IT’S NOT THAT FAR – a bicycle workshop
What is it?
IT’S NOT THAT FAR is a do-it-yourself bicycle-workshop that we organize together with Georgian young people, especially young women. In Georgia, there aren’t much bikes and they are even less used by women. We plan to import bikes from Germany and Switzerland to maintain them in Tskaltubo from September 14th to September 27th 2015. Together with our Georgian friends we will set up a repair shop, which will remain as a deposit of old parts and tools, thus becoming the first shop for bicycle maintenance in Tskaltubo and surroundings.
We need your support
We are already collecting bicycles in our headquarters in Zurich. However, we urgently need more funds:
- to finance the transport.
- for tools and spare parts.
- for safety equipment (helmets, light, etc.).
With a small amount you can participate in the project!
Why?
With this project we want to promote individual mobility in order to strengthen the self-image of young women.
Due to its simple functioning and maintenance, the bicycle stands for autonomy more than any other means of transport. It brings new possibilities to communities otherwise bounded in terms of mobility, ultimately resulting in strengthened expressions of freedom. This seems especially well-suited for the rural population of Georgia, women in particular, who find transportation extremely limited due to lack of technical means and sexist discrimination.
Young people pursuit a higher degree of autonomy in modern Georgian society. However, they are still held back by the reactionary expectations of their social roles. In particular, a strong discrimination against women, affecting their desires of independence and self-fulfillment, is present in rural georgian communities. A key step towards a more equal society is breaking the traditional view that is held regarding women and mobility. Cycling in rural areas is still for men: women on bicycles are often the subject of laughter and gossip, which we can overcome collectively.
We plan to bring the discarded bicycles not only to promote its use, but also to introduce its reparation and maintenance as a form of independence and rupture with sexist stereotypes. With this we open an space of exchange and debate, easily maintainable after our contribution, with the bicycle recycling as a connecting thread among topics such as those related to gender, initiative, sustainability and entrepreneurship.
Who?
We are a splinter group of the artist collective NEUE DRINGLICHKEIT from Zurich. The aim of the collective is to explore the possibilities of art in between political and social project. We are artists and cultural workers and bicycle-mechanics and much more.
Already in 2013 and 2014 we were active within the Tskaltubo Art Festival. 2014 we created a temporary space together with young people, the «Tskaltubo Lab for Urgent Questions». In a self-built open-air café dishes were prepared from Georgia and Germany; it was possible to learn Georgian dances and songs; recorded music, short films and photografic works of the participants became part of the festival in the premises of the Labs.
This year we will be part of the festival again, where we will accompany the workshop with all forms of media. The generated work will be seen not only in an exhibition at Tskaltubo-Art Festival 2015, but can be followed live on Facebook and on our blog.
Support our project
Apart from endless gratitude, you get from us – depending on the amount – a small or larger gift; you can even register on the list of official sponsors. ///