Brisbane Archives

17/03/202318/04/2023

English Australia: PD Fest 2023

This weekend, I’m presenting at a QLD English teachers conference. This post shares the four AI tools I’ll be presenting in my session. Enjoy! NG

This weekend, I am presenting at the English Australia QLD PD Fest 2023.

The EA PD Fest is an excellent opportunity to engage with fellow educators and share ideas and experiences about teaching, learning and educational engagement. I always look forward to this event and have attended several times before. See more on the EA PD Fest 2017 here and the EA PD Fest 2018 here.

The session I am presenting will explore how some AI tools can be incorporated by English teachers into classrooms. I’ve been experimenting with using AI with my English language students for a while now and I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with other teachers – and hearing their ideas as well.

English Australia: PD Fest 2023. Bicycles Create Change.com 17 March 2023

Innovative AI Tools for English Language Teachers:
The Future is Now by Nina Ginsberg

Attention all English teachers! Join us for an exciting session where you will learn how to harness the power of AI in your ELICOS classroom. In this session, we use some of the latest AI tools to engage students and reinforce English language skills. Not only will you leave with a better understanding of how AI can support language acquisition, but you will also gain practical tips and strategies for effectively integrating AI into your existing curriculum and classes. All demos are in real-time so you can see exactly how quick and easy it is to create unique and purposeful AI-supported ELICOS activities.

Bring a laptop or iPad if you want to follow along. All participants receive a handy take-home AI teacher’s resource pack. Suitable for new AI users and teachers who want to know more. This is an opportunity to stay ahead of the curve in education technology and bring some excitement to your English language classroom. So don’t wait any longer, embrace the future!!

CLICK HERE: 2023 English Australia PD Fest Program

Here’s a copy of my presentation PPT:
Student permission has been given for all work shared.

Ninas AI tools PPT_EA PD Fest 2023 Download

Paint by Text is a free and simple AI image editor tool that allows users to create and edit images using natural language commands. Users can give simple instructions, such as “make the sky more blue” or “remove the background”. There are three stock images to edit or you can upload your own photo.

Start with simple instructions and check the basics

Get student suggestions and/or pre-teach some useful words
Start with one simple instruction
Use keywords not full sentences or complex instructions
Check spelling
Discuss ambiguity

AI takes things literally

Some good things to keep in mind from Re-Thought: Write positive prompts that describe what should be present, not what should be missing. “A man without a beard” will result in a bearded man. If it is in the prompt, it is likely to be mapped. So write “a clean-shaven man” for pictures with predictably clean-shaven man

Vocabulary: use concrete instead of abstract words. For example:

Concrete: koala, bicycle, sushi, spaghetti, fire truck (more predicable)
Abstract: hope, happy, success (more diverse results)
Build up instructions
Start with one word, then build up
Give students a few examples: night, Umbrella, Christmas, gift, purple ribbon, in Tokyo

Grammar: discuss different language features

Prepositions – above, next to, besides, from, in, out, under
number noun OR adjective + noun

Class Activity: Change the Picture

Give students a chance to explore the tool. Ask them to change a picture three times and record what prompts were used. Students can also upload their own picture to modify. In pairs or groups, use the four images to practice key English language features, such as

Compare and contrast
Vocab: clothing, colours, setting, time, objects
Past, present, future
Tell the story…
Predict what picture/will happen next
Discuss what worked and didn’t work with each photo edit

MURF AI is a text to speech tool that employs a versatile AI voice generator to produce natural-sounding speech from text inputs. MURF AI voice generator can customize the speech by selecting different voices, languages, and speech styles to suit specific needs. The free version offers a 300-word immediate voiceover recording and 10 mins in the studio and there is a massive range of voice selections.

The two MURF features I’ve used are the free text to speech and the Studio.

1. Text to Speech

Access this online via the NUF website Product tab. It gives 200 words and have 3 voices to choose from. Once you paste your text, it will take a few second to covert. You cannot download this copy, just listen online.

2. The Studio

Upload any documents, Google Sheets, PDFs or web links and you get 10 mins free audio. Also has a great range of voices and functionality to change speed, share and export.

Also try Speechify which is the next step up in Text to Speech.

Teach Anything is a simple and easy to use free, open-source AI tool that allows users to ask a question which it then creates two different versions – easy or professional – of the same answer.

This tool can be used in a variety of ways:

a tool to quickly modify a topic introduction for upper/lower levels
exploring diverse perspectives
outlining oral presentation topics
comparing language registers
discussing vocab/language shifts from spoken/written
In pairs. Give one student the ‘easy’, the other student has the ‘professional’ answer. As a team look, for language shifts and changes. Then together, rewrite the answer again as a ‘new’ third version. I like to use the third as an ‘academic’ answer. This task practices and reinforces academic structures (topic sentences, TEEEL paragraphs, transition words, include examples, specific details and evidence, intext citations…etc). Or as a news report. Or as instructions.

Night Cafe is one of many AI Art Generators that uses Artificial Intelligence to create unique pieces of art in a matter of seconds. Users can input a prompt and/or select from a range of styles. Once you sign in, the interface is relatively straight forward and you can generate one free image at a time or get a set amount of free tokens per day.

In class, I usually show three different AI art generators (Night Cafe is one) and let students experiment and chose their favourite one to work with.

Student-created AI art can be used to in English language classes in several ways:

Speaking and Listening: Students work in pairs or small groups to describe the AI-generated artwork to their peers. This activity can help students develop their speaking and listening skills, as well as their ability to use of targeted language features like grammar, conjunctions, transitions phrases and who, what, when, where, how and why aspects.
Vocabulary Building: Elicit students’ own words, preteach or scaffold vocabulary. Use AI-generated art to reinforce and/or introduce new vocabulary words. Students identify objects, places or concepts within the artwork and practice using the new vocabulary in context.
Writing: Use AI-generated art as inspiration for the writing assignments. Students write a paragraph, short story, poem, or dialogue based on the image, and teachers can provide feedback on their writing skills, including grammar, vocabulary and style.
Paragraph/Essay Writing: Students write a paragraph or short essay (cause and effect, compare and contrast, advantages and disadvantages) about the image, focusing on developing vocabulary and grammar skills and applying language features learnt from class.

