Zach Buchner returns to tell the story of New York once again from his most authentic point of view: that of someone who lives it, chases it, and photographs it with a visceral connection. After showing us the city as a living, unpredictable organism, the American photographer is back with a new series dedicated to Bike Kill, an event as legendary as it is mysterious that every October transforms the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, into a carnival of mechanical madness.

Bike Kill has no website, no set date, and no flyer. It’s an underground ritual, passed on only by word of mouth, that every year gathers a community of creatives, outsiders, and makeshift cyclists. Buchner says he had always wanted to witness this anarchic two-wheeled celebration but had never managed to — until this year. “As soon as I heard it was happening, I dropped everything and ran to Red Hook,” he writes.

His images convey both the absurdity and the poetry of the moment: monstrous bikes assembled from salvaged parts, beers flying through the air, bodies speeding by in precarious balance, and a collective energy that feels like it belongs to another era. When night falls, chaos takes over: participants duel in a kind of medieval joust on giant bikes, wielding makeshift lances and foam Hulk hands instead of tips. It’s a duel as dangerous as it is liberating—a choreography of collisions and laughter.

Then, like any true celebration, comes catharsis: the street turns into a dance floor, someone hands out garbage bags, and together they clean up, erasing the traces of the delirium they just lived through.

In Buchner’s photos lies all the raw, collective beauty of New York’s underground — that blend of art, improvisation, and chaos that makes the city unique. With Bike Kill, the photographer once again manages to capture the essence of New York — not the postcard version, but the one that lives and breathes in its freest corners.