About

We want to increase the appeal of cycling as a regular means of transport. To engage with issues around cycling in our cities, we organise participatory programmes and artistic interventions which bring together cycling and communities. Join our movement to demand better sustainable urban mobility in our cities, all through the medium of arts and culture. Check our events and get involved!

Events

Join our mission to make artistic production more sustainable and seize the opportunity to use your art for change. CYCLE UP! artist-in-residence programme takes place in 2024 and 2025 in our five partner countries. Artists are working closely with local communities and decision makers to create thought-provoking art interventions and long-lasting connections with a clear ecological impact (read more about this in our sustainability framework).

Residencies

Join our Decision Makers network for access to new ideas and tools on how to shift perceptions and get more bicycles on the streets of your city through the power of culture! CYCLE UP offers decision makers at the municipal or local government level creative ways to engage people in these issues.  Members of the network will be the first to be informed about results of project activities and case studies implemented in partner countries through the CYCLE UP! newsletter. And in 2026, we will hold a final decision makers conference to present our learnings from the project. Get in touch with us by email if you have any questions.

adele.newman@goethe.de CycleUp! Decision-Makers (Form)

Lead Partner
The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global presence. We facilitate international cultural exchange, promote access to the German language and support the unimpeded development of culture and science. For over seventy years, we have enabled international cultural exchange to take place, promoted access to the German language and supported the unimpeded development of culture and science. 
 
www.goethe.de/praha 

 

Czechia
The Czech Centres are a contributory organisation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. They are an integral part of Czech foreign policy and a key cultural diplomacy tool. They operate within the public diplomacy domain, whose mission is to promote and support the good reputation of Czechia abroad and to strengthen cultural relations between countries. The Czech Centres are a cultural institute understanding culture in its broadest sense. They also provide Czech language classes abroad and participate in organising certified language exams. 
  
www.czechcentres.cz 

 

Poland
Contemporary cities are places where civic movements are born, creative industries develop, new technologies are created and new ideas are born. At BoMiasto, we set ourselves the goal of collecting the best practices, provoking discussions about them, and trying to put these ideas into practice. We want to put equal emphasis on all these stages, because we believe that this is the only way to really influence the reality that surrounds us. Because it is important to us how and where we live. 
 
bomiasto.pl

Estonia
Tartu is a city in the South-East of Estonia with a population of 100,000. Tartu lies on the banks of the River Emajõgi and has about 39 square kilometres of land area. The Emajõgi River, which is one of the longest rivers in Estonia, flows for 10 km within the city limits. Tartu is Estonia's second largest city. Tartu is a regional centre of South-Estonia with a population of over 350,000 in the hinterland.   

Slovakia 
Civic association PUNKT was established in 2007 for the purpose of promoting and supporting research in the field of design, visual arts, architecture and urbanism. They have gradually expanded their intention to comprehensively support the development of the city at various levels, supporting community life and the local economy, linking the needs of residents with urban development, as well as responsible waste management and its reduction in practice. Due to the scope of their activities, they have become the only non-profit organisation of its kind in Slovakia. 
 
punkt.sk

Estonia
European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 is the main event in Estonia in 2024 and the most significant joint endeavour of Tartu and Southern Estonia. The title year is the culmination of five years of activity. The concept of Tartu 2024 is Arts of Survival, and it addresses burning topics in Estonia and Europe. The unique title year in Tartu and Southern Estonia will have a festive start on 26 January 2024. Find out more about the programme here!

tartu2024.ee

 

Piotr Sikora is a critic and curator of contemporary art. He has a master's degree from the Institute of Art History of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow and is a member of The International Association of Art Critics (AICA) in Poland. In his exhibitions, he refers to identity politics, stereotypes, and prejudices related to the region of Central Europe, and he explores the connections between pop culture, politics, and the art world. Currently, he is curator of the MeetFactory AiR Program and has initiated; The New Dictionary of Old Ideas and Other Edges of The World with Lucia Kvočákova. He is also a lecturer at the Anglo-American University in Prague and a devoted cyclist.

Lena Fließbach is an independent curator and author for contemporary art and an advocate for sustainability in the arts and culture industry. In 2020, she co-curated the international group exhibition Zero Waste at the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK) Leipzig in Germany, which minimized its ecological footprint. For the program, she organised local cooperations with a repair café, a community garden and organised Zero Waste cooking events. In 2022, she curated the discourse series Zero Waste - Art and Knowledge for Urania Berlin with Hannah Beck-Mannagetta, combining experiences from science, art, and the sustainability movement.

Evelyn Grzinich is mixed-media artist and cultural coordinator, based in South-East Estonia.  She has participated, curated and organised cultural projects of local and international importance, from small to large scale since 2001. Co-founder and co-director of MoKS– Center for Arts and Social practice, a non-profit, artist-run residency center and project space in rural Estonia (active until 2019); She has also worked as a culture specialist in the local government association Põlvamaa Development Agency. Currently she is a freelance artist and the chairwoman of LOORE- Estonian Creative Residencies Network NGO.

John Hill is a writer and educator based in Prague, Czechia, where he leads the Fine Art Experimental Media BA at Prague City University and teaches Art Writing on the international masters at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he also co-curated the 2019 Diploma show Nejkrásnější věk. His writing has appeared in Frieze Magazine, PARSE Journal, Artalk, Blok Magazine and Camera Austria International. His practice-based PhD, which explored artistic collaboration inspired by network technology, was undertaken with LJMU's Uses of Art group, a partner of the L’Internationale museum network. His current work looks at organisational structures within and outside of art, including theatre, games, and activism.

Petra Marko is an architect and placemaking expert who focuses on shaping and promoting people-oriented cities, inclusive public spaces, and walkable neighbourhoods. She is co-founder of Marko&Placemakers with offices in London and Bratislava and the strategic lead on place projects at visual design studio Milk. She has led the research and co-authored ‘Meanwhile City,’ a how-to guide for temporary intervention and she co-authored VeloCity, a strategic vision to promote cycling and compact development for rural areas to create self-supporting communities. Petra is an active commuter cyclist and a member of the Pedelle women’s cycling network. 

Martin is a co-founder of the WERKSTATT bike workshop in Brno, focusing on road and city bikes with an emphasis on cycling education and sustainable urban mobility. He graduated in Recreology from the Faculty of Physical Culture at Palacký University in Olomouc and holds a degree in Cultural Management from the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University in Brno. Before the WERKSTATT he worked for the Czech Centre in Berlin as a culture programmer and at the Moravian Gallery in Brno in a production and organisation role.