The example below is from a recent class. We had been working on the topics of climate change, animal extinction and social media to practice cause and effect writing. To end on a more positive note, I asked to students to reimagine a different, more positive future. I encouraged them to be as creative as they wanted. The students used Night Cafe to create an AI image and wrote a cause-effect explanation for their new vision which they then presented to the class. They love it! Here is one example (shared with student’s permission):

15/11/202114/05/2022

Our Research & Write Studio (RAW): Winner New Club of the Year!

Great news!

I’ve been missing meeting with other like-minded writer-researchers. So August this year, I had an idea to form a ‘student club’ where we could meet to talk about writing and share skills and hold events that helped us become better writers and researchers.

Well… I pitched the idea to three friends, and we made it happen!

We called it the Research & Write Studio or RAW for short.

(Actually, we called it GAWLERS first… see more below)

I just found out that RAW has been award Griffith’s New Club of the Year!

Woohoo! I am so proud!

A big thanks to all the inaugural members for trusting in me!

And an especially heartfelt thanks to Janis, Rebecca and Jenny for all their great input and effort in forming the Executive Commitee with me.

You guys all rock!

See below for more about RAW.

Origins

Like most other educational institutions, Griffith University life and work changed profoundly in response to the recent COVID-19 ‘educational scramble’. Soon after moving online in April 2019, EPS HDR candidate Nina Ginsberg established an online ‘Show Up & Write’ space for students she knew as a way of staying connected, focused and productive. These sessions were regularly attended and participants said how useful it was to have a collegial space to talk, share, and create academic work. In break times, we asked questions, offered support, discussed our writing, and gave suggestions for improvements in a low-stakes and impactful way.

While Griffith responded to COVID and snap lockdowns by reducing staffing, decreasing services, and suspending many student professional development and networking opportunities until further notice, our study group flourished. As word of mouth about our group passed to others, ‘new’ people joined from all over Griffith. It was clear there was an immediate need for this group and so in June 2021, the main proponents (Nina, Janis, Rebecca and Jenny) decided to formalise this opportunity and open it up for all Griffith students and candidates. We call the group Griffith ‘Research and Writers Studio’, or RAW for short.

What we do

We are an online club bound by our commonality of academic work, research, and writing. Our club aims (see at end) articulate our ethics, commitment and focus. RAW members include undergraduates, postgraduates, and professional teaching staff who are also studying at Griffith. Our members come from all Griffith locations not only in Brisbane (26) and Queensland (10), but all over Australia (6) and around the world (6). We are proud to be a truly transdisciplinary group, transcending cultures, hobbies, degrees and programs, ages, gender, ability, locations, backgrounds, and personalities. This plurality in membership adds vibrancy, interest and new skills we would not otherwise have access to at Griffith elsewhere.

What makes us exciting

We began with 28 inaugural members in August 2021. This increased to 48 members in 6 weeks by end of September 2021 with no advertising, further attesting to the popularity and need for this club. At a time when many other clubs have slowed activities, RAW has expanded in response to member needs, thus standing out as a unique, reliable and reassuring hub for Griffith students and candidates in progressing their university work.

What makes us so exciting as a new club at Griffith is that we are a cheap, open access and inclusive club for all. We are also lockdown proof, independent of university-dictated content and wholly needs-based and our events are run by RAW members for RAW members – meaning members gain valuable presenting and leadership experience. We are a grass roots club that continues to grow organically and is responsive to member’s needs.

One of RAW’s greatest features is that we are not defined by, or exclusive to, any particular educational discipline, cultural background, sporting or personal interest. On the contrary, RAW incorporates and celebrates disparate characteristics, harnessing these valuable differences in diversity collectively, so members collaboratively learn with other members, not learn about each other as separate from others in most other contexts. And it has been a smashing success!

Our membership includes Griffith researchers and writers who are First Nations, international students and speakers of languages other than English, mature aged and returning to study, first-in family, differently-abled and adaptive learners, part-timers, single parents and many others – including a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Being online means we are not bound by campus restrictions or scheduling, so RAW operates anywhere (across all Griffith campuses, remotely, online and for those on-campus as well) and at any time (for example, we have a 24-7 open online, drop-in ‘study’ space where local, national and international members meet). This enables multiple opportunities for social connections as people study and work from a myriad of locations.

As well as study group spaces, we offer a range of writing, editing and university skills workshops (see some examples below) which can be joined virtually in real time or accessed asynchronously via recordings. This means our events are equitable and accessible to all members. Our club allows for networking and skill sharing and provides opportunities to broaden minds and sharpen transferable capabilities. We have an active Teams site that is our communications, events and resource space where we also notify members of other (external) writing and editing events of interest so members can expand skills and contacts within and beyond the RAW cohort.

What is our future?

Our vision is to allow the club to grow and to continue to offer a range of academic skill workshops not provided elsewhere, while providing online participation and facilitation. We seek to connect people with our overarching purpose of enhancing our research and writing capabilities.

Some 2021 RAW events already held:

Show Up & Write Space – 24/7, online, drop-in study space.
Early Bird Study Sessions – every weekday 5am -7.30 am.
Inaugural Annual General Meeting.
RAW Coffee & Chat: Member Drop-in Meet-and-Greet. (1-hr)
Get ahead for T2 classes (Session 1): Leveraging course profiles. (1-hr)
Get ahead for T2 classes (Session 2): Rediscover your motivation! (1-hr)
Get ahead for T2 classes (Session 3): Start(ing) class right. (1-hr)
Sentence Booster & 1, 2, 3: Writing & Editing Workshop. (1-hr)
Academic style in 10 easy steps. (1-hr)
How trees help us write clearer sentences. (Editing Booster – 30 mins)
5 x WINDOWs: Writers In Dialogue With Other Writers. (2-hr forums)

Upcoming RAW events for Nov-Dec 2021

Writing Heptathlon: 7-in-1 Editing Workshop. (2-hr)
The Spring Writing Party. (2-hr)
Gathering to Write. Academic Writing Forum (2-hr)
The Dark Academy (and how to survive it). (2-hr symposium)
Getting Feedback on Thesis Writing (HDRs). (1-hr)
Goal Setting Bootcamp. (half day intensive)

Research and Writer’s Studio Aims

Aim 1. To present academic writing and research in influential ways to diverse audiences. Develop and grow fundamental and advanced academic, writing and research skills and experience through a range of online and in-person opportunities. These include exclusive focused study groups, writing, editing and specialist workshops, writing process forums, accountability writing groups, skill drill sessions, special events and writing retreats and targeted academic skill sessions. These events consolidate and extend transferable oral, written and visual communication skills underpinned by positivity, engaged expression and critical evaluation of information, argument and opinion. Applicable for all levels of study across all disciplines.

