Carhartt WIP - Skateboarding Annual #1

Carhartt WIP’s 2014 projects Joseph Biais tries his best to emulate alpine climbing during our road trip through the Swiss Alps.

David Martelleur, exiting the darkness and dust of a fullpipe. There is light at the end of the tunnel indeed.

One of the last nights of the tour, I walked to the fringe of a forest and sat against a tree to contemplate the stars in the sky. After an hour of listening to the silence, interspersed by sound of the stream echoed in the wind, a strange feeling of calm mixed with an extreme sensitivity invaded me and I couldn’t reject it. There was no longer a sky, trees, stars, and a stream, but only a unique force I was a part of. The grass was growing, the stars were alive, and I was a tree. For a few minutes I wasn’t able to move and could barely breathe. When I snapped out of it I went back to my tent as fast as possible, suspecting that someone had put drugs in my green tea that evening. These few minutes under the influence of natural DMT scared me a bit, but I would be willing to go camping in the mountains again just to live that moment once more. I’ve watched many videos of levitating monks on YouTube since, and I think I understand how it works.— Sylvain. P. [1–38]

II

Looking back on the trajectory of a touching character whose antics — on and off his skateboard — left an impression on many people in the past 10 years. P. [43 – 55]

(We are) The Road Crew Motörhead, 1980 [I. Kilmister, E. Clarke, P. Taylor]

David Martelleur

Thailand, 2009

© Bertrand Trichet

Another town, another place Another girl, another face Another truck, another race Eatin’ junk, feelin’ bad Another night, goin’ mad My Woman leavin’, I’m so sad But I just love the life I lead Another beer is what I need Another gig, my ears bleed We are the road crew III

CONTENTS

Another town, left behind Another drink, completely blind Another hotel I can’t find Another backstage pass for you Another tube of superglue Another border to get through Drivin’ like a maniac Drivin’ way to hell and back Another room, a case to pack We are the road crew Another hotel, we can burn Another screw, another turn Another Europe map to learn Another truck stop on the way Another game that I can play Another word I learned to say Another bloody customs post Another fucking foreign coast Another set of scars to boast We are the road crew

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Boards as vehicles of subversion have a long history and many examples are in Seb’s book, Agents Provocateurs.

what about other objects, like this font from jonathan barnbrook for instance? p. [58 — 65]

“I think that documenting skateboarding in an independent way is absolutely necessary, and even more so today. (…) Skateboarding has always evolved very quickly and always keeps moving forward, ever looking for novelty. (…)

Today, when the practice seems as rich and diverse as it’s ever been, I have the feeling that there is in reality very little memory and that the culture surrounding it is slowly withering.”

— David Couliau, during the DEEP END conference, May 2014 Matthieu Forafo, Boneless over Mémoires d’outre-tombe

by Chateaubriand for the opening of the Jean-Pierre Vernant library in 2013 © Vincent Coupeau

When a skatepark and a public library get together, unexpected things happen P. [69 – 93] V CONTENTS

PUNCHLINES GALORE

BY STUART SMITH, FROM P. 40 ONWARDS. Stuart runs Lovenskate, and Lovenskate rules the british/

skateboarding/tea punchline business.

The first day you’re full of energy, the second day you’re ok, the third day you still have it but you feel like you’re losing the pop. Cycling, you can go forever if you just eat and drink, it’s pretty soft. For skating, the muscles you use have to be sharp and accurate for popping, and it might not be there after a few days of cycling, I guess. — Pete Ruikka. P. [9 7– 133] VI

CJ is the artist so he’s the guy that came up with the main idea, I’m the skater so I’m the guy that came up with how this is going to be skateable, so from there we kind of worked it out.

Torey Pudwill, BS Smith grind on the Red Bull Skate Space, 2014 © Mike Blabac/Red Bull Content Pool

Sorry, but that’s just plain wrong Torey.

It defeats the whole point. Let us delve into the intricacies of how skateboarding and public art function with some more finesse. P. [137 – 159]

Jan Solenthaler, Ollie on a sculpture

by Andy Athanassoglou (Trio, 2002), Kreisel, 2010 © Alan Maag

© Bertrand Trichet

A nice and hyper guy who kills it (and lets pictures speak for him). P. [162 – 181] VII CONTENTS

Watch out. Pontus Alv is performing a piece of conceptual art in this magazine. It’s on P. [134 –135]

VIII

Leaves by Jon Horner / Bust by Jacob Ovgren

Continued from “The Tale of the Squirrel that Carved Wicked”, or how the fluffy-tailed rodent returned to save the day.

P. [185 – 192]

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CONTENTS

This publication was initially intended to compile all the projects we worked on last year. But since there are always many aspects that remain unseen to the public, we thought they deserved some exposure of their own. Instead of listing and recycling what we had already done, we chose to further explore these projects. We had the time and the hindsight to approach them from other angles, to put together images that had never cohabited, to give more space and depth, to commission work and essentially approach the editorial exercise with a bit more freedom than usual.

The result is our contribution to representing skateboarding, adding some diversity to an already rich panorama of magazines, blogs, books and other media. A Skateboarding Annual starts here; hope you’ll find it exciting to navigate our past year of pushing around.

The editors X —

a la nD sc ap e FO R TWo

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In 2001, Joël Tettamanti started making a series of pictures, Cols Alpins, through which he wanted to address the relative ease of access to alpine areas in Switzerland, and how the simple use of your car or public transport could take you very close to some of the highest peaks of the Alps. The series is a touching compilation of human interventions in the alpine landscape. Over the past 14 years, Joël has developed an impressive body of work that we have been following closely, and about a year ago the idea of having Joël take us on a tour of the human-built structures that dot the roadsides of Switzerland’s highest passes arose. The resulting images are the unlikely combination of Joël’s eye for amazing landscapes and a skateboarder’s eye for weird spots.

Photography

by Joël Tettamanti Skateboarding photography

by Joël Tettamanti and Bertrand Trichet

Interview

by Olivier Talbot

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OLIVIER It is quite obvious in your work that your favorite subjects are landscapes, formal portraits and buildings, but what we find that holds the whole thing together — be it a home in Greenland, a crowd in Israel or a horse rider in Lesotho — is that all your images convey a soothing feeling of silence and stillness.

What do you think about that?

JOËL I’m not sure, to be honest, but it’s definitely not a conscious thing. I think it could be because of the technique, because using a large format camera requires you to take your time to pick your point of view, set up the camera, frame and eventually take the picture. As a consequence, the images created are definitely very composed. And this probably comes across in the work. Then again, it could also have to do with my personality, or at least my relationship to the world, in which I always like to keep a certain intellectual distance to things… But in any case, the silence you’re referring to is not something that’s intentional; I think it’s more that the work comes out that way instinctively, not because of a theoretical framework that would precede it.

It’s nice that you recognize some kind of common language in all my images. I find it heartwarming that someone can find authorship in my work, because somehow it means I put something recurring and personal in it, which is certainly something I try to do. In the end, my pictures are about me and my life; they’re made very instinctively, more as art than photography.

OL You grew up in rather mountainous countries, Lesotho and Switzerland, and you seem to be repeatedly attracted to the topic of mountains. Could you tell us a bit about your personal relationship with them?

JO Well, the mountains I grew up in were not really proper spectacular mountains, but more like rolling hills and valleys with forests; pretty, soft mountains, if you like. I only discovered real alpine mountains when I started snowboarding and later went on to teach it — that’s when I became

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familiar with this environment.

After a little while, though, I didn’t really see myself fitting in with the alpine tourism industry, so I went to ECAL [Editors’ note — a recognized art and design university in Lausanne], where I started to include mountains in my photography, with something of a critical point of view on human-made structures and landscapes.

As I started travelling more and developing my photography, I progressively realized that mountains were pretty much everywhere I looked, especially in architecture, where I was seeing peaks, ridges, cliffs and slopes everywhere. I didn’t want to corner myself into shooting only mountain landscapes, so I became interested in finding verticality in other places, and by doing so, I was able to speak about other things in my images. For instance, I made this series called Harajuku about the eponymous neighborhood in Tokyo, for which I climbed on rooftops at night to photograph the buildings.

In my eyes, those are allegories of mountains, valleys and cliffs.

OL In your book Local Studies, you explain that you find nature is pretty much always modified by human presence, except for places like the poles, the high mountain summits and the bottom of the oceans, and your photos seem to often stress things made by humans in the landscape. Skateboarding is also very much about leveraging things built by humans — how did that translate in the daily interactions between you and the skateboarders?

JO There’s obviously some kind of a contradiction in wanting to skateboard in mountains, but like you said, I think mountains aren’t really “pure” nature. On the contrary, they’re very much altered, and the constructions I find in those landscapes are very visually appealing to me, especially because of the contrast between them and nature. To me it was very much about taking the skaters there, letting them perform and seeing what would

A LANDSCAPE

happen. Both photographers and skateboarders have to work with what we’re given and create something out of it, and I found that skaters have a very humorous take on how they approach this.

They seem to play around to figure how they can have fun with the structures they come across; I like how it reminded me that learning and playing are tightly connected to each other.

OL You’re more of a landscape photographer, so having action in your pictures is quite a change from your regular work.

What did you take away from the experience?

JO I don’t think there’s a significant difference between these photographs and my other works — for me it’s really part of a broader process of evolving, questioning what I’ve done so far and destabilizing it.

To be even more precise, I hope that it’s just the same — that this work blends in with the rest of my work. I’m more interested in what will happen next. I consider this more like personal work than a commission, work that opens possibilities.

These images will lead me to others and so forth, following a continuous flow of images that keep building a uniform body of work.

OL I find the buildings you photograph generally have quite salient sculptural qualities. This is also something which — although for different reasons — skateboarders have a keen eye for. See P. [137– 159] How did these two outlooks on the world mix?

JO It was really great to share our approaches, because both skateboarders and photographers have an obsessional way of carrying out our work: we constantly look at the world with a very specific filter, and we repeatedly try things over and over again to perfect our craft until we’re happy with the result.

