Eric Corriel Studios

multidisciplinary art studio • immersive and interactive public art • art activism • digital/electronic art • nyc

Excite Bikes

Site-specific interactive light installation, 2015

Nighttime photograph of a cyclist, in a race, looking straight at the camera (smiling), as he and his bike pass over an illuminated projection of a circular cornucopia of multi-colored shapes that are projected on the race track. He is one of a bunch of cyclists passing over this colorful projection.
Photo by Brett Wood

Excite Bikes is an interactive light installation that brings the classic video game experience into reality Shown at the Red Hook Crit, Brooklyn, New York

Inspired by classic racing video games such as F-Zero, Excitebike, R.C. Pro-Am, Super Mario Kart, Super Off Road and others, Excite Bikes adds another dimension to the classic video game experience by mapping game elements onto a real race course with real bike riders. As cyclists ride over interactive “racetime” graphics they change state, both visually and aurally.

Nighttime photograph of a racing cyclist, hands raised in victory, on the right side of the frame, riding towards a finish line, out of sight on the left side of the frame. In the middle of the race course is a multicolored, striped rectangle that the cyclist is about to ride over.
Photo by Brett Wood

As technology generally becomes cheaper and more malleable, this type of “gamification” of reality proliferates daily. This particular instantiation follows a previous installation I did for the Red Hook Crit in 2013 called Light Bikes. While it certainly seems cool for now, one can’t help but wonder about the long term effects of adding game-like elements into our daily lives. Will our lives become more fun? Or will we just take “games” more seriously?

Nighttime photograph of a bike race; several riders are seen rounding a corner and riding over a large, projected yellow arrow.
Photo by Brett Wood

Excite Bikes was created for the 2015 Red Hook Crit, which took place on Saturday, April 25th, 2015. It is created with custom software written by the artist built on OpenFrameworks. It consists of three interactive “racetime” graphics projected onto the race course. The installation is played with an old school Nintendo controller.

Nighttime photograph of a man, on the left side of the frame, with an (original) Nintendo controller in his hands. On the right side, projected onto the race course behind him, is a multicolored, striped rectangle.
Photo by Brett Wood
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