WHAT'S NORMAL IS VERY STRANGE

Programme of activities to encourage the use of bikes: exhibitions, races, concerts, tournaments, round tables, film shows, rides and workshops for everyone.
Lo normal is muy raro (What’s normal is very strange) is an exhibition of photographic portraits of people and bikes, as well as messages showing and questioning our usual way of getting around, placing the accepted mobility model, which we uncritically adopt and suffer from, on the table.

CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES

23 September. Opening

• Test bench. The normal thing would be to come on a bike and we hope that won’t seem too strange, but for those who don’t come on their bikes there will be a limited number available, with access to all areas and activities in the exhibition.
• Slow Race. Bike races won by the last to finish, without putting feet on the ground or going backwards. Balance and slowness as Olympic disciplines.
• Monkeylectric. LED lights for bike spokes giving those who use them extra visibility and, as they turn, offering a series of lighting effects created by digital artists. They will serve as an exhibition and as a prize for the winner of the Slow Race.
• Photocall. Those attending can have their pictures taken with their bikes.
• Concert. Litoral will play a set of their own songs and cover versions of songs for and about bikes.
• DJ Set. Resident DJs from independent clubs in the capital will offer us their vision of music talking about bikes, making you feel as if you were pedalling yourself.

Weekends of 23 September and 5 and 6 November. Mornings from 11am to 2pm and afternoons from 5 to 8pm.

• Preparation Workshop. With those who will bring their bikes to visit the exhibition in mind, a workshop will be made available to offer basic solutions and notions concerning postures, adjustments, maintenance, preparation and common repairs.
• Test bench. Bikes available to visitors who have not brought their own, with the possibility of seeing the exhibition by bike and pedalling around the square and the rest of Matadero.
• Mobility and Skilling Workshops. Children and adults who don’t know how to ride a bike or who don’t have the skills, knowledge and security to ride in traffic have the opportunity to acquire them at these workshops.
• To sign up for the workshops and obtain more information, write to talleres@mataderomadrid.org

9 November

• Bike Polo Tournament. Throughout the day, an urban bike polo tournament with be held in the Plaza Matadero. This discipline is a growing one in Spain and, like other street sports, it is developing its own parallel culture. Fun for those who play and a spectacle for those who watch it.
• Photocall. Those attending can have their pictures taken with their bikes.
• Round Tables. Many agents are involved in promoting sustainable mobility: small industrial and commercial firms, associations, foundations, public bodies. Encounter and dialogue between all of them at express meetings with experts on various matters: town planning, communication, politics, associations, education...
• Bici Cine + Debates. Cambio de Sentido (Change of Direction), a documentary dealing with our addiction to the car, will be shown in Nave 16. A bike film picnic, where the cyclists will see the documentary and debate the dominant mobility model.
• Workshop with Bárbara Fluxá: Seeking constructed nature. Workshop attempting to create a view that brings together the past, present and future of the Madrid River axis. The workshop consists of a theoretical approach to the area in question, a bike ride around the district and a final reflection in the classroom, where the conclusions will be discussed and the development of participants’ own views of the landscape will be encouraged.
• HHK Marching & Cycle Band. Musical group from Haarlem (Holland) which parades and performs in a unique way: on their own bikes.
• DJ Set. Resident DJs from independent clubs in the capital will offer us their vision of music talking about bikes, making you feel as if you were pedalling yourself.

You can come with your bicycle or ride the ones we make available to you in the Plaza Matadero on Saturdays and Sundays. Ten weeks to question the way we get around. Ten weeks to celebrate the culture of bikes.