Art Rush at CMWC Tokyo

Maybe you've heard that CMWC festivities will be tearing it up in Tokyo this September? A new feature of this year's extended championship, Art Rush, requires some planning. Which is why we're telling you all about it NOW.

Art rush hopes to integrate art and messenger culture. It's a contest for art that messengers will wear while they compete. The messenger riding will become a moving piece of art.

The medium? The ever-friendly, athletic favorite: a t-shirt. Each submission much be an actual t shirt, of course, as the riders themselves will hand select one to wear while they race. The t-shirt should serve as the canvas, but beyond that the possibilities are open to all variety of media, except maybe Etch a Sketch. Stitch it, draw it, print it, paint it! You're creative! You figure it out. It's a great way for people unable to travel to Tokyo to still participate in the event.

Your submission will not be returned to you after the competition wraps, as your work will be transported across the globe, worn by a competitor even after the race is over. A way of connecting people across the world through a love of bikes and art and comraderie. Their website whispers, Your artwork will be running through streets, somewhere in the world.

Organizers plan to display artist profiles and submissions, as well as the recipient of each shirt, on their website.

Yuki has all the details, but you can also head over to Art Rush for more information. The only cost to enter is the price of shipping your shirt to Japan, and the longer you allow for that part, the cheaper it will be! All submissions must be shipped by September 7, 2009.

Do it! This is your time to shine!

Social Design

Social21 is a social design network, whose mission is to inspire social activism through design. We connect people who want to explore ways design can positively impact our many worlds, and who want to create change here, now.

We heard of them through a piece on Treehugger which discussed one of the products to come out of a competition they held in 2008 called Power to the Pedal, which asked for designs that could enhance the biking experience. The brief reads:

Promoting bicycle use also means enabling it; local governments are being
tasked to improve infrastructure to create more convenient and safer routes as
well as incentives for biking... This competition calls for a biking accessory or add-on for existing bikes that would improve the bicycling experience and encourage more people to make biking their primary means of transport – more convenient, more enjoyable, safer and more integrated into daily lifestyles – whether it's for commuting, working, shopping, transporting, leisure or all of the above.

They received TONS of submissions over the duration of the competition, which closed last May. Finalists & winners were chosen through public voting through the Social21 website and a jury process, and three awards were given. The top prize went to a power cell that runs from riding a bicycle, but submissions ranged from handmade helmet covers to trailers to folding handlebars to a concept that blows bubbles through your rotating wheel, which in turn scatters seeds throughout the city, like Johnny Appleseed. Or this, which turns your bike into a wind instrument:


I still can't believe that this whole business eluded the FH radar screen...obviously we might have had something to say about it. But I'd say go check out what designers dreamed up for those of us on two wheels, there's some crazy stuff. I mean...we like crazy.