Sydney 2008

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Sydney 2008

Date: Saturday 8 March 2008
Time: 12 noon
Location: the Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park

About 25 riders rode, some completely naked down King St Newtown to the delight of the public. Student riders from Sydney University harassed by security.

• Ride report by The_MoUsY_spell_checker

Ride location and how to get there

Assemble at the Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park, Sydney. Please do not drive to the event because it will create greenhouse gases and contradicts the purpose of the event. Please ride your bike to the assembly place or take the train if it is too far for you to ride. CityRail allows passengers to take their bikes on the train. Sydney city is well serviced by trains and several stations are a short distance to Hyde Park

Follow the link for a map of how to get between Sydney Terminal or Central to Hyde Park.

Getting there by rail

The CityRail network services many suburbs and towns in the network. Many services converge on Sydney. Please refer to the CityRail Timetables.

• Newcastle to Central Weekends.

Photos

2008

• Pictures on the main website by Brian Alexander, P.O. Box 865 Lismore 2480. Email the photographer Brian Alexander © These images are copyright Brian Alexander. Reproduction of any of these images without crediting the copyright owner will lead to court action for damages.
• About.com by Buck Wolf, "World Naked Bike Ride". Pictures by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images.
• ZimbioWorld Naked Bike Ride Comes To Sydney. Photos by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images AsiaPac

Media enquiries

Marte, Sydney Naked Bike Ride organiser: [email protected]

World Naked Bike Ride, Sydney 2008, Press Release

MEDIA RELEASE 19/02/08
Written by:
Mei Qi Tan, email: meiqitan(at)gmail(dot)com and
Marte Kinder, email: [email protected]

Get your gear off for the environment

Strip down and ride on for the environment this March. The next World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) in Australia will commence at high noon at the Archibald Fountain in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Saturday the 8th of March 2008.

The ride will be the first of 6 rides occuring in Australia on the same weekend, including Adelaide, Byron Bay, Brisbane, Newcastle and Melbourne. Other cities across the world will also host rides as part of the southern hemisphere leg of WNBR's global movement, including Lima (Peru), Golden Bay (New Zealand) Pretoria (South Africa) and Buenos Aires (Argentina).

The WNBR is an annual clothing-optional protest ride for naturism, environmentalism, peace and the rights of cyclists to use the road safely. It promotes environmental consciousness and practices at every level of society in attempt to save the planet.

The ride is not a race and goes at an easy recreational pace. The only competition is how creatively bizarre participants can get with decorating their bodies using paint, slogans and bits of costume.

Though the dress code for the ride is “Go as bare as you dare!”, nudity is not compulsory. It is not a ride promoting overtly sexual behaviour in public.

Many people still struggle to distinguish between concepts of non-sexual nudity and pornography. The WNBR encourages society’s need for a body-positive mentality, and protests against environmental damage caused by motorised vehicles.

Excessive burning of fossil fuels has instigated environmental damage in the forms of climate change, air pollution, acid rain and water pollution.

From the onset of pollution and cancer, to obesity – the burning of fossil fuels and car-addicted lifestyles are causing serious health problems, many of which are affecting humans on a widespread scale.

Violence stemming from wars fought over oil and road rage results in the deaths and injuries to innocent civilians from the former, and pedestrians and cyclists from the latter.

The WNBR is an active social movement for a peaceful and gentler world, which includes our roads.

“We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians plus all the negative effects of oil, cars, war, consumerism and non-renewable energy”, reads the WNBR mission statement.

The WNBR group was created by Conrad Schmidt (of Vancouver, Canada) in 2004 to help coordinate a large international naked bike ride between many different activist groups across the World. Since then, the WNBR has spread to over 50 cites in about 20 countries with the participation of thousands of riders.

For more information, please contact Marte Kinder at [email protected]
Website: http://australia.worldnakedbikeride.org/

Critical Mass

All riders interested in participating in the Sydney WNBR should consider participating in Sydney Critical Mass. Marte will be attending some Sydney Critical Mass rides in the lead up to the Sydney WNBR to promote participation, encourage people to help organise and holding organising meetings after the CM ride. We meet at the Archibald Fountain at the Northern end of Hyde Park, on the last Friday of every month at 5:30pm for a 6:00pm departure. You can find a map and pictures of the location on the Sydney Critical Mass wiki page.

Legality

The laws that are relevant to public nudity in New South Wales are applicable throughout the state. For discussion of this topic, please refer to the separate page about New South Wales Laws.