Aim 2. To build confident, competent, and collaborative identities.

An inclusive and safe space to share university, writing and researching experiences. Instead of the usual teach-to model, this club moves towards a learn-with approach. Members are X to pursue their own academic and professional goals in ways that are productive, thoughtful, engaged and self-directed. Supporting a passion for lifelong learning through achievement, capacity and mastery. Provide opportunities for leadership and active engagement. Connect members with additional editing, proofreading, mentoring and/or other academic support services if needed. Interaction between Ph.D, Masters, Honours and undergrads is encouraged. To build relationships within and beyond the physical campus by establishing a collaborative and diverse community of practice.

Aim 3. To extend, challenge and share innovative, creative, ethical, and positive writing-research-action.

Provide members with opportunities to develop their own personal and professional goals. Respecting and strengthening engagement with First Nations, cross-cultural, and individual or cultural diversity people, culture, perspectives and lifeworlds. This club adheres to an ethical code of conduct based on compassion, positive change and social and environmental responsibility and action. This club supports members to be intrepid and innovative in their writing and research endeavours to initiate, develop and implement new ideas and projects.

12/10/202113/05/2022

2021 Chicks in the Sticks. Singlespeeding Qld’s all-female 3 hr Enduro event.

Last week, I participated in Queensland’s premier all-female 3 hr Enduro (mountain bike) event – Chicks in the Sticks 2021.

…and I had a blast!

I was super excited this year to see for the first time, a new singlespeed-only category which I feel I had a small hand in encouraging over the years (see more below). So of course, I went to help populate the inaugural division and support the event.

This year I rode singlespeed as a solo 3-hr enduro.

And I rode it wearing a collaborative ‘Celebrating First Nations MTB’ outfit.

2021 Chicks in the Sticks.Singlespeeding Qld's all-female 3 hr Enduro event. Bicycles Create Change.com 5th October 2021. — L-R: Seb Mitaros, Michelle Woods, Nina & Michelle Sando

Event Highlights

It was great to see four other singlespeeders also doing solo 3hr. The singlespeed division was called ‘clipped wings’. While we were lined up at the start line, I turned on a mobile speaker I had attached to my bike and played a bike-themed, race-appropriate playlist – which was awesome! It got us all hyped and in the mood. Of course, I played Queen’s Bicycle Race while we were waiting for the starters gun. Then we were off!

My plan was to go out hard early for the first lap, then ease off and enjoy the rest. I was keen to see how I felt during the 3hrs as I hadn’t been riding a lot and it was a hot day – so I reminded myself I was riding, not racing.

At the start line, I shot out like a bat out of hell and gave the division a good run for their money. I pushed hard for the first lap and keep the tempo high. Just before the second lap, I was overtaken by a singlespeeder, which was my cue to ease off and get into a comfortable groove to cruise the rest of the event.

Having music keep my spirits high, and I made a point of chatting and encouraging other riders along the trail.

In time, Michelle from Pedal Inn (who is a friend) caught up to me. I asked her if she wanted to overtake, but she said no. Pedal Inn was sponsoring the event and she didn’t want to podium as it might look a little dodgy. Plus, like me, she was digging the tunes and just wanted to support the division!

So we ended up riding together for the rest of the event. Which was awesome!

By the fourth lap, I was getting a little tired from the heat and sugar overload, but I kept my head positive and legs moving. The track was made for singlespeed riding and although there were a few diversions around A lines I usually ride, I was happy with how it all unfolded.

I had a great time and completed five laps to finish 3rd.

A massive, big thanks to husband who was my event support and most especially to Michelle for her good company on track. What a superstar!

Congrats also to all the riders, friends and family who attended, as well as to the event organisers and volunteers.

Acknowledgment of country
race village
gearing up
friends with bike t-shirts
and we are off!
having too much fun
good trail times
Nina & Michelle pit stop
last lap
congrats all round

*Images by Nina Ginsberg and Official RATS Event Images by Element Photography.

Previous Chicks in the Sticks

I’ve been supporting this event for many years.

My first CITS event was in 2016 with a mate Corin and another friend Claire as support. We were Team Bicycles Create Change! Our approach was casual, relaxed and have fun. Corin rode her MTB and I was on my singlespeed. Completely unfazed by other riders in ‘full gear’, I rode in less than traditional MTB biking attire, including a flower-decorated bike, helmet, and stretch pants, with not a stitch of lycra or a camelback in sight – which raised quite a few eyebrows. Read more about the 2016 CITS here.

For my second CITS, in 2017, I went to support the event and cheer on the riders. Because I was not on the bike this time, I had more time to chat with riders, families, and event volunteers and get a whole new perspective on the event. Off the bike, I was able to help out and enjoy the color, costuming, and fun in a completely different way – like being able to ‘watch the start’ (which I videoed) as opposed to ‘be in the start’. Read more about the 2017 CITS here.

In 2018, I was back on the singlespeed doing the 3hr solo. It was quite a different experience doing the full 3hr by yourself: pacing, food, ride plan, and mindset played a big part in completing the ride well. As previously, I kept reminding myself that I was there to support the event and not race and so I made an effort to connect with others and enjoy the ride – and not get sucked into chasing and racing. It was a super hot day and that had a big impact on riders. But I drew on my experience, knowing these trails are built for singlespeeds -and (as usual) I had a blast! Read more about 2018 CITS here.

2019 saw a new singlespeed mate, Jen and I team as team and we were the only riders and team on singlespeeds. Somehow, I managed to talk Jen into team-theming as boogie boarders (feigning a sport event confusion, ‘but we are here now with our SS, so we might as well ride‘) dress-ups. Suffice to say, we had far too much fun! Bless you, Jen! We entered as a soft-boiled double yokers team called (again) Bicycles Create Change and even though we were cruising and ‘riding not racing’ we still ended up coming second in our division – wow! We also ended up receiving an on-the-spot award for being the only all-Singlespeed team of the day! A good way to promote singlespeeds at the event – as we saw in the 2021 reiteration in which the event had for the first time an official singlespeed division! Woohoo! And yes, I do feel like we had a small role to play in making this happen!! Read Jen’s guest post of how the 2019 CITS event went here.

