The Cultural District is adding to the “culture” with locally designed bike racks. The racks come in all shapes and sizes, including one that looks like the Fort Duquesne Bridge and another standing 6ft tall.
The first of the bike racks will be installed on Tuesday, while the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust begins the search for more racks to be placed downtown.
“Bringing in artists means that we can actually have something which is a little bit more aesthetically pleasing than an inverted ‘U’ which is what the city is using at the moment, and there is nothing wrong with that, we just thought that it could be something more in keeping with the Cultural District,” said Murray Horne, curator of Wood Street Galleries with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The five new bike racks will be located across the street from the Benedum Center, outside of SPACE Gallery on Liberty Avenue, outside of Nine On Nine restaurant on Penn Avenue, at the Westin Convention Center on Penn Avenue, and near the parking garage on Liberty and 9th.
The next set of bike racks will be installed Aug. 9, 2015 along Penn Avenue from 11th Street to Stanwix Street.
Each artist must submit proposals meeting 88 of the city requirements, and if chosen are allotted $3,000 for cost of design, fabrication and transportation of the completed bike rack.
‘The best artists will walk through the limitations, and I can say I am absolutely thrilled by all five of the racks we have so far. They’re really high quality, and each one of them is very very different. When you place limitations on artists, sometimes there is a sense of freedom because that’s what you have to work with,” Horne said.
All artists must be from Allegheny County.
The new racks along Penn Avenue will be smaller, only holding two bikes compared to some of the bike racks being placed this summer that can hold five, due to heavier pedestrian traffic. But there could be more placed along the sidewalk to accommodate the cyclists.
Artists looking to submit their design ideas can read the requirements and apply by using wetransfer.com to the email address staggs@trustarts.org by Nov. 30. Artists who submitted ideas last time are welcome to apply again.
