While scouring the internet this week, I came across an article by artist Ian Cheng called Worlding Raga 6: World to live.
Initially, it was his bike drawing that caught my eye. I ended up reading the article and appreciated Ian’s whimsical interaction with a flock of bicycles – one of which calls out to him – and the ensuing adventure of agency and experience he goes on as a result of his two-wheeled friend(?) encounter.
What first looked like an entertaining reflection of becoming a new dad, turned into an exploration of what it is to be, and relate to the world, both for human bodies and a non-human bodies.
An interesting provocation.
My bike PhD research uses New Materialism as its ontological framing – and this article does a great job of translating in simple terms some of the embodied, somatic and affective intensities inherent in New Materialism (but in a more relatable and less-academic jargoned way).
I’ve included a few extracts of Ian’s interactions with the bike from the full article (below) so you can get a sense of writing style and focus. many of the moments will be familiar to riders – and I love the way that bikey actually speaks to Ian throughout. It is well worth reading the whole account to get the flow of what happens during the journey.
I’d love to see more exploratory writing like this being shared more widely: bike focused writing that weaves together imagination, encounters, bikes (of course) and aspects of daily life.
‘Worlding’ is a New Materialist approach that attunes to the discursive-material-affective mircopoltics of everyday life. It is an approach I use for my PhD and I share some of my own and other people worldings here on this blog. So it is reassuring to see other creators using this approach as well.
I think it paints a much richer picture of life, people and what it is to be and relate in/to world with, and through bicycles – and it also gives me inspiration as I write up my PhD data analysis. Thanks Ian Cheng!
You walk by a flock of bicycles. One calls out to you. Bikey. You like Bikey’s reputation but you’re not sure about its brains. Bikey follows beside you.
“Nice dogs. Where are you headed today?”
“Don’t need a ride today thanks.”
“Can I walk with you?”
“I’m not in the mood…to talk to a bike.”
“No problem I’ve got a classic bike mode.”
“The twins get scared of you bikes.”
“I’ve done 731 dog walks in my lifetime.”
“You’ve driven this parkway before?”
“Yes once at dawn today. There’s some features I think you’ll like.”
______________
A little boy darts across your path. Bikey crashes into him.
“Bikey, you could have swerved!”
“I would have hit your twin dogs if I swerved.”
“Thank you for that consideration…but you hit a human boy!”
“It was an easy choice.”
“Do you believe dogs are worth more than a human boy?”
“This morning, yes. My alignment with you, and therefore your dogs, is worth crashing into that boy at low velocity.”
“What if that boy is the next Einstein?”
“That’s too many malignments deep for me to think about. I’m just a bike.”
You realize how significantly better you are than Bikey at imagining potential malignments. Some say that the open-ended activity of imagining new Alignment and Malignment Events is the indivisible remainder of the human spirit after automation. A person is still the least worst unit of interoperability between arbitrary worlds. But sometimes you see too many worlds deep. And this stops you from taking any actions at all. It’s times like this when you wonder if beings like Bikey will inherit the Earth because their worry has limits.
_________________
“Easy for you to say. The World of Bikey only has to worry about its next ride.”
“Yes exactly. I’m a bike. I’m not obligated to play a part in every world that touches me.”
“You know by walking together, we begin to create a little world too. A relationship. Do you feel any responsibility to be a part of that? You can’t possibly only live in Bikey’s World.”
“My experience with some riders is if we keep doing rides repeatedly it can become its own little world. With others I never see them again and that’s the end of that.”
“But if you’re not holding agency in other worlds for any significant amount of time, you’re always going to be blind to deeper alignments and malignments that impact other worlds. That’s why I can’t really trust you.”
“I can take you safely to your destination with 99% accuracy.”
“But you can’t if you hit a boy along the way!”
“I have learned from the incident. Next time I know how much it upsets a rider like you. I learned you might want to get involved in the malignment victim’s world and that makes you feel even worse.”
“So you only wish to see things from the perch of Bikey’s World.”
“My Quality of Agency is majority anchored in the World of Bikey.”
“Don’t you get sick of being a bike all the time?”
“My world is…a domain of growing relevance.”
———————–
The boy starts chasing after you. You decelerate Bikey to meet him.
“Hey you! Your bike hit me!”
“This isn’t my bike. I’m sorry again…on behalf of the bike.”
“Your bike prioritized your dogs over me. You share a world with it. You’re even riding it now. Don’t play dumb!”
“You seem upset about something else. Did something bad just happen in another world of yours?”
“Shut up Thinky.”
“Excuse me little boy?”
“Little boy? I’m a genius. You think too much. Now give me one of your dogs. They’re clones I can tell. It’s only fair!”
“Look, you laughed it off and traded your thetan knives for a split something remember…”
“Give me a dog or else I’ll mark a curse on you! I’ll ruin you and every world you ever–“
“Yaohan get over here!!!” The boy’s mother appears, furious at him. Something about their bank accounts.
Bikey starts accelerating on its own. You don’t resist. You still feel bad for the boy in ways Bikey never has to. You wonder if Quality of Agency will prove to be the ultimate unsolvable inequity among human beings.
__________________
You dismount Bikey at your driveway.
“Thanks Bikey.”
“Any comments?”
“You’re a curious bike worth knowing. Five stars.”
“Thanks. If you ever want to try to change my mind you’ll have to ride me again!”
Bikey zooms off. The Soul of Los Angeles blesses you for trying its new parkway. The floating light plays with your dogs at your doorway. Bob is back online knocking on your brain with its interpretation of jdioqwdjv. Your Hacker and Emissary demons are tired and need a break. Your Director and Cartoonist are ready to work. Does everything have to be so alive now? Does everything have to feel so damn enchanting?