The 2020 event was cancelled because of COVID.

So, 2021 was the event’s well-anticipated return! And it did not disappoint.

See you there for 2022!

Chicks in the Sticks 2018. Bicycles Create Change.com 27th October, 2018 — Image: Chicks in the Sticks

05/10/202125/04/2022

Decolonise mountain biking. Art bike for a 3hr Enduro

Celebrating First Nations in MTB

As regular readers know, I have been involved in a number of decolonial projects this year – including putting together the Cycle Shifting: Refiguring First Nations presences in Morton Bay Bikeway project.

The annual Chicks in the Sticks event was coming up and I was registered. This year, I wanted to continue conversations about the unbearable whiteness of cycling and lack of support/inclusion of First Nations riders, decolonising MTB, celebrating First Nation experiences and better recognising First Nations connection to country at MTB events.

CITS is Queensland’s biggest, annual all-female 3hr Enduro mountain bike event. Those who know me know I like to bring the fun – so a theme bike and outfit was in order, but not anything mainstream.

Chicks in the Sticks – Annual All-female 3 hr Enduro Event

At this event, there is a big emphasis on fun, inclusion, and ‘giving it a go’, so there is lots of costumes and colour: – there is a profusion of ladybirds, bees, rainbow tutus, Where’s Wallys amongst the more ‘serious’ riders.

In previous years, I have dressed up. For me dressing up means making-collating-constructing the outfit in a new and creative way, from second-hand materials (no buying anything new) and that uses the theme (if there is one) in an original way. For example, for the last CITS, Jen (my riding buddy) and I went as boogie borders (so good!). We had a great time – read more about how we went here.

I wanted to continue the good vibes, but also raise awareness of First Nations experiences. But ‘Decolonise MTB’ was not the right approach for this event.

So I came up with an idea to promote First Nations experiences in a way that was positive and clear, but not confrontational. My idea consisted of a costume that was comfortable to ride it that matched a uniquely decorated bike highlighting my key theme.

To bring my vision to life, I enlisted the help of two incredible women to make my idea happen. A massive thank you to both Alison and Nix for their collaboration!

My Outfit

The outfit centred mainly on a custom-made T-shirt. This was the visually impactful piece and meant I could still ride safety and comfortably. Alison is a creative mate who I have collaborated with on a number of previous projects, including prepping for Bike Hack 19. Alison was integral in producing my T-shirt vision.

The T-shirt was a bright yellow and had connecting circles and indigenous artwork prints on the front and the words ‘celebrating’ over the same indigenous print panel on the back. I specifically chose ‘celebrating’ as a present verb (ie doing) and it was a positive message. The print was sourced from a First Nations art Collective (to support artists) and the other material (black spots and yellow T) were sourced from Opp Shops.

My Bike

Then my artist friend Nix (who you’ll remember from the New Materialists Garden Retreat and the Ride4Justice + UN International Day of Forests Night Ride we did earlier this year).

Nix is a proud Quandamooka woman who is highly creative. I had the idea of decorating my bike in a way that combined the approaches of my previous Art Bike Projects CONS_U_Me Blues with the Kids Bikes are Hard Work …but also it needed to be lightweight, snag-free, and still easy to ride during the event.

We used recycled clothes from Opp Shops to decorate the bike in the colours of the Australian Aboriginal flag (red, black, and yellow) by strapping the frame in red and black with yellow hanging tassels (emulating the flag’s yellow sun) in the middle.

We added a large ball under the seat in the Torres Strait Islander colors.

On the handlebars we had a hint of the theme colous for front-facing reference.

We then decorated the helmet to match.

See the stages of development below.

Archie ‘helping’
Before shot
frame wrapping
Torres Strait decoration
In-progress
helmet decoration
helmet test

It was a great project to collaborate with others and it ticked all the important boxes for me like being based on recycling and sustainable principles, increasing awareness for First Nation experiences, creating a new and original outfit to ride in, supporting the event by dressing up and bringing the good vibes, creating something we collectively made that was low-cost, sustainable, and low-tech, and I got to share quality creative time with people I admire.

A massive, big thank you to Alison and Nix – I love what we co-created!

In the next post, I’ll let you know how the event went.

To get more info about this event – see the official CITS website.

08/09/202130/12/2021

Showcasing The (bike) Mechanics of Adaption

This month is Brisbane Festival month.

So this week, I headed down to Metro Arts to check out a wholly bike-inspired, free art exhibition called The Mechanics of Adaptation.

The exhibition was well laid out and had a variety of materials, forms, and mediums across two galleries. Each work was given sufficient space so viewers could walk around the installations and see them from different angles.

I decided to wander through the show first to get a sense of the artworks. It was interesting to see the different techniques used to fuse, fix and set each of the works together. It felt like these were not super technical pieces, which made them more relatable because it felt like anyone could have a go constructing some of these works.

After my initial look around, I grabbed a handout of the exhibition (see details below) which explained a little more of the context behind the exhibition.

The handout and the necessary artist’s name/title/year posted on the walls next to exhibits were the only pieces of info provided at the exhibition.

When I got home and looked for more online, there were heaps of other interesting info about this project! Why wasn’t this extra info promoted at the exhibition?

For example, this project had been awarded a $35,365 arts fund.

And the passing mention in the exhibition handout about the ‘collaboration’ was actually a vital part of the whole artistic process and overall project.

The collaboration was the part I found most interesting about this whole project, yet at the exhibition, there was very little info about it.

Online, I found a catalog that gave more details about the project (see below).

CLICK HERE: The Mechanics of Adaption Catalog

This catalog outlines the background and details the collaboration with Traction and Sycamore, which I think is where the real art story is at – see here!

Having established artists running a series of workshops with youths at risk (Traction) and young people living with Autism (Sycamore) to teach artistic and technical using bikes is a brilliant idea – and I love that the final works were being exhibited as part of the Brisbane Arts Festival.

As a visitor to this exhibition, I felt this key aspect of the project was missing.

