The knights behind the viral Lime bike joust met for a second duel on 31 October at London Fields, this time attracting crowds of an even larger scale than the previous meeting.
The original Lime bike joust back in October gathered hundreds at the East London park to watch artist Jack Carden and actor Cameron Carnegie-Brown joust on decorated e-bikes. Both were dressed as knights wearing medieval garb, including chainmail and helmets.
The spectacle was a response to Freize London an “exclusive” West-London art fair which happened on the same weekend as the joust, the artist behind the performance has said.
Carden, a 24-year-old artist from New Zealand, spoke about the free event which he calls “performance art.” He said: “we did it during Frieze, this hyper-exclusive, expensive, art fair in West London.
“And this [the event] is a hyper silly, unpretentious, free, accessible performance piece on the other side of London.”
Frieze London is a major international art fair held annually in Regent’s Park, with celebrity attendees including Graham Norton and Daniel Craig. This year the opening day featured a sale of around £5million for a still life piece.
The jousting event was shared via Carden’s Instagram and originally planned to be in Tower Hamlets’ Park. However, it was moved to London Fields following warnings of the council shutting it down. ?
The new location was revealed on an app called, Partiful, 20 minutes beforehand, to limit attendance to around 1,000 people. But word spread through friends, too.
“I was told about it by a mate who is from the area,” said one spectator, Sacha Groom.
Cas Bullough another witness described the atmosphere of the crowd as “brilliant.”
“I think it’s very rare in London, especially in North London, to go to something where everyone’s immediately wanting to be friendly.”
Carden said community was an important message in his artwork.
“People yearn for community and real-life experiences in the online era that we live in.”
The event gained much attention online, with one video amassing over 4 million views on Carden’s Instagram.
Lime responded to the joust on 17 October and said, although they encourage people coming together to have fun, their bikes are “not made for jousting.”
