The Cyclist (Part 2)
September 17th, 2020
Starring: Syd (female, 30-40), Jasmine (female, 30-40), Karolina (female, 57-67)
Two years later (since Part 1). A large art museum. Syd and Jasmine walk down from the stairs from the floor above:
JASMINE
...someone told me the gift shop is actually not ridiculously priced.
I don’t remember who.
Sabine? No.
Actually I think it was her partner.
SYD
Sabine’s single, I thought—
JASMINE
But when we were at that rooftop concert, she was with someone, remember? I think she worked for a brewery?
Syd shrugs, looking at the museum map. They reach the next floor, which is the “special exhibition floor.” They stop near a bench next to the entrance of the special exhibit wing:
JASMINE
Whatever, I’d at least like to do a walk-through. Gift shops always have something good for my Mom’s bday.
SYD
We can on our way out.
JASMINE
Oh
Are we not…?
SYD
Are you kind of done?
JASMINE
I mean
We’ve been here since noon...
SYD
Ish
JASMINE
And we’ve seen most of it right? The main collection.
SYD
Yeah.
I just saw this exhibition is closing next week.
I figured while we’re here
And we paid
You know...take a look
…
Actually let’s skip it.
You’ve been good about it, I know art’s not—
JASMINE
Hey. No. If you want to see it, let’s see it.
SYD
No—
JASMINE
Yeah. Just say you want to.
SYD
I want to.
JASMINE
Ok, so let’s do it. I’m fine. It only looks like one room so—
SYD
It should be super quick, I just want to see.
If it’s trash, we’ll go.
JASMINE
Good plan.
They hold hands as they walk into the exhibit room/wing:
SYD
Thanks.
JASMINE
You’re welcome.
And I like art, by the way. I just don’t like all of it.
The exhibit is one large room. It’s very dark. In the middle of the room stands an 8 foot by 10 foot opaque cube, made out of frosted glass. Every 15 seconds, there’s the sound of a camera shutter clicking, from hidden speakers.
JASMINE
Oh boy
This is going to be some weird shit.
SYD
Then let’s bail
JASMINE
Oh stop
You love it
They reach the cube. The frosted glass walls light up, which are plastered with black and white film camera prints.
JASMINE
I don’t get it.
Jasmine walks all the way around the cube. She finds one of those informational TVs that play a clip if you press the button. Above the TV it reads “THE CYCLIST”
JASMINE
Syd I’m gonna watch this ok?
SYD
Ok.
Jasmine presses the button. On the TV screen, Karolina appears. Her voice amplifies through the speaker as the action continues, along with the clicking sounds:
KAROLINA (voiceover)
My name is Karolina Petrov.
Some call me a performance artist.
Others call me a fraud.
I call me a behaviorist.
Syd, not listening, walks closer to the walls. Each photo looks like a freeze frame of security camera footage. Each photo is more or less the same: a different person standing near the same woman, who is lying face down near a street curb. Somewhere in the photo, a bike is always on the ground. Karolina’s voice continues:
KAROLINA (voiceover)
I never learned how to cycle as a child.
I was too afraid of broken bones and skinned knees.
But most of all, I was afraid of falling.
It is a very humiliating thing.
Being seen.
Syd picks up on the pattern. She remembers.
KAROLINA (voiceover)
But my work is not interested in what you see.
My work is interested in what you do, or do not.
Syd quickly scans through the photos on each wall. Some people are on the ground, talking to the woman. Some have helped her to her feet. In a few, the paramedics have arrived.
KAROLINA (voiceover)
They say people show who they really are when noone is watching.
I do not judge it.
I display it.
Syd reaches the final cube wall. She scans. Boom. She finds it: A photo of a woman with headphones on, wearing a Jansport backpack. In the freeze-frame, she’s walking away from the woman on the ground.
KAROLINA (voiceover)
In this day and age, someone is watching.
Always.
Click. Click click. Inside the cube, behind the one-way glass, the actual Karolina watches Jasmine and Syd. All she has with her is an old film camera.
Click. She takes a shot of Jasmine, watching Karolina on-screen. She moves back to Syd, who’s staring at her photo.
Syd looks down, away from it. Her eyes water.
Karolina moves right in front of Syd, staring at her.
KAROLINA (voiceover)
Don’t fret.
Accept.
Syd stares past the pictures, into the glass. She makes eye contact with Karolina, though she’ll never know.
Karolina grins, and brings up her camera for the shot:
KAROLINA (voiceover and actual)
Smile.
Click.