Rider Spoke is a unique event combining theatre, location-based game play and state of the art technology. Participants saddle up and take to the streets around the historic Rocks area of Sydney with a computer console and headset. What follows is a foray into the psyche of the city and its inhabitants as riders search for undiscovered hiding places, record their thoughts in response to questions posed by the artists, and listen to intimate reflections from other participants.    

Rider Spoke continues Blast Theory’s fascination with how games and evolving communication technologies are creating new social spaces. The public become co-authors and a visible manifestation of the work as they cycle through the streets of The Rocks.

The work premiered as part of the BITE Festival at London’s Barbican and has since been presented in Athens, Brighton Festival and the Budapest Autumn Festival. It premieres in Australia thanks to the British Council, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and the Museum of Contemporary Art and runs from 6-8 and 11-15 February.

“Blast Theory is renowned internationally for pioneering groundbreaking new forms of performance and we are proud to support this presentation of Rider Spoke in Australia’, British Council Director Australia, Rebecca Matthews said.

“Works like Rider Spoke provide respite from the city’s usual rhythms and an opportunity to reflect upon the role of art and technology in shaping shared spaces, while offering a personal insight into the mind of a city and its inhabitants.”

Creative Cities is a three year programme across East Asia that celebrates the potential for arts and culture to invigorate cities.  The project encourages collaborations between artists in East Asia and the UK to increase public awareness of how art can shape urban spaces.

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For more information please contact James Rowe at the British Council Press Office on 020 7389 4939 or james.rowe@britishcouncil.org

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Blast Theory

Blast Theory is renowned internationally as one of the most adventurous artists' groups using interactive media, creating groundbreaking new forms of performance and interactive art that mixes audiences across the internet, live performance and digital broadcasting. Led by Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj, the group’s work explores interactivity and the social and political aspects of technology. It confronts a media saturated world in which popular culture rules, using performance, installation, video, mobile and online technologies to ask questions about the ideologies present in the information that envelops us. Rider Spoke has been developed in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at University of Nottingham, Sony Net Services and the Fraunhofer Institute as part of the European research project IPerG (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming). Blast Theory is supported by Arts Council England.

For more information, please visit www.blasttheory.co.uk

The British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people. We work in the arts, education, science, sport and governance and last year we reached over 128 million people. We are a non-political organisation which operates at arm’s length from government. Our total turnover in 2007/8 was £565 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £197 million.