photo © HfBK Dresden, Selin Acarbaş
This work begins with a bicycle, an object that is both familiar and essential to everyday German life. Fitted with multiple mirrors, the bicycle becomes a device for reflection, both literally and metaphorically, as it moves through the streets of Dresden. As it moves through the streets of Dresden, the mirrors capture fragments of the city, passers-by and fleeting moments, revealing views that usually go unseen.
In Germany, cycling is not only practical, but also deeply ingrained in the culture. It bridges generations — from children to the elderly, nearly everyone rides, and dedicated bike lanes connect neighbourhoods, riversides and city centres. The bicycle is a symbol of efficiency and an expression of leisure, embodying a way of life.
Dresden provides a particularly charged setting for this project. Its city centre, scarred by war, is still being rebuilt and regenerated. The cobbled streets are challenging for outsiders to navigate by bike, yet locals ride across them with ease, as though in quiet dialogue with the city’s layered history.
It is this tension between familiarity and strangeness, ease and difficulty, past and present that gives rise to the concept of the mirrored bicycle. By offering fractured and shifting perspectives, the work encourages both residents and visitors to view themselves and their surroundings afresh. The mirrors serve as a reminder that perception is always incomplete and that what we see is merely one version of reality, shaped by our position in time and space.
This project pays homage to the everyday culture of cycling in Germany while also offering a meditation on vision itself: on how the city is seen, remembered and continuously reimagined.
on both sides of the bike have been attached with several mirrors. they have been attached with different angles, so that they all show various angles with each other. some people have been noticing the mirrors with showing the interest, some people tried to ignore the views, some people tried to sneak the views.
anyways the various viewpoints were there. to be seen and to be recognised.