I would have loved to have seen better recognition/focus in the exhibition about the involvement of the youth groups.

Even so, it was awesome to see more bike art being supported and showcased.

If you are in Brisbane and have the interest -consider popping in and checking it out!

More bike projects and art exhibitions like this one, please!

Project Background

Michael Deucamp’s Bicycle Wheel (1931) was one of the first ready-made sculptures which simply placed a bicycle wheel upside down on a stool.

Deucamp’s artwork changed the course of contemporary art by elevating ordinary objects to the status of art. In 2021, after 10 successful years and four million trips, the Brisbane CityCycle program is ending.

With access to decommissioned bicycles provided by JDDecaux, Metro Arts commission and five local artists to produce new work inspired by these now-defunct bicycles.

Over a series of workshops, with students from the Sycamore School (a school of young people living with Autism) and facilitated by Traction (a community organization providing bicycle mechanic training for youths in need), the artists have produced works that expressed their existing practices and inspired by this context and the materials.

This work captures the emerging world of ever-accumulating industrially produced items and the potential for found materials to be incorporated into artworks whilst also inviting a playful attitude into the rarefied context of art galleries.

Today, bicycles also represent the urgency of the need for environmental awareness and sustainability.

Within this context, the artists’ use of the decommission City Cycle bicycles reflects the opportunity for artistic experimentation that connects histories of art to environmental sustainability.

List of works

Window Gallery

Alisha Manning Bike Spin (HD video, 3 mins 2021)

Gallery One

(Clockwise from entrance left)

Susan Hawkins Joining Multiples (CityCyle wheel rims and handlebars, dimensions variable 2021)

Sarah Poulgrain A Set of New Skills: Aluminum Casting (handlebar and bike seat posts, plaster, towel and chain from studio, dimensions variable, 2021)

Ross Manning Orange Reflector Feild (CityCycle reflectors, 185cm x 125cm, 2021). Ross Manning is representing Miliani Gallery, Brisbane.

Alisha Manning Bike Pull (2-channel HD video, 9mins 42 sec, 2021).

Gallery Two

Kinly Grey Wheel (CityCycle LED modules and wheel rim, haze, dimension variable, 2021).

All images (unless otherwise attributed) and parts of this text are sourced from Metro Arts Brisbane.

22/03/202104/06/2021

Women’s March4Justice – Brisbane

March is Women’s Month. March 8th was International Women’s Day and throughout the month there are many other events highlighting a range of social and gender justice issues.

There were major March4Justice protests organised in all major cities (and elsewhere) around Australia on March 15th.

It was epic!

So I headed to the Brisbane protest to march!

I brought my own two-sided sign.

One side was super inclusive, the other a little more ‘confrontational’.

A friend called the controversial side the ‘the thinking person’s sign.’ GOLD!

Heaps of people said the loved the sign (both sides) and I go lots of COVID Hi-5s.

I wore parts of my 2019 International Women’s Day outfit (if you have not seen the whole thing – click here now) which is made out of bicycle parts and recycled materials.

It uses bicycle inner tubes, wheel spokes and bike parts, broken jewellery, second-hand objects and curb-side barbie dolls. The sash is reminiscent of a beauty pageant, yet echoes the idea that even though women may feel free to move (the barbies bodies swing – but only as I move), they are in many ways still ‘keep in line’ (strangled by the confines of the sash’). The blondes are at the top, while the brunette (representing any/every ‘other’) is at the bottom of ‘the beauty hierarchy’. The headpiece mixes themes of gender expectations, worship, money, sex, religion, plastic surgery and armour together into a quasi-tiara-cum-pagan headdress which is deliberately a little ‘off'(-set) and awkwardly constructed.

I wore this with my Frida Kahlo custom-made face mask and my Dark and Disturbing BECAUSE RACISM t-shirt – with my sign held high.

It was a good turn out and we marched strong.

It was very challenging hearing so many stories of disadvantage, abuse, injustice and oppression – difficult, but also very important.

There is so much that needs to change.

To find out where, when and why the protests were hitting the streets, Alicia Nally (ABC) here.

And some good commentary, Like Hayley Gleeson’s for the ABC looking at what happened after the protests as well.

Alyx Gorman wrote a good outline of the Australian protests for The Guardian wrote:

Across Australia, survivors and their allies will be calling for gender equality, and justice for victims of sexual assault, through a series of protests under the banner March 4 Justice.

The focal point of the protests will be a rally outside Parliament House in Canberra on 15 March, which many people have stated they are travelling from interstate to attend.

There, March4Justice organiser Janine Hendry alongside Dr Anita Hutchison and Dr Kate Ahmad from Doctors Against Violence Towards Women, will be presenting parliament with two petitions outlining both broad and specific requests for further action.

Outside of Canberra, there will be approximately 40 local events around Australia, starting in Perth on Sunday 14 March. Organisers are projecting that 85,000 people will participate across the country.

The protests follow a wave of allegations of sexual assault, abuse and misconduct in some of the highest offices of Australian politics.

Start of Brisbane Protest
Nina and friends
Source: ABC News
Brisbane March 4 Justice
Brisbane March 4 Justice
Source: March4Justice
Brisbane protest
Source: March4Justice
Nina and friends
Source: ABC News

All Brisbane protest march and ‘Nina with friends’ photos by Nina Ginsberg.

Source: March4Justice unless otherwise attributed.

17/02/202113/04/2021

Geography and Collective Memories through Art Workshop

Recently, I attended a very unique opportunity: a 4-part virtual Geography, Art and Memory Workshop co-convened by Griffith’s Centre for Social and Cultural Research Dr Laura Rodriguez Castro, Dr Diti Bhattacharya, Dr Kaya Barry and Prof. Barabra Pini.

As a New Materialisms community bike researcher working in Sierra Leone, my work is embedded with post(de)coloniality, cultural dynamics, current-past experiences, gender, geography, mobility and space-time-matterings.

So I was excited about this workshop! Right up my (v)alley! (Get it? Geo joke!)

This workshop invited us to examine and experiment with the cultural and political potentials of ‘memory through art’ in geography inquiry. We looked at creative practices, collaborated and had discussions on some key and pressing issues related to our specific research. There was also the added bonus of an invitation to contribute to a Special Issue of Australian Geographer (2022).

