These Bike Racks Scattered Around Manila Are Also Works of Art
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The next time you’re in Manila, keep an eye out for these out-of-the-ordinary bicycle racks. Artist Mark Wesley Pahate designed them as part of an initiative to encourage more people to use bikes as a means of transportation.
Alon
Four of these bike racks that each have poetic names are scattered around the City of Manila: “Tabak” is at the Kartilya ng Katipunan, “Maya” at the Liwasang Bonifacio, “Alon” at Rajah Sulayman Park, and “Kalesa” at Plaza Roma in Intramuros. Each was designed and crafted to reflect their individual environments.
“The kalesas we saw more often before, the Mayas around our churches and school grounds, our school lessons telling us about the son of Tondo, Andres Bonifacio, and of course, Manila Bay sunsets and breakwaters of Roxas Boulevard,” Pahate says. “Growing up, those were some fond memories that we have been given an opportunity to be reminded of.”
Kalesa
Pahate, who studied Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas, designed the bike racks around the theme “reminisces of Manila.” He worked with financial services company Allianz PNB and the local government of the City of Manila on the art-in-practical-use project.
“Addressing the function is the requirement, but the art makes it more enjoyable for people who would interact with it,” Pahate says. “So both get equal consideration unless the client points us to a more specific direction in terms of priority.”
“We hope to elicit a few more fond recollections from Manileños who visit them,” he adds.
See more of the bike racks / art pieces here:
Maya
Tabak
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