Both approaches have to do with being persistent to the point of sometimes becoming angry and frustrated, so it was really nice to be around each other.

OL How was it to work in a duo to create the images?

JO Having Bertrand helping me with the skateboard-specific aspect of the photos, namely with lighting and releasing the shutter, was super complementary. And I should add that the skateboarder was the more serious of the two and the photographer the sketchy one, which was unexpected in a sense. But most important, it was very interesting to combine our ways of looking at things to find both a valid framing and a valid spot. We’d go scouting for spots, and when we had something we’d offer it to the others and let things unfold.

We also decided to never use any means of “easing” the skating with plywood boards or other additions to the spot — essentially, to have the most purist approach possible and only use what was given to us.

OL And how was sharing daily life in the vans with each other?

JO It was awesome, because the group was made of really atypical people with their own ways of being and thinking, which is always a good thing to create memorable times and great pictures. It was also interesting for me to see other Swiss people being so typically Swiss with us, being very strict with even the most insignificant breach of the most insignificant rule. I was a bit ashamed at times.

Study, Harajuku, Tokyo

FOR TWO

Study, Maloting, Lesotho

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Between Sion and Sierre

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Susten Pass

Grimsel Pass area

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Lukmanier Pass

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Furka Pass

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Grimsel Pass area

Next spread Grimsel Pass

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Previous spread Simplon Pass

Furka Pass area

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Simplon Pass area

Gรถschenen

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Saint Maurice area

Gรถschenen

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Grimsel Pass area

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Grimsel Pass area

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Airolo area

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Furka Pass area

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Grimsel Pass area

Gรถschenen

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Nessental

Next spread Nessental

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The Rh么ne glacier from Furka Pass

Be IN g ma r t e a u Introduction and text collection

by Fred Demard

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We all know one. A guy that is so over-the-top at everything he does that there should be a movie made about him. No matter how crazy you and your friends are, this guy always leads the pack. You know the kind of guy I’m talking about, don’t you? You love him and everybody loves him because he is the funniest and the wildest. In skateboarding, especially, we have our fair share of examples. If you don’t see what I’m talking about, chances are you actually are that guy — or you really need new friends. If only someone would follow that guy with a camera long enough to make a movie, it would surely be a good one and probably a wild one. And you might hope the movie would give you a glimpse of the person underneath the crazy antics.

Well, David Martelleur (a.k.a. Marteau/Marto, “hammer” in French, or even “crazy” in colloquial terms a.k.a. Roost, “rusty” in Flemish, for the hair color) is that over-the-top guy. Former skateboard child prodigy, turned party animal, turned professional skateboard-party animal. He is so much “that guy” that someone did actually make that movie. Filmmaker Philippe Petit, who was crazy enough to follow David on several trips over a five year period, documents David’s battles as a sponsored skateboarder trying to keep up with the younger generation and get his sponsors to continue supporting his Lemmy-esque way of life in the movie, Danger Dave. It’s crazy, it’s raw, it’s emotional, and it’s funny — also sad at times, but it’s an honest look at one big slice of his life.

Can’t wait for the follow up movie, Danger Daver Returns, in ten years. It’s going to be a good one too!

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© Sergej Vutuc, 2009

DAVID, FRED DEMARD It took me a long time before I finally saw Danger Dave. It seemed everyone but me had seen it and I was a bit worried to be honest. I was mainly apprehensive that David would look like a complete idiot in it. Of course, it’s no secret that he actually is a complete idiot — he proved that point more than once —but he is not just that. As a matter of fact, when you get to know him a little, you quickly realize that he is more than just a crazy, drunk, class-clown type of guy, and I expected the movie to show that side of him as well. I don’t know if it really does show that more smart and gentle side of David, but I enjoyed it.

Something I witnessed at the end of the screening of Danger Dave and wasn’t expecting at all, was that people, especially the ones who didn’t know David personally, and especially the girls, were concerned about him, nervously questioning Philippe Petit about what’s up with poor David nowadays. I don’t know, maybe it’s maternal instinct, but it’s obvious that there is something attractive, appealing, in David’s personality. Girls instinctively want to protect him. At least it seems that way. And I find it funny and slightly unfair as well. Funny because despite all the craziness and out-of-control-ness, I know that David can handle himself, more or less, and I’m confident he will find a way to keep on living his life the way he wants to. And unfair, because when you’ve played the “reasonable” guy more than once with him, late at night, you find it somewhat wrong that he gets all the attention from the girls.

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I mean, the guy can put himself in some very miserable situations and that doesn’t seem to scare girls the way you’d expect it to. I know it sounds like I’m just jealous, but… well, yes, maybe I’m just jealous.

I remember one time he came to my town for some skateboard related event. One night, as my girlfriend and I were going home after the party, we stumbled upon David wandering the streets with his face completely devastated. Apparently someone, or a whole group of someones, didn’t have the same sense of humor as him and he ended up completely fucked. He was covered in blood, could barely open his eyes, had several broken teeth, and he was lost in a city he didn’t know at all. He looked scary and disgusting, and really drunk. But still, my girlfriend,who didn’t even know him, offered to escort him to the place where he was supposed to sleep that night.

And when we found out his host wasn’t home and David didn’t have the keys to the apartment, she saw nothing wrong with bringing him to our place. He was loud, drunk, and complaining about the cost of dental care, and I was really amazed that my girlfriend wasn’t afraid at all and that she wanted to help him. I couldn’t believe she was inviting that bloody (literally) stranger to sleep at our place. Had it been anyone else, probably even me, I know she would have had no regrets letting the guy sleep outside on a bench. Danger Dave leaves me with that same kind of feeling. Even though he is repeatedly pathetic in the movie, what comes through is that despite all the craziness, he is a sensible and all-around nice guy — someone you can trust and even give a sword to (you’ll have to watch the movie for that one). Once more, the bloody bastard managed to fool us, and I have to applaud him for that.

DANGER, MUKI RÜSTIG Am I allowed to use the word ‘fuck’ here? Because I think it’s very important to use the word ‘fuck’ in this context. How should I describe my friend fucking Danger otherwise? He is the fuckin’ shit!

Listen, if I couldn’t use this word, I couldn’t explain my intense friendship with David, even though we don’t see each other very often. I met him many years ago and we got along really good from the start. We rode on the same teams, skating and having fun like there was no tomorrow. The best thing I’d like to say now is “hi,” cause it’s been a long while since we last met. He will answer with his trademark Danger English! But watch out when you go skate with him! The name Danger didn’t come from nowhere; he’s wild! Have fun meeting a really incredible human being. And hey, don’t be too scared — despite his appearance, he won’t eat you. But only because he’s a vegetarian.

MARTEAU

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Wild camping © Ian Dykmans, 2002

Marto, sweet face, Grenoble © Fred Demard, 2002

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PORTRAIT

Boulby & Zom & Roost, Basel © Marcel Veldman, 2007

DANGER, DANGER, HIGH VOLTAGE… FLORIAN GERER David, Marto, Roost and Danger— all these names could belong to four separate individuals, but they all belong to one very profound person. I would rather talk in person with David than write this text, because we haven’t seen each other the last couple of years. And I also haven’t seen the movie.

The first time I met David was also my first Yama tour as their team manager. The trip was straight to Sicily. It was a blend of Yama that couldn’t have been crazier.

David, Muki (Rüstig), Chris (Pfanner), Ante (Aiello), Jo (Marent), Stöpsel, Spettel and Alex (Basile). Of course a tour is always rather crazy— all the more so with Yama. The motto is always “Skate all day, drink all night,” but sometimes it gets a little more out of hand. The main reason we chose Sicily was actually David. He mentioned an uncle he had never seen in his life who had a house there. Till then, I also didn´t really know David, so it was all really new for me. I won’t go too much into details, except the ride and how I got to know David’s alter ego, Danger. We had a 10-hour drive from Bregenz to Salerno for the ferry. After driving for about 7 hours I got tired and Chris took over the wheel. In the meantime, a lot of booze was MARTEAU

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already circulating… I don’t remember the full story, because I was trying to sleep in the back. But things were going crazy and David was tripping. Then all of a sudden I noticed that it got more intense and Stöpsel kinda forced David on the floor of the bus and put him in a chokehold with his foot, telling him, “It’s over now.” The fight was apparently about a bottle of red wine; David thought Stöpsel stole his bottle, but I think David just drank it pretty quick and forgot about it. It was hilarious and at the same time I just couldn’t believe it.

If I think of David, I always remember a weekend at my place and having those discussions. So open and heavy. Not a lot of people are that profound. Maybe it also has to do with the intensity of David and his way of living. I think this is simply a balance of opposites. I’ve had so many meaningless talks, people just being so pale — but not David. Maybe he needs to go crazy in order to trust other people enough to tell them his deepest thoughts. Let’s not forget, alcohol can be a bitch — or is a bitch. David is definitely not the only one this intense in the world of skateboarding that has these kinds of problems. It´s crazy considering the years this is/was/ will be going on. I mean, David is one of the older dudes in skateboarding — sorry David — and it makes me wonder, how will we be in our 40s? What the fuck will any skater be doing in their 40s or 50s? But I fully understand David’s issues. Not every skater shifts successfully into the art scene — or whatever— to pay the bills. That’s a fucking tough life David puts up with, and for that I totally admire him —100%.

For me, David is this awesome person, deep in thought, a true character, for better or for worse, sometimes escaping life while looking deep in the bottle. But in the end, who can blame him? Not us.

Martelleur in the fire, Hellfest © David Couliau, 2008

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Danger, Hamburg © Lars Greiwe, 2007

ROOST, IAN DYKMANS The ramp-riders of Charleroi started calling him “P’tit Roux” (Little Redhead), while his clubber-friends would call him “Cake.” Among the Malinois, he received the “Roost” label, the guys from Marseille renamed him “Marteau,” that guy Féfé called him “Banished from Belgium,” and finally, in Germany/Austria, he earned the nickname “Danger.”

The Roost is a part of my life. We are the same age, we are both redheaded, we skateboard… That jumped out at me when I saw the movie.

