No Hands. How the Bicycle Changes Warsaw

For over a hundred and fifty years the bicycle has held a special and somewhat paradoxical place in the history of Warsaw. On the one hand it is one of the most groundbreaking inventions, on the other it is often underrated. Seen from the perspective of the history of technology, it can be regarded as a transitional stage: a link between the era of walking and horse traffic and the dominance of combustion engines. It was an invention that delighted people at the end of the nineteenth century, yet today it is sometimes seen as less exciting. It is slower than modern means of transport, it does not allow large loads to be carried, it offers no protection from the rain and it usually serves only one person. And yet it is precisely this simplicity that makes the bicycle return again and again, today as well, as a tool of change and renewal for the city.

The makers of the exhibition look at this phenomenon, presenting the bicycle not only as a means of transport but also as a technology that shapes everyday practices, affects the experience of the body and the way the city is perceived. Cycling in turn is shown as a phenomenon that is both historical and contemporary: a practice that took on different, at times contradictory meanings in different periods and was bound up with different visions of modernity. The exhibition takes up, among other things, mobility as a cultural experience, questions of emancipation, and the role of cycling in the material culture of the city and its significance as a social and political phenomenon.