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��������Ƶ students are transforming tandem bicycles into imaginative creations for Red Bull Spin Off on June 13.

One team of ��������Ƶ students is turning a tandem bicycle into a giant slice of deep-dish pizza. Another is building a life-sized Barbie Corvette out of cardboard, duct tape, and paper mâché. 

On June 13, both creations will take to Chicago's 12th Street Beach as Columbia students compete in , a competition that challenges teams to transform tandem bicycles into imaginative custom vehicles and race them across an obstacle-filled course suspended over Lake Michigan. 

Part race, part design challenge, and part spectacle, Red Bull Spin Off encourages participants to push the limits of creativity with elaborate costumes, theatrical performances, and over-the-top custom builds. 

Several Columbia teams are participating in this year's event after learning about the competition through School of Visual Arts Associate Professor Taylor Hokanson, who encouraged students to submit proposals and pursue their ideas. 

A Slice of Chicago on Two Wheels 

For senior Fine Arts majors Olivia Adamitis, Fern Neubauer, and Leo Okazawa, the inspiration came from a Chicago staple. 

"The bike is going to be a slice of deep-dish pizza," says Adamitis. 

Growing up in the suburbs, Adamitis wanted to create something that felt distinctly Chicago. The team's design also plays on one of the city's longest-running food debates: where the cheese belongs on a deep-dish pizza. 

"There's a whole argument with Chicago deep dish like, 'Where's the cheese?' It's under the sauce," says Adamitis. "Hence the name, 'Say Cheese.'" 

Building "Say Cheese" 

The concept is simple. Building a rideable slice of deep-dish pizza is another story. 

Using foam board, spray foam, paint, and a tandem bicycle frame, the team is building a giant pizza slice that surrounds the bike itself. After constructing a shell around the frame, they'll carve and paint the surface to resemble a deep-dish slice complete with crust, cheese, and sauce. 

"We're creating it more like a shell to go around the frame and then we're just adding onto it," says Neubauer. 

While the students have experience working with sculptural materials through their Fine Arts coursework, none had attempted a project quite like this. The team has spent much of the spring solving practical challenges, from repairing a nonfunctioning tandem bicycle to figuring out how to safely attach the pizza structure without creating hazards if the riders fall into the water. 

"We've gotten past a lot of logistical problems now," says Adamitis. "Once we start carving, it will be smooth sailing from there." 

The three friends meet multiple times each week, often spending several hours planning, measuring, fabricating, and troubleshooting. Adamitis serves as team lead, while Neubauer and Okazawa help bring the concept to life through their own experience with sculptural materials and fabrication techniques. 

"We're treating it like a very collaborative project," says Okazawa. 

Come On Barbie, Let's Go Racing

Adamitis and her teammates aren't the only Columbia students preparing for the event. 

Senior Fine Arts and Arts Management: Live Performance major Michael Kowalkowski and his twin sister, Theresa, a student at Augustana College, are building something entirely different: a Barbie Corvette. 

Working primarily with recycled cardboard shipping boxes, Kowalkowski has spent weeks cutting, taping, and reinforcing the structure around a vintage tandem bicycle borrowed from a friend in Wisconsin. 

The project has been a lesson in resourcefulness. Kowalkowski says the team is trying to keep costs down while creating something that can survive the course. 

After all, he says, "It's a costumed bike that will most likely end up in Lake Michigan." 

The biggest challenge hasn't been building the car itself. It's been making sure the decades-old tandem bicycle underneath can survive the race. 

"The tandem bike we got from my friend in Wisconsin is old—from the '70s or '80s," he says. "It has been an effort to make sure the rusty old bike is up to Red Bull's safety code for the race." 

To strengthen the structure, Kowalkowski has added wooden supports beneath the cardboard shell and plans to reinforce the exterior with paper mâché. 

His experience at Columbia has also influenced the build. Kowalkowski says he's drawing on techniques he learned in Foundation Studio, a first-year course taught by Hokanson, where students constructed large-scale parade masks out of cardboard. 

"I've been using a lot of the building principles from that project for the bike's structure," he says. 

Ready to Ride—or Wipe Out 

Despite months of planning and fabrication, neither team knows exactly what will happen once their creations hit the course. 

Looking at past competitions, Kowalkowski says teams typically face one of two outcomes: the bike falls apart, or the riders fall off. 

"My sister and I are nervous about that," he says. "We're trying our best to practice and build a sturdy bike that will at least hold somewhat together." 

But that's part of the appeal. 

"Who gets to ride a Barbie car on Lake Michigan?" he says. 

Whether they're piloting a giant slice of deep-dish pizza or a cardboard Corvette, the students agree on one thing: Red Bull Spin Off offers a rare opportunity to combine creativity, fabrication, teamwork, and a willingness to embrace the unexpected. 

"It's a passion project," says Adamitis. "We're all friends, so this is a good opportunity to work collaboratively with people in a less formal way."

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