Earlier events where WNBR Sydney was represented

Peats Ridge Festival Cancelled

Moved to Confest
Peats Ridge Festival Cancelled
Peats Ridge Festival Glenworth Valley 2007,
Sustainable Arts & Music Festival,
29th Dec to 1st Jan, half way between Sydney and Newcastle.
World Naked Bike Ride planned to hold promotional naked bike rides (with emphasis on the upcoming Sydney and [[Newcastle] rides to be held on Sat 8 and Sun 9 Mar 2008) in conjunction with other bike activist groups followed by skinny dipping in the river. See poster for details:

Eco Fun Bike Love Rides at CONFEST

Let The Walls Speak

political poster exhibition
Art plays a crucial role in social struggle - illustrating and inspiring the power of social movements.
This exhibition of political posters is co-presented by Jura Books and the University of Sydney Union as part of the Verge Arts Festival over the APEC period - to bring art to the protest, and the protest to the art gallery. For 30 years Jura has been a base and an expression of many campaigns and movements, and has been collecting political posters. The exhibition is a careful selection of posters from the Jura archive and represents a range of struggles and campaigns. There are many stunning screen prints from the Earthworks collective.
As the same time as APEC politicians discuss prolonging the war, profiting from environmental devastation and silencing dissent, come and feast your eyes on the alternative: art which demands action and envisages a better world.
Let the walls speak!

• When? From the 5th of September to the 19th. Opening night is on Wednesday 5th September from 6pm, with talks by some of the original artists. After that it will be open everyday except the 7th, 8th and 9th from 10am till 7pm weekdays and till 4pm on weekends.
• Where? Sydney University Holme Building, the Bevery (on the Parramatta Rd side of campus)
• How Much? Entry is by donation and all proceeds will go to preserving the posters, which may not survive another 30 years otherwise.

World Naked Bike Ride Film Festival

• Date: Friday 26th of October, 2007
  
• Time: 8:30pm following the Sydney Critical Mass ride
  
• Venue: Black Rose Anarchist Bookshop at 22 Enmore Road, Newtown (1 minute from Newtown station).The venue has a capacity of about 30 people. Free entry.
  
• Drinks will be offered for a donation. Food will be provided FREE by Food not Bombs
  

None of the films have been screened in Sydney before and they are all uplifting and inspiring. If you love biketivism, environmentalism, pacifism or naturism these films are something you must see.
Productions on the programme include:

• World Naked Bike Ride, The Documentary by High Altitude Films from the UK about the WNBR London in 2004 and 2005 (this film was selected as a finalist in the Wildscreen International Film Festival 2006).
• Indecent Exposure to Cars: The Story of the World Naked Bike Ride! by Conrad Schmidt. Ragtag Productions, 2007. 60 minute feature length film tells the story of WNBR and features footage of many of the WNBRs held around the world plus interviews with many prominent coordinators and organisers.
• Along for the ride a no_e production. Shot and edited by Yasmin Bright. 10min short documentary film about the WNBR Nudecastle 2007. Winner of the People's Choice Award at the 2007 Cultural Stomp.
• Various short films documenting the first Brighton and Hove UK WNBR in 2006. There are about a dozen of these.
• Cycle Activists of Newcastle Australia by Rowanmacs Photography and Novacast. A 30min film documenting bike activism (including Critical Mass, WNBR and the White Bicycle Project) in Newcastle and the fight to save the rail.
• Painted Cyclists, 2004 Fremont Solstice Ride shot and edited by Jimmy and Elizabeth, still photos by John Cornicello.
• Naked and Painted: Solstice Riders 2003 Shindig Productions in association with Freecycles Propoganda. Shot by Master Ken Martin, The Amazing Steve, Jimmy Cleary. Edited by Jimmy Cleary.
• Other WNBR and Biketivism films and there are too many to list here.
• Stop Press: Rowanmacs Photography has advised that a totally new production of the WNBR Nudecastle 2007 is now complete and will premier at the festival.

Posters and flyers for WNBR Sydney Film Festival

These are the flyer and poster and BIG POSTER to be used for the WNBR Sydney Film Festival. Please print these and stick them up where people will see them. Why not colour one in and stick it to your refrigerator?

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  Flyer

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  Poster

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  BIG POSTER

Publicity: flyers, posters, images etc

These are the current: flyer and poster and BIG POSTER to be used for the WNBR Sydney 2008 to help promote participation. Please print these and stick them up where people will see them. Why not colour one in and stick it to your refrigerator?

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  Flyer

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  Poster

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  BIG POSTER

History

Some people confuse WNBR with the Sydney Body Art Ride but they are two different and separate bike events.

Media coverage

• The Age, 9 Mar 2008: "Naked cyclists cop grief from security"
• About.com by Buck Wolf, "World Naked Bike Ride". Pictures by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images.
• Sydney Indymedia March 6th 2008, 2008 by fungi World Naked Bike Ride, Sydney 2008
• ZimbioWorld Naked Bike Ride Comes To Sydney. Photos by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images AsiaPac