When he entered my life, it was a shock: a session, a beer, a party… I feel that after just one week, he was already squatting in my apartment. We would go on missions seeking the sun between the 3rd and the 26th of each month, coming back home only to sign in at the unemployment office. I still have troubled memories of birthdays under the fortifications of Carcassonne, from Festivals in Montpellier, a fantastic opening session in Algorta, skate contests for quick cash in Marseille and endless sessions in Eindhoven… I also remember train rides with no tickets and holes in our pockets, a picture of him in a magazine showing his ass used successfully as an identity card at the airport… Or a conspicuous arrival at a party wearing children’s masks and costumes found on the road during a garbage brawl.

MARTEAU

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We were quite a gang, with the Roost as our fighting cock! A figurehead in the storm, drinking a beer. We would fill the pages of Freestyler magazine with our drunken exploits and skateboard tricks. And then at some point, it all stopped — for me and for the others in our gang. But he kept rolling, even harder, with new, younger, and stronger friends.

Unattached, he passed through the times.

He got himself a new nickname, redefined his myth and returned to his hectic life.

Eternal flame, thirsty for who knows what, stubborn, obsessive, until the beard grew so much that his skateboard disappeared from under his feet.

David, Thailand © Bertrand Trichet, 2009

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Roost © Ian Dykmans, 2006

MARTEAU

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David, France Š Percy Dean, 2009

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DANGER DAVE, LARS GREIWE “Ah sh.., I forgot. I need to buy some Super Glue!”

“Why? Do you need to fix your shoes?”

“Nah, Danger got knocked out by a bouncer last night and wants to glue his tooth back on.”

Knowing David, a situation like this at the supermarket upon arriving at a metal festival would maybe give you a little chuckle and make you think, “Oh he had a fun night again.” If the term “skatepunk” can be used for anyone, it would be David.

Living life in the fast lane, constantly hunting for adventure, never standing still, always there to give it his all and to take the blow. Especially the blow. With a big rascal smile. He’d be the last man standing when you left the party and the next morning you’d see him pulling off one of his signature moves — like a big old fingerflip lien-to-tail, on the biggest vert wall the park had to offer and you’d think, “Man! How does he do that?” David’s nickname “Danger” is his reputation and he got it with good reason. Living on the edge, whether on his skateboard or off. He is a true original, ready to short-circuit a situation and make you wonder. It’s as if Motörhead wrote “We Are the Road Crew” as a soundtrack to his life. In David I see parallels to Lemmy — his charisma and raw talent with a sort of indestructible glow around him. And you know if you spend time with him something is bound to happen, one way or the other.

Then again, there's a downside to the lifestyle he has led for decades. The constant travelling, the partying, all the action, the slams. And having to live up to the expectations of others with the name he created for himself. How long can you pull that off? Well, David has for the last 20 years. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing, but it’s definitely impressive, even if things got ugly sometimes. I remember the head of a dead deer on a spear at some campfire party and I thought, “What the fuck is this all about?” I think a lot of his friends have worried about him at times as I did, when the chinks in his armour started to show. People from the outside might think he’s a shallow drunk who doesn’t know when to stop. But if you get to spend some real time with David — off the party and contest circuit — you discover a charming and smart man who is really quite aware of what he’s doing. I’m grateful to have been a small part of his roller coaster ride. Thanks for all the great memories Danger! And see you soon!

Roost, Basel © Davy Van Leare, 2009

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Roost, Basel © Davy Van Leare, 2009

MARTO, LISA JACOB It’s been maybe ten years since I started seeing David around Europe at various events, skate trips or just in some bar. We shared a tent with ten other guys in Annecy, an apartment in Berlin, and crashed on the same hotel floor in Basel. There are other memories too, all unbelievable, as he is.

He’s that guy who’s gonna fall in the river at night when everyone’s drunk, who’s gonna tell the team manager to fuck off, who’s gonna challenge the world all night long, who’s gonna skate all day with fucked up ankles, who’s gonna encourage you to do your trick on the spot — no matter if you’re a boy, a girl, or a kid, he’s gonna treat you the same way. He’s what I think a cool guy is. That means he’s gonna say what he thinks whether you like it or not. If there is something to say, something that everybody knows but no one dares to say, David is the one who’s gonna lance the boil. I sometimes see him, with his long beard, as some kind of shepherd. A shepherd who wants sheep to be their own shepherds. I don’t know him that well but I’ve known him for years. With or without a beard, drunk or sober, happy or

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angry, David or Danger. He’s both. Whether you like him or not, you cannot really stay indifferent. I’ll always have a lot of respect for him because no matter what people think, he’ll always be truly himself. Even when it’s not really safe to be. He doesn’t play by any rules, he creates his own. I think we can all agree that David’s got nothing to prove anymore. Everything he does, he does for himself.

Philippe Petit’s movie is a real lesson in courage. The courage of living your dreams until the end, even if the world is telling you to wake up. But what for? Never wake up.

San Sebastian © Roke/Festival de San Sebastián/SAVAGECINEMA, 2014

2015

MARTEAU

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the art of be ing ag ain s t

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Last year, Seb Carayol published to great acclaim —Agents Pro— vocateurs, a very well-researched book on the culture of subversive graphics in skateboarding. We wanted to broaden the horizon of his work beyond skateboarding and asked Anna Sinofzik, a writer with a background in design, to research where else objects become vehicles for protest and disobedience.

Text

by Anna Sinofzik

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Some products are designed for protest, like anarchy pins or the lock-on devices demonstrators use to attach themselves to buildings, bulldozers or train tracks.

Sometimes form itself fights, in a less literal sense. Security features combat forgery; functionalism famously fought against frills; then in turn, the Memphis Group’s glaringly grotesque furniture attacked functionality. Not particularly political, but still provocative and progressive, Memphis’ furniture was pretty much applied-arts punk; Instead of pleasing the eye, it poked into it with a surplus of color and strange, wacky shapes. The phase of major politico-aesthetic movements like Constructivism, Bauhaus and De Stijl had long been over when Alessandro Mendini created a series of mutated classic modern chairs — among them a reinterpretation of Rietveld’s ZigZag chair— attacking applied art’s sober functionalism with a cross-shaped backrest and unfolding an indisputably rebellious rhetoric.

Being against is always a matter of being emotionally moved, but every expression of opposition has its own mode of dissent. Sometimes the controversy lies less in the shape of things than in the designs printed on their surface. As George J. Sowden, Lamp, 1984 the formerly fishlike shape of the skateboard changed into some sort of pagwood palindrome in the early ’90s, deck designs took a rather radical direction and broke decisively with the brightly tinted bygone decade. As the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu proclaimed in 1979, “Social identity lies in difference, and difference is asserted against what is closest, which represents the greatest threat.”

From skateboarding’s point of view, commerce had come threateningly close. Supermarket sporting goods departments had started selling out skateboarding’s style; Skulls and crossbones had become somewhat stale. Situated squarely between its subcultural ideology and a swelling commercial industry, skateboarding needed a new, purposeful present; Academia would call it a new avant-garde.

The combative connotation connects back to Bourdieu, who saw his discipline as serious struggle, as a “martial art” with the mission to sound out mechanisms of power and social hierarchies. Deeply concerned with issues of power and domination, much commercial art presents itself martially too, and dazzles the adversary — be it corporate smugness or shallow commerce — like war paint. We have seen design declare style its most powerful weapon, and then again, having acknowledged that commerce could indeed control style, declare its own war against it. Design itself may, by modernist definition, be dutiful and driven by the purpose of a particular product, but protest has always propelled the profession. Call it, for convenience, a countercultural inclination: The notion that something is not quite right with the world is at the core of most meaningful creative production. And already the Russian constructivists had claimed that all art should serve the Revolution.

“Whenever we see a rule we must break it. Only by breaking rules do we discover who we are,” said the American social activist Jerry Rubin 45

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years ago, and anyone feeling vaguely artistic or alienated raised his or her voice in rebellion. The severe sense of subversion in the ’60s and ’70s was rooted in deep resentment against conservatism, against the suburban seriousness, stiff postures, Red Scares and toothpaste smiles of the ’50s. In the U.S., the Beats had countered mainstream cultural mores with punch and poetic power, preceding — in no particular order and with no claim to completeness—the hippies, yippies and punks. The time was marked by a global swell of struggles, but also by a radical mood for change and the resourceful creations of activist makers. Rubin himself had worn a rented 18th-century Revolutionary War uniform before the House Un-American Activities Committee, staging political protest as a play.

Since the millennium turned, with religious wars escalating and the economic crisis ongoing, we are witnessing a new generation of disobedient gadgets. Take the PET bottles turned makeshift masks Turkish protesters wore when their government atomized enormous amounts of tear gas in Istanbul’s streets in 2013. The pots and pans Argentinian demonstrators appropriated as temporary drums to make themselves heard. The dollar stamps used by Occupy George to slip facts on fiscal inequity into circulation.

Or technicals — improvised combat cars deployed by anti-Gaddafi rebels during the Libyan Revolution.

“This is still a dangerous world. It’s a world of madmen and uncertainty, and potential mental losses,” proclaimed George W. Bush (and, again and again, his own methods provided the most impressive proof).

In 2003, the U.S. military issued a series of playing cards to its soldiers in Iraq. Based loosely on the slogan “Know Your Enemy,” the cards portrayed high-ranking members of Saddam Hussein’s cabinet. British designer Noel Douglas turned the tables (at least on living room tables) with an alternative version of the cards featuring Bush as the ace of spades, alongside key figures of his administration, under the banner “Regime Change Begins at Home.”

Social struggle has always produced artifacts, and particularly striking are those that creatively avail themselves of their enemies’ actions. Like the so-called book blocs, protective shields painted with large-scale titles of literary classics, first implemented in 2010 by Italian students protesting European austerity policies on public education: When riot police took batons to the blocs, they became powerful symbols of the government beating down free thought, expression and education.