In this session we asked:

What does art do to geographies of memories?

Geography and Collective Memories through Art Workshop. Bicycles Create Change.com. 17th February 2021. — Image: Memories Through Art

A workshop in 4 parts

The workshop was structured in four parts:

Part 1 – 1st February 2021 by 5:00pm: In the week leading up to the event, workshop participants submitted a 1 page (A4 portrait or landscape) response to the question: ‘What does art do to geographies of memory?’ The response could be written, creative, drawn, mapped, photos, collage, text, prose, or more. We will share these on our website, and will form a key discussion point for the interactive workshop event.

Part 2 – 4th February 2021, 3:00pm-5:00pm: We attended the keynote presentations by Libby Harward (Australia) and Virgelina Chara (Columbia). These two artists (see below) work with the current pressing issues of geographical research, treating them as a threshold point for their own creative responses and provocations that they may choose to share during parts 3 and 4. We focused on artistic interventions from Southern epistemologies as these continue to be underrepresented in Australian geography.

Part 3 – 5th February 2021, 9.30am – 12:30pm: Each participant gave an informal 5-minute talk about their creative response which they submitted prior to the workshop. (See my submission is at the end of this post).

Part 4 (optional) – 5th February 2021, 12:30pm – 1:30pm: In the final hour, we collectively discussed how to take these ideas and discussions forward as a Special Issue of Australian Geographer integrating some of the workshop themes.

Keynote speakers

Virgelina Chara

Virgelina Chará is a human rights defender, educator, embroidery artist and protest music composer from Colombia. She coordinates the ‘Association for the Integral Development of Women, Youth and Children’ (ASOMUJER y Trabajo) which works with forcibly displaced families and victims of the armed violence in Colombia. She is also the leader of the Embroidery Union at the Memory Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Bogotá, Colombia. She is a world-renowned educator on the pedagogy and power of memory for the construction of peace.

She was born in Suárez, Cauca, which is a region where armed conflict, extractivism and neoliberal development have meant many people, including Virgelina and her family, have had to confront violence and displacement. Since 2003 Virgelina has resided in Bogotá. In 2005 she was proposed as a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.

You can read more on Virgelina’s work here (left click to Google Translate to English).

Libby Harward

Artist Libby Harward is a descendant of the the Ngugi people of Mulgumpin (Morton Island) in the Quandamooka (Morton Bay Area).

Known for her early work as an urban graffiti artist under the pseudonym of ‘Mz Murricod’, and her performance-based community activism, Harward’s recent series, ALREADY OCCUPIED, engages a continual process of re-calling – re-hearing – re-mapping – re-contextualising – de-colonising and re-instating on country that which colonisation has denied Australia’s First Peoples.

This political practice engages Traditional Custodians in the evolution of ephemeral installations on mainland country which has become highly urbanised and calls for an artistic response that seeks to uncover and reinstate the cultural significance of place, which always was, and remains to be there. Her current place-based sound and video work engages directly with politically charged ideas of national and international significance.

You can find on Libby’s work here and read more on her project DABILBUNG here.

Workshop foucs

During this workshop we discussed themes of memory, art, and geographical knowledge in order to motivate a creative dialogue among geographers, artists, and activists.

We talked about the key question and looked at how to move beyond methodological debates and how to use art mediums as approaches to bring to light the affective and political forces of place speaking to timely and important issues such as colonialism, climate change, migration and peace and conflict.

There was a strong focus on Indigenous and Southern epistemologies and discussions on how to decolonize feminist research involved with geography, power, labour, art, and memory.

Workshop convergences, notes, artifacts and ideas

I was heavily invested in the discussions, which were provocative, rich and challenging. Out of respect for the content and participants present, I have chosen to deliberately deviate from the traditional blog ‘reportage’ style of summarising the workshop. Instead, I am using a non-linear, fragmented, messy, (in)process(un)complete, more New Materialist approach to ‘throw up’ a few random snippets, thoughts and connections I noted during these sessions. The below content is a deliberate post-human shift from presenting content as if it is ‘right’, ‘accurate’ or ‘makes sense’ to humans-participants-knowers. While some content may make sense – some may not. There are no mistakes or errors in these notes. So for the below notes, you dear reader, are implicated in the reiteration and (re)co-creation of the workshop ‘matters’ ….. here we go!

This story is ‘sew’ important …memory, history and life for so many, but new information for others (like me) elsewhere..truthtelling, invasion, pollution, academic violence and extractivism…The ‘Justice ‘ dept, The Memory Centre, the Power of Memory, parent-teacher-adult time with student-children-learner, ‘education is so square now’, pedagogy of memory, to the teachers: ‘do you realise you are the useless ones here?’… we don’t do it through writing, we do it through sewing and food, they have had massacres in every country, ‘ (Duque) he’ is just the model..creative outputs that help us think about these issues…

Some participants linked Virgelina‘s keynote to other textile protests, work and exhibitions, such as:

Libby shares with us her visionary bloodletting, deadstream and saltwater reflections. Flow. Sand Crunch. Lying in grass. Forms and textures. Listen (more) carefully. Birds-eye views. Film as experiential documentation. Art that moves and breathes. Unexpected. Tasmanian salvaged timber. Art(work)s. lying – lying. Post-colonisation – Decolonisation.

Mike is a chairmaker and researcher. Listening to Mike makes me think about how the ideological state apparatus presents a ‘version of collective memory-truth’ (ie statues & iconoclasts) – that is literally set in concrete (or other material) and associated forms of patriarchal, colonistic (tee-hee..get it?! not now, stay focus(ed), be serious!), political issues that go along with that kind of art …and that the artist is rarely? clearly? identified or acknowledged….after all it is their output/work/….

Mike shares this…… Mae’s Lullaby.

Amelia shares that…………..A millennia of seepage.

A Janet Cardiff work in Sydney…..the city of forking paths.

Eva links to Bangala’s most recent site-specific commission, but there is also The Distance From Your Heart.

The importance of having smaller groups and being able to share our ideas as opposed to the large groups and conferences.

I share Janis Hanley’s blog Local Yarns which looks at critical heritage and textiles in Qld..memory artifacts.

Started with a basket that reps KP and her thinking of the time – enfolding life.

Katie is inspired by John Wolseley – an artist who moves through the ecology to make art.

