94.7 Cycle Challenge

Johannesburg, 2006. Duration: 1 hour. Photographer: Juliana Smith

In 2006, I rode the 94.7 Cycle Challenge, South Africa’s biggest cycle race, on a stationary exercise bike, obviously going nowhere and completely accepting the title of ‘permanent loser’. The performance provoked reactions ranging from encouraging cheers, to shouts of “fucking loser!” This interruption was an attempt to open up a space of play in a highly structured event. For me, play is free movement within the constraints of a structure, and it feeds off that structure to re-create its own rules.