“Hungry one, reach for the book— it is a weapon,” said Bertolt Brecht in his poem “In Praise of Learning.” “Angry one, reach for the board — it is a weapon,” said the skateboard art of the early ’90s. More direct, but just as disarming as book blocs, World Industries heat-sealed a 1991 board featuring a full-frontal nude by Marc McKee, and sold the opaquely packaged product with a sticker on it, stating censorship was “weak as fuck.” As archenemy of the arts and provocative skateboards in particular, censorship remained a topic of constant and particularly close confrontation — and a treasured target. McKee’s 1992 “Safety Gear” board for Blind demonstrated the proper use of a condom – rather cartoony, yet quite detailed, and ribald enough for retailers to reject it. But Blind turned the problem into a promotional coup — accusing those who had shied away from selling the board of supporting the spread of AIDS (Blind’s next catalogue featured the complete list of retailers under the

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Alessandro Mendini, Redesigned Zig-Zag, 1978 Archivio/Archive Atelier Mendini

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heading “† Shops-o-Death †”) and reframing censorship as an attack on public health.

Around the same time that World and Blind brought out their “Censorship” and “Safety Gear” boards, British designer Jonathan Barnbrook released a typeface called Manson, but as negative reactions to the font’s notorious namesake followed, he renamed it Mason — allegedly an allusion to an American general who was “not entirely uncontroversial either.” Other fonts in the Barnbrook stable that are marked by their designer’s distrust in media and communication: the neon-sign-inspired Sarcastic; NixonScript, “a font to tell lies with;” and Bastard blackletter, a font playing on fascist associations, which came as part of the “Cynical Scripts” package.

Speaking of cynicism, a productive aspect of it is the impulse to point to the chasm between society’s ideals and its status quo. As long as demand is high, commercial design can be daring and spoof the system that it is itself, at least to some point, a part of. Take the brutally outspoken campaigns of colorful Benetton, art directed by Oliviero Toscani. It would certainly be cynical to say they shocked simply for the sake of sales. Design may be produced in service of a product, but can still criticize the broader cultural context in which it has been produced. Which brings us to back to skateboarding — and the particular time when wheels shrank, while pants and the palette of graphic themes grew wider.

Portraying skateboarding on the eve of a broader agenda, Sebastien Carayol’s Agents Provocateurs: 100 Subversive Skateboard Graphics chronicles a wide range of issues, including racism and the civil rights movement, the Vatican crisis, veganism, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the Unabomber, domestic violence, drug abuse, the economic crisis, police violation, terrorism and the spread of AIDS. Rejecting the ’90s’ spreading sense of stifling political correctness, skateboarding turned to all these topics and (sometimes) turned bloody struggle into style to restore a sense of outrage to its output. To save itself from becoming “the next skiing,” as Carayol puts it in the preface of his book. To demonstrate that skateboarding is more than the “fun sport” marketing has made of it. And simply because skateboards, like billboards, can become bulletins for the posting of political messages.

The art of appropriation has always stood at the core of skate culture. In that sense, skateboarding shares a lot with activism. Both are driven by the urge to dissent. To use Mr. Rubin’s words once more, “Amerika says: Don’t! The yippies say: Do It!” As big brands deemed disobedience sexy enough for advertisements, those words were soon commandeered by Nike. About a decade later, Consolidated Skateboards debuted a “Don’t Do It” deck. And in an era when Burger King claimed that “Sometimes, you’ve gotta break the rules” and Hugo Boss celebrated authenticity and self-actualization with their “Don’t Imitate, Innovate” campaign, it isn’t surprising that skateboarders founded firms called “Anti Hero” and “Heroin.”

Around the same time that Barnbrook released the fonts “False Idol” and “Prozac,” Benetton continued its controversial campaign and launched Colors magazine, co-founded by Oliviero Toscani and art directed by Tibor Kalman. A vanguard graphic designer in the experimental ’80s, Kalman shut down his design studio in the ’90s to hijack mass marketing’s platform and point to social problems of the present. If commercial culture considers independence an

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Occupy George

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From top to bottom Blind Skateboards, Jordan Richter Safety Gear model designed by Marc McKee, 1992 World Industries Skateboards, Jovontae Turner Napping Negro model designed by Marc McKee, 1992 Skatemental Skateboards, God Bless America model designed by Colin Price, 2010 Polar Skate Co., S/T Series designed by Jacob Ovgren, 2012

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attribute of big brands, the truly independent act is to appropriate media models for a message of one’s own. Or to deliberately shift the aesthetics of taste away from the accepted and towards the “distasteful.”

A form of disobedience itself, the violation of aesthetic rules questions the criteria and conceptions of aesthetic quality. But “good” and “bad” have long been castaway concepts, and the most valid forms of visual communication are those that accommodate ambiguity; Deconstructionist designers have challenged their discipline’s otherwise orderly methods to make observers read between the maladjusted lines of motley layouts. It goes back to the good old postmodern premise that the process of communication is at least as important as the message itself.

Provocative design provokes — opinion, opposition. It polarises and clearly calls for a reaction. It may also attempt to disgust or arouse annoyance deliberately. And sometimes, its political radicalism seems secondary to a certain radical aestheticism. American design theorist and veteran New York Times art director Steven Heller once accused Thrasher magazine (as well as the Designers Republic and the creators of the Kiss logo and the fashion label Boy London) of featuring Nazified forms. Some consider the eponymous “Napping Negro” on World Industries’ board for Afro-American pro Jovontae Turner as unsettling as Benetton’s suffering AIDS patient in a sweater advert. The visual language of skateboarding never sought to circumvent confusion, but tapped into the turmoil with the same daring ambition with which its decks dropped into bowls. “Skateboarding is not for everyone,” the designs of the ’90s and early 2000s say — nor is its sense of irony, sarcasm, and satire.

Lately, the world is — again —busy discussing broadly acceptable ways to deal with satire indeed. Susan Sontag, a patron saint of both political radicalism and radical aestheticism, said that the politics of a democracy entails disagreement and promotes candor. Candidly addressing the perennial problem of racism by serving snippets of history concerning the civil rights movement, Alyasha Owerka-Moore’s art for American Dream, Inc. Skateboards reveals one of the most crucial aspects of controversial artistic creation: to encourage people to educate themselves and freely form opinions of their own. American Dream, Inc. does not exist anymore, nor does the severe sense of urgency in commercial design. Martin Luther King Jr. once said our world is in dire need of a society of the creatively maladjusted. Let’s just say it certainly still is.

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skat 69 eboa rd-R elat ed l iter at ur e 93

In 2014, the CosaNostra Skatepark and the Médiathèque Jean-Pierre Vernant in Chelles took the initiative of creating a documentary archive of books that deal with skateboarding. The topics — closely or loosely related to skateboarding—range from historical photography, to dance and architecture, to fashion and art, to proper skateboarding. The eclecticism of the approach is a treasure trove for anyone with a will to understand where skateboarding sits in a wider, global cultural panorama.

Here, we put together a selection of 1:1 scale pages from the aforementioned archive — and some personal additions — both as a formal exercise and a way to whet your reading appetite.

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CLAUDE PARENT – L’ŒUVRE CONSTRUITE, L’ŒUVRE GRAPHIQUE. Directed by Frédéric Migayrou and Francis Rambert, 2010. A 400-page, very well documented exhibition catalog about the work of Claude Parent. Parent developed an architectural theory based on rejecting flat and perpendicular surfaces in favor sloping surfaces, the Fonction Oblique. It’s printed on slightly grey uncoated paper, comprehensive and a bit formal but nice. Even titles are sloped!

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DYSFUNCTIONAL, Aaron Rose, 1999. A seemingly quite personal collection of images from the 90’s skate culture. Actually, a very accurate and sensitive impression of those years in the form of a soft cover, 208-page book, with full offset paper. Thick and light, nice to handle as an object and even nicer to read.

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LOOK AWAY – THE ART OF TODD FRANCIS, Sebastien Carayol and Todd Francis, 2014. A focused look at the work of Todd Francis on skateboards, with lots of pigeons and other provocative stuff you love to love as an old child-young adult. Soft cover with flaps, 96 pages on heavy coated stock.

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FDR SKATEPARK – A VISUAL HISTORY, Phil Jackson, Scott Kmiec and Nicholas Orso, 2012. A documentary, comprehensive and very diverse photographic archive of redneck America building FDR, a DIY concrete park, and the life around it. Ambitious scope and successful execution.

Hard cover in landscape format with a dust jacket. 160 pages. Well printed.

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LES JEUX ET LES HOMMES, Roger Caillois, 1967. A theoretical work, academic in its approach and a fundamental framework to understanding the notion of play. Soft cover “livre de poche� with 382 pages.

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BASED ON TRUTH, Tuukka Kaila, 2009. The day-to-day life of a skateboarder mixed with travel and landscapes. A clean, fresh and humble eye on skateboarding. Self-published, 112 pages (and images) stapled folio printed on newsprint. Love this publication.

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LAND ART, Gilles A. Tiberghien, 2012. A comprehensive and rather academic look at Land Art to essentially understand the movement’s intricacies. Hard cover, 352 pages on coated paper, so classic both as an object and in its content, but as ambitious and complete as it gets.

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OUT AND ABOUT, Ari Marcopolous, 2005. 248 pages of nineties skating in NYC sorted by period of time. Well printed on matt coated paper, hardcover with a dust jacket, and a very well made portrait of the KIDS years.

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THE DISPOSABLE SKATEBOARD BIBLE, Sean Cliver, 2009. The most comprehensive visual overview of skateboard graphics and shapes there is. Quite an achievement in how meticulous the work is. Crazy layout with a fake “old� look of the paper and gold endpapers. 368 pages, so not quite the bible itself yet, but pretty close in scope.

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ANTHOLOGIE. AIRES DE JEUX D’ARTISTES. Vincent Romagny, 2010. The extension of an exhibition about artist’s playgrounds into a book addressing this very specific and fascinating subject. 224 pages printed on a nice yellow-ish uncoated paper. Soft cover. Editors’ note — this book was mentioned in the digression on skateboarding and play during our conversation on skateboarding and sculpture. See P. [147]

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THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE NEGLECT, Ed Templeton, 2002. Published on the occasion of the exhibition “Ed Templeton – The Essential Disturbance” at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, in 2002. A kind of mix of his works, but essentially photographic. Pretty raw layout, 104 pages.