BI re(views) the memory artifacts produced: Proserpine Ambulance Depot (1990), Proserpine Hospital Outpatients Department (1939-1999), Proserpine RSL Club (1950-1990), and the Eldorado Picture Theatre (1927-1985).

Janis literary maps and remaps the Queensland Wollen Manufacturing Company floorplan(s) with mill(field)work, mill(i)visits, millscapes and milieus. Overlaying Coral’s draft interpretations of Mud Maps. Ron’s List across the ages – staff payroll (50?) years on.

Embodiment -moving through time-space-places

Public art

Art, bike, memory and geography

Institualization of memory – academic violences – uni mapping vs uni tracing

Watch the film: Painting country

Mapping the way? Maps, Emotions, Gender by Mike Esbester ……… WTF!!! THIS WAS ME IN DEC! The link! TConvergence with my thought-bridge(s) as I navigate-share-move with my own Bikes, Maps and Emotions! Woah! That’s a little spooky! I knew this session had cross-overs!

Daphne Backer (Suriname) architectural Twitter conversation

Centraling forms of memory – institutionalizing memory (through art)

It is the official institutions that get the money/funding – not the collectives

Didactic vs dialectic institutional

By the end, I am tired and about to implode.

I might have lost it in the final 5 mins.

Some Emerging Themes:

Contaminated materials and lives + (de)contamination and the materiality of life
Decolonising memory
More-than-human memory (not-human and not-human time scale)
Extractivism and memory

Parts of this post taken from the Memory Through Art homepage.

10/12/202026/02/2021

#Bikes_CISTA #50: John, Diesel, Roxy & Bike

There are many reasons why I love where I’m currently living and riding. I live on Narlang Quandamooka land which is Morton Bayside 25 km out of Brisbane (AUST).

In my neighbourhood, we have fantastic bayside foreshore pathways, heritage-listed Mangrove reserves, native bushland and swathes of green parklands. The natural environment was a definitive reason for us choosing to live here.

I’m often out and about on my bike and I love to meet people who are doing the same.

While I’m in the throes of data analysis and working hard on my PhD bicycle research, it feels even more important to keep connected with the two-wheeled community.

One of the early projects I started with this blog was my Instagram @bicycles_create_change.

I have a number of ongoing side projects that I like to keep percolating. My Instagram #Bikes_CISTA project is one I have not updated in a while due to COVID and I was delighted to have the opportunity to do so recently.

My Instagram #Bikes_CISTA project

Long-time readers of this blog will be familiar with my Instagram #Bikes_CISTA project.

This is an ongoing project I started in February 2017.

The ‘CISTA’ acronym of #Bikes_CISTA stands for Cycling Interspecies Team of Awesomeness.

The Cycling Interspecies Team of Awesomeness (or Bikes_CISTA) Project is a photographic collection of encounters I’ve had with biking strangers while riding Leki (my flower bike) around my neighbourhood. It features people I spontaneously see, introduce myself to, have a chat with and invite them to join ‘the team’ (completely optional).

The eligibility for a #Bikes_CISTA invite requires:

at least one person
at least one dog
at least one bike
all are happy to stop and have a chat with me
are happy for me to share their photo and their CISTA story

It is a great way to keep me connected to my community, actively meet new people and celebrate one of the most important (non-religious) ‘holy trinities’ of being a positive and active community member that I hold near and dear: being on bikes, being with dogs and being outside enjoying nature and community….and all this at once.

I’ve previously written about the origins and perks of the #Bikes_CISTA and how instrumental it is in my community-social health practice.

COVID put a serious dent in #Bikes_CISTA activities. The last entry was #Bikes_CISTA #49 on November 2019. Considering at start of 2020 I was in West Africa for fieldwork and then COVID hit – I suppose no updates is actually quite reasonable! Since then, I haven’t given it much thought until this week I was presented with a golden #Bikes_CISTA opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.

So without further ado – meet John, his bike, Diesel and Roxy … who are our #Bikes _CISTA #50!

#Bikes_CISTA are back!

Meet John, his bike, Diesel and Roxy – #Bikes_CISTA

I was out walking Zoe during a PhD study break and I saw this awesome team riding towards me. The trailer caught my eye. Spontaneously I blurted out something to John as he rode toward me about how cool the trailer was and how great it was to see him and the dogs out on two wheels.

To my delight, John was happy to stop and have a chat – woo-hoo!

Diesel is the larger white bitsa in the front and Roxy is in the back. These two dynamos are rescue dogs and a very happy misfit pair – what a great outcome for all!

John lives in Cleveland and often rides Diesel and Roxy along the Morton Bay Cycleway for a regular cruisey Cleveland-Thornside-Lota-Manly return ride.

John’s dog trailer is simple but effective. He has modified a standard trailer setup to include shade ontop and Roxy’s basket on the end. He has to augment the axel a little to redistribute the weight for the two pooches.

There are rubber insulated mats on the floor plus a little extra cushioning for puppy comfort.

I was interested to hear he had put some barrier up around the bottom of the tray to make sure wayward tails didn’t get knocked about or accidentally caught in wheels, which was a particularly considerate addition.

We chatted happily in the afternoon sun about bikes, dogs, riding with dogs and riding this local route – all while the puppies watched on.

I love that John was wearing a ‘No bad dogs’ T-shirt as well!

Funnily enough the very next day after meeting this crew, I saw them again while riding Leki along the foreshore. I was cruising past a busy tourist area and saw John’s bike parked under a tree.

I stopped and left my business card, but then I saw John walking Diesel and Roxy a little further on. How lucky!

So we stopped for another chat. Hooray!

This dual interaction made me so happy. I loved the opportunistic randomness of the initial connection which was fun and interesting and genuine – and then to have it reinforced the very next day was just lovely.

I’ll be keeping my eyes open for this fantastic #Bikes_CISTA team from now on.

It makes me happy to know there are awesome bike-people-dogs like this cruising around my community spreading positivity, good company, and wholeheartedly celebrating the #Bikes_CISTA philosophy in their own engaging way.

Happy return #Bikes_CISTA teams!

16/10/202028/11/2020

Bicycle Queensland – Road Safety Quiz

Each state (and country) have their own road safety rules and laws. Regardless of what mode of travel you use, it is always good to check your knowledge and keep updated – for your own safety and for others.

