My knees, that crunch and cry more and more with each kilometer that goes past. Tick Tick Tick. An occasional scrape, little bell ringing as i jump over those bumps, small tracks, misty forests, open fields, long tree lined avenues in the freezing afternoon sunshine. I fear my bike will not make it any further, it needs oil, like my knees need cream. 10 hours later, 120 Km later, my freezing body arrives into the heat, a boiling hot bath, head rush, dizziness, naked on the tiled floor of the bathroom, open the door – to get some cold air. Why am I doing this?

Kimbal Bumstead is a performance artist from London. This latest work is entitled “Diagonally Upwards”, a follow-on from last year’s “Diagonally Backwards: Hitch hiking from Greece to London” in July 2011.

Diagonally Upwards is a performance journey diagonally upwards through the winter, travelling from Amsterdam to Lulea (Via Stockholm). An overland journey by bike and hitch-hiking. The characters in this performance are the people who he meets along the way, and the protagonist is himself. He documents their voices and the places he found them in his blog.

This journey is the second side of a triangle that I started making in July 2011 called Diagonally Backwards: hitch-hiking from Athens to London. The third side of the triangle Vertically Down is yet to come.

Diagonally Backwards: Hitch-hiking from Athens to London.

Diagonally Upwards will be in two parts – Part one of the journey will be made into a performance to be shown at Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm on the 17th-19th February 2012. http://supermarketartfair.com/content/supermarket-2012

Part two will appear in Lulea on 8th March as the start of my month long residency project there, including workshops and a live Skype based performance event in London.
http://www.painperformance.com/Default.aspx?sid=20

Find Kimbal’s blog here