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DIY, Richard Gilligan, 2012. An extensive, documentary look at the burst of DIY skateparks on reclaimed spaces throughout Europe (mainly) and the States (a bit). Slick photography, hard cover, 160 pages of very nice images.

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ON A DAY WITH NO WAVES – A CHRONICLE OF SKATEBOARDING, 1779 – 2 009, Raphaël Zarka, 2011. An extremely well-researched history of skateboarding diving into art and science to reveal a quirky archeology of shapes and movements. 152 pages of clean design, perfect bound, reads very well.

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ROLL MODELS. MIDNIGHT TO SIX, Marcel Veldman, 2011. A chronicle of the nights of professional skateboarding and the accompanying circus, caught with a keen eye. 136 pages of black and white images on uncoated paper, hardcover.

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ACID DROP, Kenneth Cappelo, 2008. A small, soft-spoken little book full of those typical ’80s snapshots of you and your friends skating in the street.

Crazy pattern pants and bleached denim. 96 pages, touching.

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LE CERCLE, Benjamin Deberdt and Mark Gonzales, 2011. A 42-page perfect-bound book to cover the reenactment of Mark Gonzales’ “circle board” performance in Paris. Risograph-printed.

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push 97 ing, peda llin g an d we arin g one's knee 133 We wanted to compare riding a bike with skateboarding. There would certainly be a lot of commonalities and a lot of differences. But both at the same time? We took a trip to Fuerteventura with frame builders and skaters, on bikes made for the occasion, and asked Stéphane Rançon to tell us about his relationship with four- and two-wheeled enjoyment.

Text

by Stéphane Rançon Anecdotes

by Joseph Biais

Photos

by Bertrand Trichet

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From such a view, one wouldn’t bet on Fuerteventura being the next eldorado for sunny, european skateboarding. Yet, there were crazy spots right behind those hills. Good call on bringing bikes though, because cruising would have sucked.

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HOW TO WEAR A KNEE STÉPHANE RANÇON

When I was 16, my life revolved around skateboarding.

My skateboarding skills were, however, far from remarkable and never became so. I have always known that I have no talent for skateboarding. It requires coordination, gestural intelligence and the faculty to ignore the fear of falling and getting hurt — which is a faculty that I simply don’t have.

But, at the time, I was obsessed with the idea of skateboarding and performing the few figures I knew over and over again. It didn’t bother me too much that watching me maneuver my board must have been a pretty boring show, although for a lot of people skateboarding is supposed to be a show, one that gives spectators the same kind of pleasure the skateboarder feels. For me, skateboarding is mainly about something else.

Standing on the board, maneuvering it, getting the axle or the board to slide on any surface… all provide sensations that are wholly satisfying in and of themselves. The lightness, the im-

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balance, the sliding, the magic that is the command of a skateboard —which is not an easy thing to handle — are of course sensations that are heightened for people who perform truly difficult figures. They also experience another kind of satisfaction that comes from being admired.

As for me, I pay that no heed. I claim the right to practise skateboarding without seeking to please or impress anyone, including, in particular, other skaters. I would even go so far as to say that the performance aspect of skateboarding is its only negative quality— even if it is an indispensable part of it. Being seen by others and mastering difficult figures may intensify some sensations and provide the additional pleasure of boosting your ego and confidence, but those objectives will also corrupt the sensations of skateboarding, and sometimes even lead to their destruction.

Still, one afternoon, 16 years old and suffering from a skateboarding addiction that still afflicts me, I was looking, one afternoon, to impress the people around me, namely two boys my own age, by attempting to jump above 6 or 7 steps.

We were in an affluent residential area located near the biggest supermarket in the region, which seemed to be a source of pride for its inhabitants. I was pretty happy to feel the thrill of jumping and to disturb the residents with the racket generated by my skateboarding. I shouldn’t have been so happy, because the board came out from under my feet and, when I landed, I perceived a weird sensation in my knee. It wasn’t pain, but a clear feeling of abnormal internal movement on the side of my kneecap, followed by numbness. The next day, my knee was swollen. I didn’t know it at that time, but what I had was a synovial effusion. The meniscus, a small piece of cartilage in my left knee, had been damaged when I fell. Over the following months, my knee hurt more or less constantly, and I felt even more painfully what was in fact just a bearable discomfort. It didn’t prevent me from walking, but would sometimes make me clench my teeth during specific movements. So my friends didn’t understand that the injury prevented me from being able to skateboard. If I’d had a big fat cast, it would have been

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obvious to them. But my friends, being 16, didn’t understand and took it as laziness or fear. As for the doctors I saw, none were truly helpful. One of them disdainfully told me that I should stop skateboarding. I felt I would have been treated with more consideration if my passion had been football or swimming. I considered lying about it but feared a misdiagnosis.

As a result, I remember that period as being utterly hellish. It lasted for several months through the beginning of summer as I started a temporary job at the local waste sorting factory. It was my first job and it consisted of standing up for 8 hours a day in front of a big conveyor belt carrying all sorts of debris.

I was equipped with overalls, safety glasses and plastic gloves and my work was to remove any waste that wasn’t meant to be there. It was 18 years ago, I spent a whole month doing this hypnotising job, and I now guiltily realise that I can’t remember if I had to remove organic waste and leave non-recyclables or if it was the other way around. If I had to do it again, I would need training. There were several of us around that conveyor belt, roughly one person every two metres on a total length of ten. To a suburban high school student, a wastesorting factory worker is a source of constant astonishment; a genuine living documentary. I was pretty intimidated. The only person my age was a girl who wore too much makeup and constantly looked at me angrily. Working right next to me was Nabil, who must have been about 25. I was scared of him because he wore track suits and came from a housing estate. We lived ten kilometres away from each other, on different planets.

Nabil finally turned out to be very nice and within a few days we were chatting all the time. He also had a meniscus issue, and he too had realised the helplessness of doctors in healing his injury. He had, however, found a way to end his ordeal — according to him, cycling encouraged the “wearing out” of the cartilage and the “toning of everything around it.” I was impressed by his experience and wisdom. I immediately took out my inexpensive mountain bike and started cycling down my neighborhood streets, or rather, climbing up the slopes around my parents’ house. I went everywhere and followed Nabil’s advice: “On the road, in fields, forests, just cycle. You have to wear out that knee.” And I loved it. I rediscovered the joy of

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simply being outside, exploring my environment, and understanding a terrain that was not necessarily designed for what I was doing with it. As I was truly obsessed with skateboarding, I compared everything to it — from relationships to any life events. Skateboarding, I thought, was a way of life, a philosophy, the key to happiness. So I immediately compared it to the rediscovered pleasure of cycling. They were similar forms of expression, but bicycling felt inferior to skateboarding, simply because I had already found my god.

Maybe everything contains its opposite in itself. Probably the best thing about skateboarding was that it opened the world up to me, made me leave the house and explore new places. Paradoxically, it also locked me away in a sense, because I quickly turned it into the world itself. And I locked myself away in it, the way teenagers do, creating a world for themselves separate from the adult one — replacing the childhood world that collapses when the adults cease to be the divinities the child once thought they were. I had, of course, been cycling for a long time — forever, just like most of us. Bikes are things we grow up with and are part of our lives for generations. But at that time, in my teenage years, forced to use my bike as a substitute for my skateboard, I came to understand it as something more significant — a tool of freedom with immense, if not infinite, possibilities. It has since become a companion that has followed me in every place I’ve lived. From the mountain bike that I used on the paths and woods surrounding my parents’ house, I transitioned to a road bike. I quickly understood that it was a perfect vehicle for big cities, like the one I live in now.

Then I discovered I could use this device to travel longer distances. Travelling by bicycle makes you realise the relationship that exists between time and space: cycling 80 kilometres is like driving 800. You spend as much time on the road and the feeling of having travelled is identical. The landscape changes in a similar way. Well, more or less so.

If cycling and skateboarding provide similar sensations it is probably because the device becomes an extension of the user’s body. Bikes and skateboards are tools, they are not machines, which execute tasks by themselves. Tools leave it to the user.

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And there is a moment at which the pleasure of the ride is at its peak, when you become one with the devices thanks to a specific state: physically, your muscles are warmed up, and mentally, you are focused only on the moment. That specific state is called concentration. Here is the point of these practises: the pursuit of the pleasure, enjoying the moment when neither the past nor the future interfere with your thoughts, when the whole of your being is completely condensed into one single instant. I did not understand it when I was a teenager, but it was that particular state that I was endlessly seeking. By focusing my attention on the tool, on the skateboard, I was drifting away from the path leading to that goal. I was giving up my happiness by letting the object possess me. Cycling allowed me to come back to it while creating another difficulty: I now have to choose between two sources of pleasure.

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What’s interesting here is how one can notice who’s actually riding a bicycle and who’s pretending to. As you can tell, the three riders in front are looking pretty solid, going fast and uphill. One thing for sure is that going fast and uphill is not what the rest of us in the back were doing during that trip.

Striking this pose with a desert background is pretty much guaranteed photo success. Well, normally it’s on Route 66 in the U.S. with a bearded guy on a Harley wearing a bandana, but we only had a skinny French guy in tights on a road bike – still works, right?

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We almost got arrested on this spot for carrying a weapon, when we were simply preparing bocadillos with a Swiss army knife. We eventually managed to talk ourselves out of the situation, but we had to promise we’d never illegally prepare sandwiches on Fuerteventura again.

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Our friend Pete is from Finland, where winter is not only infinitely long but also way too cold. Needless to say he was quite happy to spend some time riding a bike in the sun for a week in December. The odd thing was that instead of going topless with sunscreen to fully appreciate the blasting sun, he spent every single day wearing cargo pants and a beanie, probably trying to recreate the extreme sensation of a Finnish sauna.

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© Nils Svensson

For our collaboration with Polar, Pontus came up with the idea of setting up Greek and Roman sculptures on his DIY spots to shoot pictures and have all the aesthetics of the project stem from this visual universe.