Heaven forbid someone challenges you doing something which you think is okay – only to find out later that you were in the wrong and the whole thing could have been avoided.

Recently Bicycle Queensland (BQ) launched a 24 questions quiz so people could test their bicycle road rules knowledge. It is a simple and clear quiz and there will be a few questions that might surprise you.

Take the Quiz here

I did this quiz and did not get full marks. I learnt the term ‘bicycle storage’ in reference to a painted box at traffic lights for bicycles to congregate to wait for lights to change (I only knew that term in relation to ACTUAL bike storage -not as a road user/traffic light reference …so there you go!).

If you live in Queensland give it a go! Even if you don’t give it a go anyway to see how it gels with what you know and check to see what is similar/different to where you live.

Can’t hurt to brush up on your road rules!

You get immediate feedback on correct answers as you proceed as well as a final result.

At the end of this post are some examples of questions to expect.

Get more info on Queensland Road Safety here.

Think you know all the bicycle-related road rules in Queensland? Put your knowledge to the test in the latest educational quiz on road safety skills. There are 24 Questions in this Quiz and they are on a range of bicycle and road safety topics.

Bicycle Queensland Road Safety Quiz Learning Goals:

To recognise and understand the Queensland Road Rules relevant to bicycle riders.
Consider methods to improve road safety for bicycle riders and identify the safety benefits.

The information in this quiz is developed from the Queensland Government’s bicycle road rules and safety page. This information is easily accessible online, and Bicycle Queensland encourages you to review the road rules regularly to keep up with the changes occurring in a dynamic transport network.

Remember that knowing the road rules does not necessarily make it safer for you to be on the road and this content has been created to help raise awareness of the road rules that are important for bicycle riders.

Revisit the Queensland road rules if you need to check a few things.

The goal is to repeat the quiz until you get over 80% correct and you can receive your Bicycle Queensland Road Safety certification.

08/06/202001/06/2021

New Materialisms SIG: Vulcana Circus – Stronghold

New Materialism SIG: Vulcana Women’s Circus - Stronghold. Bicycles Create Change.com 8th June 2020. — Image: Vulcana Circus

Along with Dr Sherilyn Lennon, I co-convene Griffith University’s New Materialism Special Interest Group (SIG). New Materialisms (NM) is an emerging post-qualitative research approach that has a significant take up in education, queer and gender studies, environmental science and arts-based disciplines in particular, but is gaining traction more widely as well.

The aim of this SIG is to provide a supportive space for GIER students, ECRs, mid-career and more senior Academics to explore, discuss, experiment and share complex and emerging post-qualitative ideas, methods and approaches.

Our SIG meets once a month and we have over 30 members Australia-wide. For the first 2020 session, I presented some of my African bicycle fieldwork. But then COVID-19 lockdown happened, so we had a month break. This is our first session back – and we were all delighted to be back in action again!

For this session, we discussed 3 papers and one of the most essential questions plaguing NM What is ‘new’ about New Materialisms? and then had a presentation by Dr Natalie Lazaroo (Griffith Uni, Theatre Studies).

The Readings

The first two papers (Monforte, 2018; Banerjee & Blaise, 2013) are advocating for NM as a new way of thinking about research and the other one is pushing back saying it’s all been done before and there is nothing new to see here (Petersen, 2018).

For this SIG we had 3 readings

Monforte, J. (2018). What is new in new materialism for a newcomer? Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(3), 378-390.
Banerjee, B., & Blaise, M. (2013). There’s something in the air: Becoming-with research practices. Cultural Studies – Critical Methodologies, 13(4), 240-245. doi:10.1177/1532708613487867
Petersen, E. B. (2018). ‘Data found us’: A critique of some new materialist tropes in educational research. Research in Education, 101(1), 5-16. doi:10.1177/0034523718792161

In the session, we provide a spectrum: on one end ‘nothing new’ and on the other end ‘everything is new’

We invited participants to take a position on this spectrum and be ready to justify your answer/position. People could positions themselves into a any camp. And once people had contributed their ideas to the spectrum, we talked about the positions and the reasons why we had taken that stance. We used the readings to inform our opinions, ideas from elsewhere/other scholars, experience and other ideas to help explain why we chose that point and to better understand where other people were currently positioned.

The aim of this discussion was to plumb what’s new about NM and see what makes sense to the group.

Following this discussion, we had a presentation from Dr Natalie Lazaroo.

Dr Natalie Lazaroo – Vulcana Circus: Stronghold

In this session, Dr Lazaroo returned to her PhD work (two years ago) to untangle the mess to make new discoveries. She reflected on her early methodology and locates a poem titles ‘Expressions of longing’ which she wrote in response to NM SIG provocations.

This return poem captures the essence of articulations that emerged during her artistic collaboration over a 4-month period of fieldwork with Vulcana Women’s Circus to create a community performance called Stronghold, which involved people with disabilities.

Natalie’s presentation was a real highlight – hearing about her work and research highlighted many NM tensions and opportunities. The group was blown away when she shared her poem which was evocative, agential and very moving. The conversation that followed was interesting, insightful and unexpected.

We all left this session deep in thought about these NM approaches might relate to our own work and in awe of the amazing work Natalie and Vulcana does.

I can’t wait to see more from both!

Stronghold

Stonghold was a project run in conjunction with Horizons Respite and Vulcana Women’s Circus. This partnership 16-week workshop program culminated with a final performance called Stronghold which engaged 10 Access Arts members. During this project, participants had the opportunity to learn skills puppetry, performance, circus and theatre. Stronghold was performed as part of Access Arts 30th Anniversary celebration at Brisbane Powerhouse.

Vulcana

Vulcana is a Brisbane-based circus that was established in 1995 to counter a major discrepancy between women’ and men’s experience of circus, both in training and in the expectation of how and what they perform. Vulcana now welcomes women, trans and non-binary gendered adults, kids and teens of all genders, to its inclusive circus training, performance making projects, and community engagement programs. It is an incubator for new, emerging and professional artists who have developed their passion as practitioners, performers and teachers in this art form that offers everybody a place to explore their uniqueness and their creativity.  Vulcana respects diversity and the feminist principles of equity and inclusion which are central to all our work and the starting point for engagement with students, participants, communities and artists.