An artist turns rising rents into physical resistance for cyclists

The project originated in 2020 when Blinder, then working as a food delivery courier, began noticing the sharp psychological and economic divides between adjacent New York neighborhoods. He observed how factors like elevation, flood risk, and real estate desirability created physical markers of inequality that were often invisible to the average commuter. Ground Truth serves as a hardware intervention designed to bridge the gap between abstract cost-of-living data and the tangible reality of city streets.

The mechanism mounts to a bike’s front fork, adjusting resistance based on the median housing cost relative to resident income in the immediate area. Blinder designed the device as an external component to avoid tampering with the bicycle's proprietary electronic systems. By forcing the rider to confront economic disparity through increased physical labor, the project aims to transform cold statistics into an immediate, lived experience of urban struggle.