Matias Kalwill

24 May 2012

Country of Origin: Argentina
Age: 31
Areas of expertise: sustainable mobility, urban ecology, sustainable cities

Matias is founder of La Vida en Bici, a creative hub that promotes citizen cycling through art and creative projects. Its mission is to improve people’s lives, build social equality and fight Climate Change. Matias is a member of the British Council’s Climate Generation programme. He has worked with organizations such as ITDP, 350, Greenpeace, Vida Silvestre/WWF, Levi’s and David Byrne and has been featured extensively in media including the BBC, Lonely Planet, Huffington Post, San Francisco Bay Guardian and Treehugger. Matias is also the author of the blog on Lavidaenbici.com which was recognized as one of the best international cycling blogs by Yorokobu. Since 2011, his work has reached more than 100,000 people in over 90 countries including huge works of street-art, small water-colored illustrations, short films, editorials, bike & music rides, a collaborative cycling map with fellow cyclists from Buenos Aires, and large bicycle installations in clubs and museums. Matias is also the key designer and architect of the youth-lead international campaign Rio+You, for which he built an open-source creative toolkit for young activists from over 100 cities across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. At Rio+20 he will be introducing La Vida en Bici’s first international exhibition, “Bikestorming - ideas for bicycles everywhere”.