ARTIST CONDUCTS EXPERIMENT BY DESIGNING 3D BICYCLE MODELS OF PEOPLE’S DRAWING
Bologna-based artist Gianluca Gimini have been creating 3D bicycle models for the past years, but its not just any perfectly designed bike. You may think that his 3D models are sleek and serviceable, however, most of the designs have a handful of fatal flaws such as missing parts and even improper proportions. The reason for this is that each 3D design is the design of a sketch drawn by ordinary passersby from memory.
Gimini has been asking strangers to draw bicycles on the spot, straight from memory for over six years now. And when it comes to experience in drawing or knowledge on a bicycle, Gimini is not worried as his participants have ranged from the age of 3 to 88 years old. Gimini’s work is not just for the artistic perspective but also for a psychological study. Through his project, which he approaches like an informal psychological experiment, he seeks insight on human behaviour within the data he collects.
With his project he found that many contributors confuse the placement of the chain and that 90% of those mistakes are made by women. Men, on the other hand are more likely to over-complicate the structures of the frames. To the day Gimini has collected over 376 illustrations since he started his project and received his first sketch back in 2009. All the designs he has gathered ranges from the relatively realistic to the fantastically far-off.
It wasn’t until 2016 when Gimini took the crowd-sourced drawings and transformed the pen-and-paper outlines into his digitised design. Through the results he found evidence of a proven psychological phenomenon. According to the drawings, frequent exposure to everyday items isn't especially effective in producing accurate memory recall.
“A single designer could not invent so many new bike designs in 100 lifetimes and this is why I look at this collection in such awe…everyone, regardless his age and job, can come up with extraordinary, wild, new and at times brilliant inventions.”