The Blue Bicycle

In 2001, Roman Coppola made a film called CQ. Two years later, Bernardo Bertolucci made a film called The Dreamers. Both filmmakers shot a scene at the same location in Paris. Coincidentally, the same blue bicycle appears in both shots. In 2005, I asked some friends headed for Paris to see if the bike was still there. It was. In 2006, my girlfriend and I visited the location. The blue bicycle was still there! We talked to a nice man who told us that the bicycle was a sort of informal monument, so we decided not to steal it.

Since then, many other people--friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike--have contributed to what has come to be known as The Blue Bicycle Project by visiting the site and documenting the bike's continued existence and continuous deterioration. I like to think of it as a kind of secular pilgrimage site.

Update: The Blue Bicycle Project officially ended on May 9, 2011, when my fiancée and I visited 15 Rue Malebranche and discovered a pair of shiny green bicycles in place of the old blue bike, which presumably had fallen into such disrepair that it was finally hauled away as garbage. But the actual circumstances of its removal are unknown. We did not make any inquiries, but it seems fitting that its disappearance should be as mysterious as its abandonment.

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[eguirald]

I enyoyed it.