“I thought the imagery of a fallen empire would be a good way of sort of saying goodbye to the DIY world. I think it’s super rad to see people all over the world building stuff, but for me personally, I need to see something else now. I’m still into it, but needed to do something else with it — that’s the fallen empire, a new dimension.”

So here you go — one thing falling down, to better let the other one rise.

The 137 skat eboa rder and the scu lpt ure 159 A discussion with Bram de Cleen, Raphaël Zarka and Sylvain Tognelli

As part of the Open Museum Open City exhibition at MAXXI in Rome (28 October to 13 November 2014), artist Raphaël Zarka installed A Free Ride, a skateable replica of Free Ride, a 1962 sculpture by Tony Smith, which is now on display in the garden at MoMA in New York. Skateboarders Bram de Cleen and Sylvain Tognelli were there to skate Zarka’s creation. Recently, we brought the three back together for an informal discussion about sculpture and skateboarding with Giulia Ferracci, one of the the exhibition’s curators. Their conversation shows how skateboarding and art approach the same thing in very different ways — with surprising results.

AROUND A FREE RIDE, GIULIA FERRACCI One hope for the future is that museums will be open to their communities, as places for the development of comprehensive, independent thinking, and that they can constitute a cultural model that provides an alternative to the status quo, as well as places for the creation and spread of new energies. The Open Museum Open City exhibition at MAXXI in Rome, from 28 October to 13 November 2014, was an experiment that analysed these issues and, at the same time, started up a reflection on the role played by artists and public institutions in the contemporary debate. The Exercises in Revolution project, a three-day performance section within Open Museum Open City, included a series of artists who were invited to reinvent the significance of some of the most popular sports and games.

Here, Raphaël Zarka created a space that was stratified in terms of both space and time, with Free Ride, a work that the minimalist sculptor and architect Tony Smith (1912 –1980) made in 1962 that is now on display in the garden at MoMA in New York. His is not just a copy, but rather an interpretation in wood, which the artist imagined and designed to be brought to life by the skateboards and acrobatics of amateurs and athletes going through the piazza of the museum during the cycle of performances.

or a facility to be used for sport: it is the genesis of a participatory movement around an artistic artefact. In this sense, Zarka’s poetic vision is convincing, for it creates different levels through its prolific, always regenerated research, and its ability to draw strength from the past not just to make it relevant today but also to offer an alternative view of the future by including the community. Thanks to this ability to give flexibility to artistic practices, while avoiding the trap of any facile rhetoric of “participatory” art, and to reveal the inherent potential of reality, Raphaël Zarka has given MAXXI a new fresco: one that offers us a glimpse of those elements that have surpassed the traditional aspects we are accustomed to when making and experiencing art.

In the twentieth century, many artists gave new functions to works of art by attributing new aesthetic value and content to them — the perfect example is that of the Dada movement — but Zarka’s artistic research is something that goes well beyond any mere ready-made. His interest comes from the thoughtful studies he has worked on for many years, examining the processes involved in the appropriation of paintings, sculptures and monuments, and from his analysis of the scientific instruments used by the great masters of the past. The artist does not simply study a few cases, for he expands his research by bringing works of art to life: in the case of Tony Smith’s sculpture, the copy is combined with skateboarding, thus creating a revolutionary and highly original juxtaposition of art and everyday activities. Free Ride is more than just a sculpture, and more too than a ready-made

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ABOUT MY WORK, RAPHAËL ZARKA

It took me time to bridge my passion for skateboarding and my love of art. When I was in art school, the two were entirely separate. Then I realised that some of the forms used by skateboarders echoed forms used in sculpture. There were even some common strategies — particularly appropriation and reuse. About 15 years ago, I started noticing photographs of skaters on public sculptures in skate magazines. That was the starting point of a collection of images I called Riding Modern Art. When I presented a dozen photographs from the collection at the Lyon Biennale in 2009, some people were irritated —“grinçaient un peu des dents”— thinking I was being cynical. It was not my intention, even though I can’t deny that I sometimes felt skateboarding was a redemption for pretty bad works of art. But my collection was not a comment, rather an interrogation. I felt skaters were telling me something about the perception of sculpture that went beyond the irreverent. When I was in Rome doing the French academy residency at the Villa Medici, I gave it more thought.

In short, I understood that the aesthetic relationship to art could go beyond the realm of the visual or intellectual and be “mechanical” too — a good sculpture is a form that offers specific ways to move on it.

This means sculpture can become a score that can be performed. This idea is similar to the way minimalist artists in the U.S.— like Robert Morris, Carl Andre or Richard Serra — were thinking. The father figure for them all is sculptor Tony Smith who, in 1962 produced a very basic sculpture he strangely called Free Ride – even though no one was meant to ride on it, or even sit on it. For me it became Riding Modern Art’s prophecy, a virtual skate spot that preceded the very practice of skateboarding.

Since riding the original Free Ride will be eternally impossible, I decided to build a replica and make it happen.

Tony Smith, Free Ride, 1962 Courtesy Tony Smith Estate and Matthew Marks Gallery © Adagp, Paris 2015

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This spread and the next: Raphaël Zarka, A Free Ride, 2014 Skateboarders on the full-scale replica of a 1962 Tony Smith sculpture (MAXXI, Rome) Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein gallery Paris/Brussel © Davide Biondani

THE SKATEBOARDER

AND THE SCULPTURE

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THE SKATEBOARDER

AND THE SCULPTURE

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ON HOW SKATEBOARDERS LOOK AT SCULPTURE

Nino Ullmann, 360 BS Ollie, Berlin © Adam Sello

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Nino Ullmann, Crooked Grind, Berlin © Adam Sello

RAPHAËL ZARKA During the performance, you skated the replica of Free Ride for three days and one thing we didn’t really talk about is your personal experience, as skaters, of skating sculptures. I was wondering if you already had a conscious approach to skating sculptures, if it’s something you do or if you had previously thought about it.

BRAM DE CLEEN Yeah, of course, you end up skating sculptures here and there, but when I use a sculpture or a bench I can’t really say that there’s a difference in the approach.

On the contrary, both the bench and the sculpture are the same — functional objects that I simply use for skating.

SYLVAIN TOGNELLI As far as I’m concerned, what I’m interested in with skating sculptures is that they offer relatively singular possibilities. So in a sense it’s also a functional approach, because what I’m looking for is interesting spot/trick combinations.

Let’s say I see a sculpture in a photo, the first thing I think about is what kind of trick I could do on it that would look great, and generally speaking I find that contemporary art often creates interesting spots.

For instance, in Berlin there’s the Neue Nationalgalerie with a variety of of metal sculptures in front of it that create really cool spots in my eyes — one that is like a Pyramid Broken Obelisk, 1963-69 in front of Nationalen museum Berlin and another © Photo_Lauren_Flickr_CC by 4.0_Barnett Newman, one that’s a kind of curb, similar to Free Ride.

And then there are lots of small plazas with works of art in the middle that we skate knowing they’re sculptures because of the way they’re installed in that space.

RA And when you skate those sculptures, or the ones in Riding Modern Art, does the initiative come from the skater or does THE SKATEBOARDER

the photographer have something to say in the choice of the spot?

To create striking images compared to “regular spots.”

BR It can be both, but in the case of sculptures, more often than not the photographer sees a sculpture and shows it to you, asking if you can think of a trick to do on it.

SY Yes, definitely.

It’s so typical to have a photographer who’s really excited about a sculpture and begs you to do whatever, even the most basic trick like a five-O fakie or a kickflip, Popi, Stalefish on “La Vague” a sculpture by Henri de Miller (Cadran solaire à fibres optiques, 1988), Paris, 2009 because it will “look great © David Turakiewicz the case. On this photo of Daewon for instance, anyway,” regardless since he’s using the ‘whole’ sculpture, of the difficulty. It’s a recurring situation my guess would be that we’re close to when you travel and work with photographers, the artist’s intention. Then sometimes we and I suppose it’s because for them it’s easier see opportunities in things that are probably to create a striking image.

RA I have the feeling that the photographer not really significant from an art perspective, is following the sculptor’s intention there. because the priority is definitely more Because as an artist, he decided how to install on using it for skating than treating it as art.

RA What you say makes me aware that his work in relation to that space and by doing in Riding Modern Art I tend to focus on so, he already chose one or several points ‘entirely skateable’ sculptures specifically, of view from which the sculpture looks best. not the ‘details’ approach you mention. And In a way, he made a photographic choice I got a lot of submissions for the collection before any photographer. That’s definitely for which there was a misunderstanding something I’d like to investigate in the future on that level, with people sending me photos with Riding Modern Art, comparing the frame of tricks on a pedestal rather than on the the skateboard photographer chose with the sculpture itself, or even on architectural one found on proper installation views from features that they considered to be sculptures. exhibition catalogs. It’d be interesting to see It’s funny because as much as it seemed really if the artist’s point of view is the same as the clear for me, I realised that there are a variety skateboard photographer’s of things in the city that can be perceived approach, or if, depending as sculptures; the boundaries between urban on the trick, it reveals furniture, architecture and public art is alternative angles.

BR It probably sometimes really thin. What about Paris depends if the skater then, are there sculptures you’ve skated here?

SY Yes, several. There’s the one you have is using the main feature in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, that’s in your of the sculpture or collection. I never filmed or shot anything a secondary element, there but almost every time we skate past or a particular detail, or it we stop for a short while to skate it. Then even the pedestal, because there is La Vague (The Wave) in Les Halles… that’s also often Les Cahiers du Musée d'art moderne, Issue 109, Autumn 2009

AND THE SCULPTURE

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Raphaël Zarka, Riding Modern Art, A Photographic Collection, 2007 Top: Olivier Ente, Pivot to Fakie, Paris, 2006 © Sébastien Charlot Below: Julien Viallet, FS Five-O, Paris, 2009 © Loïc Benoit

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THE SKATEBOARDER

RA ...which is the kind of thing that I can’t tell what category it falls in — if it’s art, architecture or urban design. And I’m sure you’ve been to the colored plaza in Ivry?

