Artist Turns Housing Costs into a Physical Cycling Challenge

In an innovative response to New York City's soaring housing costs, artist Justin Blinder has created a device that transforms the act of biking into a tangible reflection of economic disparities. Known as Ground Truth, this project offers a unique perspective on the impact of housing affordability on urban life.

The concept sparked in 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdown, after Blinder, recently laid off, began delivering food across Brooklyn. As he pedaled through various neighborhoods, he noticed stark contrasts in economic conditions. "I started to become more aware of how different neighborhoods, often right next to each other, could feel very economically and psychologically very far apart," he explained.

Inspired by these observations, Ground Truth was born. The device, a small gray box that attaches to the front fork of a bike, adjusts the pedaling difficulty based on the housing affordability of the area. When cycling through more affordable neighborhoods, riders experience less resistance. Conversely, entering areas where housing costs are high makes pedaling harder.

Blinder's goal is to turn abstract economic data into a physical experience. "It's about bringing economic abstractions back into a direct physical experience that’s rooted in reality and in the streets," he noted. The mechanism operates without interfacing with the bike's electronics, using a Citi Bike as his canvas. The device features a wireless system that modifies the bike's braking mechanism to apply varying levels of resistance based on housing data.

To determine the appropriate level of resistance, Blinder utilized the U.S. government’s American Community Survey’s Rent Burden dataset, measuring the percentage of income that households spend on rent. He assigns values to each census block group based on these metrics, correlating them to the bike’s brake tension.

After testing the device, Blinder found that biking through public housing neighborhoods resulted in easier pedaling, while certain luxury developments complicated the affordability narrative. He acknowledged the challenge of defining what is truly affordable in today’s market.

Looking ahead, Blinder hopes to enhance Ground Truth's interactivity, potentially allowing riders to engage with the project on a deeper level. As he considers integrating additional datasets, he remains focused on challenging perceptions of affordability in urban settings, emphasizing the need for critical conversations around these issues.

Source: www.theverge.com