Ka-Bike-O-Scope

The Ka-Bike-O-Scope, an interactive public sculpture created by Quincy Owens and Luke Crawley in partnership with The daVinci Pursuit, is located on Pleasant Run trail near the Barth Bridge.

The Ka-Bike-O-Scope is a large scale, group kaleidoscopic kinetic sculpture consisting of a stationary bike-like base that when pedaled causes canopies of overlapping up-cycled bicycle wheels 18 feet in the air to spin. A user can either ride the attached stationary bike or turn the hand cranks (or both) to activate the bicycle wheels in the canopy. Colorful acrylics are fitted between the overhead spokes creating chromatic natural reflections during the day and LED generated ones at night. The sculpture allows passersby to playfully explore the principles of energy conversion, simple machines and the properties of light.

Masterminded by professional artist Quincy Owens and physicist Luke Crawley, the Ka-Bike-O-Scope is the culmination of a community-wide design competition created to use the arts to bring basic science concepts to neighborhood residents and beyond. Children from local schools have participated in attaching the colored plastic panels into the up-cycled bicycle wheels while learning the physics concepts. A curriculum is being used by area schools to further the exploration of the physics concepts.