Site icon BikePortland

Bike-powered film installation coming to PDX Fest

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward


This installation debuts in
Portland tomorrow.
Photo: Vanessa Renwick

There will be a provocative, bike-themed video installation at the upcoming PDX Film Fest. Filmmaker and artist Vanessa Renwick of the Oregon Department of Kick Ass, says people will be offered a new way to appreciate her classic film, The Yodeling Lesson.

If you haven’t seen The Yodeling Lesson. Here’s a recap:

Accompanied by a soundtrack of bagpipes and yodeling, the 4+ minute film depicts a woman (Moe Bowstern) riding (mostly no-handed) up the N. Mississippi St. hill on a dreary and cold morning. When she gets to the top, she takes off all her clothes and proceeds to careen down the hill, riding the whole thing completely nude and with no hands.

Vanessa will create an interactive installation based on this film for the PDX Film Fest that starts this weekend. Here’s more about the installation:

“I tracked down the original official Portland bike lane stencil alterer, Mister Todd Roberts, and he agreed to make a naked lady bike lane stencil for me. Adam Dowis rigged up a super secret electronic box that made it so that you had to be pedaling a bike, and kind of hard I might add, in order to see the movie playing.”

Vanessa says the installation debuted in Portland in 2000 and has also been shown in Eugene, New York City, and Los Angeles (see photos here).

You can see it for yourself starting tomorrow night (4/25) at Audio Cinema (226 SE Madison, under the Hawthorne Bridge). The opening night party starts at 8:00. After that, you can view it Thurs-Sat from 12pm-6pm.

Switch to Desktop View with Comments