in:
Houston Texas, April 2014 // Dublin, Ireland, May 2014, as part of Giro D’Italia // Santiago de Chile, December 2014, as part of Tsonami Festival in collaboration with Anilla Cultural and the Contemporary Art Museum in Santiago // New York, NY, December 2015, as part of Make Music Winter: 2015 and presented as a sound trilogy in collaboration with with Nissim Schaul’s “Wheels” from MMW 2014 and “RPM” by P. Spadine
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
This video features the BLINK premiere in New York, 2013:
One of the conductor’s helmets:
To compose the symphony, I sampled the sound of the bike bells to be used in the performance, then created an arrangement with them using a variety of software. Once finished, the composition was translated programmaticall
These images are from the first performance in New York:
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times
Images from the performance in Santiago de Chile, December 2014:
The Chile performance concluded in the square of the Contemporary Art Museum in Santiago. The piece was followed by a participatory sound improvisation, conducted by gestures, for the riders as well as the additional crowd that had assembled there without bicycles or bells: 