Well, I haven’t included it in my collection yet, because although it was produced by an artist, not an architect, it’s not really obvious that it is sculpture. And there’s also the ‘handcuffs’.

BR And what about that red structure?

Editors’ note — The one Samu is fs ollieing, below.

SY I think it’s a children’s playground.

RA Which is interesting because plenty of artists created children’s playgrounds in the ’70s... Editors’ note — See also P. [84].

(Digression on skateboarding and play)

Samu Karvonen, FS Ollie, Berlin © Loïc Benoit

Raphaël Zarka, Riding Modern Art, A Photographic Collection around Katarzina’s “Spatial Composition 3” (1928), 2007

SY But there’s a difference when we as skaters perceive something as a sculpture, because of the ‘sacred’ or ‘valuable’ character of art. We tend to hesitate before committing to skating a sculpture, because it feels transgressive, so we’re sometimes a bit more scared than normal. I’ve never been kicked out of that one in Saint-Germain-des-Prés for instance, but I’m not sure we can skate it.

RA For sure. The form of that one, the “exploding” ground, is definitely an invitation to ride it, although it might just be a potentiality more than something the artist expected people to do. But then again, this sculpture is pretty strong and sturdy, so it’s not like it would be easily damaged, so that probably plays in skaters’ favor.

BR We had the opposite experience once, in Tokyo. We tried to skate a replica of the Love Park sculpture for a couple of minutes, but since it was not Robert Indiana’s Love sculpture really working out in Tokyo we kept cruising. A few minutes later we got pulled over by cops who were really angry and telling us how we had offended an enormous amount of people for having touched the sculpture.

So I guess not all art is treated equal.

RA Definitely. It’s like the piece in La Défense, which has graffiti on it, suggesting that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to add a few scratches on it. But I believe the different reactions to skateboarding on sculptures can sometimes be explained by who commissioned it. I think the one in Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a gift from Canada, so it probably gets less cared for than a piece that… let’s say a bank commissions for installation in front of their corporate headquarters.

(Digression on a couple of Barcelona spots — sculptures, like the huge matches

by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in Vall d’Hebron, the almost vertical slabs of granite on Pla del Palau

by Ulrich Rückriem or the undulating strip of metal on Rambla de Guipúscoa

by Francesc Torres.)

AND THE SCULPTURE

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Sylvain, Wallie over some metal slices, Valencia, 2014 Š Vincent Coupeau

THE SKATEBOARDER AND THE SCULPTURE

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Bram, FS Pivot to fakie on a sculpture by Joan Mirò (Deux personnages fantastiques, 1976), Paris, 2014 © Alex Pires

THE SKATEBOARDER AND THE SCULPTURE

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reason, those spaces are often well-suited to skateboarding: they’re open, with a smooth ground. Then it doesn’t matter if you skate the pedestal, the sculpture or the architectural ON SKATEBOARDERS space around it — the important thing for me BEING POSTMODERN is the whole zone.

SY (mocking) That’s because you only skate flatground!

BR Yeah, of course I love skating flatground! But I really do love those open “artsy” spaces, like the plaza in front of the ING offices in Brussels. It has a sculpture on a rock pedestal, which is pretty high and not very interesting, except for the occasional frontside noseslide; but what I love about it is the space around it, the vibe, and how open it is.

RA Well, that’s because you’re postmodern.

BR (laughing) The plaza in front of the ING Offices, I have no idea what opposite from Place du Trône. you’re trying to say.

RA What I’m trying to say is that you — skateboarders — you don’t care about the object, you care about the space. To put it in a rather simplistic way, modern artists focused on the artwork itself, as an object separate from the rest of the world. Sometimes frames and plinths made the separation more obvious. But in the ’60s and ’70s, artists like Carl Andre and Richard Serra made clear that the space itself is a part of the sculpture.

BR I have to say one thing, though. Ever What I mean is that a piece by Serra — that’s not only the corten steel structure, but the way since we started talking about this project it deals with the space around it — whether involving skateboarding and modern art, it is urban or not, open or indoors. It’s I started realising that, more than the not a “modern” way of thinking anymore, sculptures themselves, it’s the space they and some art historians call that a postmodern are installed in that interests me most as attitude. a skateboarder. You mentioned earlier that BR Yeah, I can completely relate to that, when an artist installs a work, he considers its because honestly, I care about the whole thing. position in relation to the viewer’s perspective.

And the sculpture, the pedestal, the space, But for the viewer’s perspective to even exist, the architectural gesture — it all feels like one there must be a space between the work thing to me. and the viewer. Generally speaking, for some

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THE SKATEBOARDER

Richard Serra, Tilted Arc, Federal Plaza, New York, 1985 © Anne Chauvet © Adagp, Paris 2015

AND THE SCULPTURE

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ON URBAN PLANNING AND PERVERSITY

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Landhausplatz by LAAC Architekten, Innsbruck, 2011 © Günter Richard Wett

THE SKATEBOARDER

Charlotte Ammundsen Plads by 1:1 Landskab, Copenhagen, 2008 © 1:1 Landskab

BR Speaking of skateable spaces, we’ve come to a point today where urban planners know how we interpret spaces with skateboarding and take that into account.

It’s as if the plazas that are being built now have to include some kind of feature that’s directed at skateboarders — something that’s half skatepark and half accidental spot — to anticipate the appropriation process we have with sculptures for instance.

SY Yes, like Copenhagen. Editors’ note — or Innsbruck.

BR Basically, planners anticipate skaters’ thinking.

They design urban spaces that are not skateparks, but with our usage of the space in mind.

But then we also end up not liking those spaces too much, especially for photos, because since they’re intended to be skated, they feel like skateparks.

SY Exactly, and when the game of appropriation is broken, it’s not fun anymore.

Since you didn’t come up with the idea, the interpretation of the space with skateboarding’s tools, skating those spots feels a bit underwhelming compared to a proper spot.

RA So one shouldn’t build “good spots”?

SY Of course not.

RA This is kind of perverse!

I mean, you’re saying you should only skate things that look wrong!

SY Yes, because the creative bit in skateboarding is not really about performing the trick but more a matter of finding it, seeing the potential that others didn’t notice.

RA But isn’t this a concern only for the avant-garde of skateboarding? Kids who are learning their first tricks don’t care if it’s at a skatepark or at a “real” spot — or do they?

SY It depends. There’s definitely a learning process that one undergoes, hanging out with other skaters. But after a couple of years, the vast majority of skaters know that a kickflip to fakie on a bank in the street is more satisfying than the same trick on the bank at the skatepark.

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Red Bull Skate Space, 2014 © Mike Blabac/Red Bull Content Pool

ON RED BULL SKATE SPACE

RA Recently came across this competition that Red Bull organised with Torey Pudwill, which asked artists to create a skate spot that would not only be skateable, but also beautiful — as if a street park is something ugly and needs to be enhanced with artistic qualities. The winning proposal was built and it’s the archetype of a modern sculpture.

It is made of metal, painted in bright red, with curved lines. It looks like a work of geometrical abstraction by a third-rate artist from the 1950s. The sculptor is interviewed and he says pretty much everything that I find irritating — he wants to make “artistic modular systems for skating, mountain biking…” What a piece of crap. To me it sounds like “skatepark tuning,”— a useless way to decorate and fake an artistic status based on an outdated way to consider art practices. He thinks he will make skate courses more beautiful. But first, they already are. They can always be more inventive for sure, but there is no doubt

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they can beautiful. Second, art is not interior design. You don’t do it to make the museum room or a piazza more beautiful, you don’t do it to please people.

Beauty seldom exists in itself; it’s a cultural construction.

We learn to find things beautiful and the experience of art cannot be reduced to the experience of aesthetic pleasure. That may sound paradoxical, but I really have a problem with the idea of “skateable sculpture.”

THE EDITORS This art/ skatepark project sounds like the perfect illustration of the fantasy skaters and/ or photographers have of finding skateable sculptures because they make visually striking images and express well the idea that skateboarding is about creating possibilities where they were not intended. Except that in this case, it’s the other way around: first and foremost, you build a spot and slap on some layer of questionable art on top to decorate it. It’s just as bad as urban planning that incorporates skateboarding in its design, or even worse, because it’s posing as art (and falls instead into the kitsch category) while the Copenhagen plaza is a space designed to accommodate different uses without pretending to be art.

RA For me it’s also really strange because it seems like skaters forcing themselves to like a kind of art they don’t really care about.

I don’t have anything against abstract geometry; quite the contrary. But what I find unacceptable is to create something that looks like art because it mimics established ways to make art. This becomes only a question of style; there is no content anymore.

In the case of that Red Bull skate space, skaters’ artistic judgment seems to be influenced by the skateable potential of certain pre-existing works of art. No matter how advanced they are in their skating, they are really old-school in their taste for sculptures!

It’s really hard sometimes to know if you appreciate a sculpture because you think it’s a strong work in itself or because it’s a good spot!

THE SKATEBOARDER

BRAM DE CLEEN (b. 1985, lives BR Especially if it’s not intended to be skated; it’s in Brussels) is a skateboarder straight so much about one having the idea of skating something outta Belgium who’s as into flatground in a certain “unseen” way. as he likes wallies. He’s very tall but still RA Yes, if you accept public sculpture as a kind of script manages to wear sweaters large enough or musical score, the interpretation is up to the performer to cover a substantial part of his hands.

SYLVAIN TOGNELLI (b. 1985, lives and there are many ways to play it. in Berlin) is also a skateboarder, from France, with fairly quick feet and a keen eye for quirky maneuvers on unlikely spots. He’s a sensitive guy and you can spot him easily because of his red beanie.

RAPHAËL ZARKA (b. 1977, lives in Paris) is French too, but he’s an artist. Within his fascinating practice, he investigates, among other things, how his years skateboarding have influenced the way he looks at the world.

He’s capable of explaining to clueless people why skateboarding is great without sounding corny to skateboarders, which is a feat in itself.

