Of all the things Londoners have done with a Lime bike, staging a medieval tournament in London Fields might be the most necessary. On 17th October, artist Jack Carden and actor Cameron Carnegie-Brown, better known as Camtholomew the First, donned suits of armour, mounted the fluorescent green e-bikes and charged towards one another with makeshift lances. What began as a tongue-in-cheek performance art stunt attracted hundreds of spectators, went viral and prompted an official warning from Lime that its bikes were, regrettably, 'not for jousting'. Undeterred, the pair returned for a Halloween rematch, this time drawing more than a thousand spectators to witness another round of medieval combat on electric hire bikes.
Taking place during Frieze week, the original joust offered a free, gloriously chaotic alternative to the capital's increasingly expensive art scene. The Guardian has since situated the spectacle within a wider revival of medieval aesthetics, while British GQ documented the fashion of its costumed spectators. For Féroce, photographer Mohit Bansal (@shutterspeedman), whose photographs of the jousts have also appeared in LBC's coverage, captures the spectacle through his lens. His photo essay documents a particularly British brand of absurdism, where an internet joke becomes a public gathering, strangers become spectators and the streets of east London briefly play host to a medieval battlefield.
In conversation with Féroce Magazine, He reflects:
Taking pictures of the Lime Bike Joust was really weird, even for London. I loved how crazy it was - not just guys on Lime bikes pretending to be knights, but the whole scene that came with it. As someone who's both a steward and a photographer, I was always wondering how far I should go. Whenever a knight got hurt and fell, photographers and spectators would rush over to get a closer look. I saw this one guy trying to touch a knight's helmet after he fell, which was pretty crazy. It was tough to keep the crowd under control, to be honest. I got why it was such a big deal. The art world is all about who gets to see what, and this was something totally crazy happening right out in the open, where anyone could watch or take pictures. As someone who takes pictures, I knew why everyone wanted to capture that moment. But as someone who was supposed to be helping out, I wanted to make sure people could actually see the show without getting lost in the crowd. When the first joust was over, I thought to myself, would people still be excited about it the next time around? But then the Halloween joust happened and it was even bigger and more fun than before. The police handled things differently this time, which was interesting to see. What really stuck with me was how something so ridiculous could unite a bunch of strangers, and then people watching it became a whole thing in itself.
Learn more about Mohit Bansal here: https://instagram.com/shutterspeedman