Raphaël Zarka, Riding Modern Art, A Photographic Collection, 2007 David Martelleur, Pivot to Fakie, Utrecht, 2001. © Alexis Zavialoff

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Raphaël Zarka, A Free Ride, 2014 Skateboarders around the full-scale replica of a 1962 Tony Smith sculpture (MAXXI, Rome) Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein gallery Paris/Brussel © Davide Biondani

THE SKATEBOARDER AND THE SCULPTURE

th e ph il z ma ch in e

Drawings

by Vincent Guilermin

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Phil Zwijsen is a nice guy and he kills it. Last year we worked on a video that was fun to put together and well received. That also meant lots of images were produced. Since there’s not much to add, let’s just enjoy a plain and simple collection of photographs of Phil doing his thing — killing it.

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#baldhead #frontside180 #deathdropswitchstanceforPhil #fuckit #Barcelona #PhotobySamClark #forthefans 1 6 4 #makesureyourepairtheholeinthefencebeforeyouleave @slam_clark

#frontside5-0 #wecanevencallitagap5-0 #toobadnoonenoticedthecrackintherailexceptPhil #pictureByDVL #Antwerp @dvlphoto

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#Stockwell #guyontherightdoesntgiveaF**k #checkingInstagramallday #instalife #picturebyAlexIrvine #London #LDN 1 6 6 #crookedbonk @al_irv

#mandatory2010orangebeanie #so2010 #frontside180again #betternotfuckituponthisone #BXL #PicturebyDVL #pleasemakesuretheruniscleared #fatalpebble #maximalcommitment @dvlphoto

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#Fullblack #GothicPhil #OllieIn #PicturebyDVL #ohsunnysweetBelgium #rocketollie #pointingatthemoon #Mechelen @dvlphoto 168

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#XXL #OMGdonttellmeheisridingswitchonthiswall #PicturebySamAshley #BramDeCleen #AsseeninÖctagonvideo 1 7 0 #homieguestappearence #Öctagon #Poulycroc #Switchwallride #Leuven @bramdecleen @samuelashley

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#covershot #kingpin #oververt #justliketheenjoivideo #spiderman #picturebyDVL @dvlphoto 172

#boneless #Grenoble #Gre #picturebyBertrandTrichet #andanothergraffitispotforPhil #thuglife

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#Iquit #onepackaday #nicotine #monthlygoodresolution #237thquitsmokingattempt #picturebyDVL #brokenpromise @dvlphoto 175

#backsidewallrideBSmelon180out #toomanypictures #sequencebyDVL #Antwerp #donothesitatetograbout #wallride 1 7 6 #melon #greatsuccess @dvlphoto

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#frontsidebigspin #buckethat #buckethatmassivetrend #camoBucket #fashionvictim #picturebyBertrandTrichet 1 7 8 #bigwhitefunnyskatablething #givemeoneforhomeplease #basel

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#burgundy #matchingcolors #guestappearance #picturebyAlexIrvine #volcanoonfire 1 8 0 #volcaniceruptiontofakie #RobSmith #pleasedontgetburned @dogger @al_irv

#maximalcommitm

ment #endlessbattleforPhil #mandatorybeaniecolormatch #boooooooardslide #picturebyBertrandTrichet #deathkinks #BCN

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Carhartt WIP Skateboarding List of projects 2014 T h e p a n o r a m i c

Object A series of 4 clips about skaters and their cities in panoramic format. Participants Jan Kliewer, Phil Zwijsen, Joe Gavin, Joseph Biais and Bastien Duverdier. Produced media Video filmed and edited by Phil Evans (duration variable), produced by Carhartt WIP, Lodown and Dakine, released throughout 2013 and 2014 and available on Vimeo.

Screen grabs

s W I s s B a N K s

1 2 / 2 0 1 3

Object A skateboarding trip through the Swiss Alps with Joël Tettamanti, on the occasion of a collaboration with Antiz Skateboards. Dates From the 16th to the 26th of July 2013. Participants Sylvain Tognelli, Hugo Liard, Gabriel Engelke, Joseph Biais and Dominik Dietrich.

Produced media Video, filmed and edited by Paul Labadie (duration 22:51 minutes), released on the 12th of December 2013 and available on YouTube. Graphic design Veenom and Juan Moreno Music Palmbomen.

Products designed for the collaboration

Tricks in order of appearance [P. 13] Joseph Biais, Ollie [P. 20] Sylvain Tognelli, Frontside Wallride [P. 22] Gabriel Engelke, Switch Frontside Flip [P. 23] Sylvain Tognelli, Kickflip to Fakie [P. 25] Gabriel Engelke, 360 Flip [P. 27] Dominik Dietrich, Frontside Ollie [P. 33] Hugo Liard, Feeble Grind [P. 36-37] Gabriel Engelke, Ollie Screen grabs

s e r i e s

2 0 1 3 / 2 0 1 4

Kingpin Magazine Issue #120 #RIPKP

I

PROJECTS 2014

2

P h i l z W i j s e n ' s

Object A rather lengthy and very entertaining skateboarding part. Filming period Between 2013 and 2014. Participants Phil Zwijsen, Bram De Cleen, Rob Smith and Ross McGouran. Produced media Video, filmed and edited by Paul Labadie (duration 7:30 minutes), released on the 6th of February 2014 and available on YouTube. Illustration and motion graphics Vincent Guillermin. Distinction Awarded best short clip of the year at the Bright European Skateboard Awards 2015

Want more details? Here’s an interview with Paul Labadie and Vincent Guillermin BR Hey Vincent, Paul. Both of you worked a lot

by Bram de Cleen on Phil Zwijsen’s Time Chase video part. Are you guys taken from our blog. happy with the result?

PA Yes, very happy.

VI Yes, really. It was a good mission.

BR Vincent, Could you explain how you worked on the animated illustrations in the clip?

VI I did everything by hand. I use the old Walt Disney technique. This means I use a lightbox and tracing paper and do all the drawings by hand. I take screenshots of the video and start drawing over them on the tracing paper. When that is done I trace it all again on white paper with clear lines and add some color.

Screen grabs

t i m e c h a s e

BR How many drawings did you do in total, for the whole clip?

VI There were 739 separate pages of finished drawings for about a minute of animation.

BR Do you follow the clip’s frame rate?

25 frames per second?

VI Yes, I did. I think sometimes I could’ve done less drawings and had the same result, I’m not sure.

This is the first time I’ve used this technique, and it works.

BR How do you get those drawings onto the actual video?

VI I do all my drawings, scan them, clean them up in photoshop and send them to Paul. He then puts them into the edit.

0 2 / 2 0 1 3

BR Was this the first time you worked with video images?

VI Yes. BR What do you usually do? I’ve seen a bit of your prior work but not much.

VI I do sculptures and paintings, I often work for theater and dance companies.

BR How did you get involved in this project?

VI I know Paul from Lyon. We met a long time ago, maybe six or seven years.

BEST SHORT CLIP OF THE YEAR AT THE BESA 2015

Making of photos © Bertrand Trichet

BR What was the thought process for the animations in Time Chase? Was Phil involved?

VI I talked to Phil, Paul and Bertrand a lot during the process.

PA We spent a week together in Lyon as well. During this week all the sculptures were built.

VI That’s when we tried to find the red line. In the start we were planning to play with moving architecture a bit more, like the curbs in the beginning of the video.

The first tries we did for the drawings didn’t really work out. I kind of had to change my technique, I actually learned how to use photoshop for this. I learned a lot of things, it was a crazy mission.

PA I knew a couple of basic things already but I got a lot more familiar to photoshop as well. A lot of drawings I had to retouch or redraw. Stupid stuff, like the cigarette animation, it was drawn on a white sheet, so in photoshop when I removed the white of the paper, I had to fill in the cigarette again.

BR I really liked this one actually, the cigarette.

PA Yeah, that’s one of the things that are really a part of Phil’s personality. Stressing about cigarettes, things like that. We didn’t really have a concept at first, but while doing it, it came together. Something chasing him, and him running away. Quitting smoking, starting again, feeling really strongly about both. He really is chasing time, and has his demons.

BR I think the name fits really well. Whenever I meet up with Phil to go skate my day goes from normal to being in a hurry.

PA We had a whole list of names, and stuck to that one. Time Chase, it fits him.

II

CARHARTT WIP

c r v w k d

Object A joint ode to the simple pleasures of skateboarding, together with CRV WKD, taking the shape of a cool kit of goodies. Forget ability, forget rules, forget big business, incentives, sponsorship deals, sticker placement and those judging eyes from the platform. Just CARVE WICKED. Produced goods Zine, board, knife, socks, t-shirt Design Jon Horner.

Dem wicked products

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l i g h t w o r k s

Object A video clip about the skateboarding and photography of Jerome Campbell. Produced media Video, filmed and edited by Phil Evans (duration 3:29 minutes), released on the 28th of February 2014 and available on YouTube.

Screen grabs

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Jerome’s photography

Carving wicked Š Bertrand Trichet

III

d e e p e n d

Object A series of activities (exhibition, conference, screenings and skate session) and a zine published on the occasion of the creation of a documentary collection of books around skateboarding. Dates From the 11 of April to the 16th of May 2014 Produced media Newspaper, 8 pages, 36,5 × 58 cm.

Quite an unusual project. Here’s the editorial as found in the Deep End Zine, which despite being somewhat middle-of-the-road, tells a fair bit of the story.

The public reading network and the Cosanostra Skatepark have collaborated for a long time and over the years they have elaborated projects that aim at mixing their respective audiences. They are currently sealing a new partnership with the creation of a documentary fund on skateboarding From May this and urban cultures. year, books dealing with skateboarding in its various dimensions — aesthetic, sports, historical, cultural, philosophical — will be displayed and available for consultation by anyone at the skate-park. This documentary fund will echo a more universal collection on the history of urban art (urban cultures, graffiti, music, photography…) which people will be able to borrow from the Jean-Pierre Vernant multimedia library.

Skateboarding has been present in Chelles for 35 years and has therefore been a strong marker of the urban identity of the area. The librarians and the team of the skatepark thought it would be interesting to offer resources as complete as possible on this world. To celebrate the launch of this documentary fund, DEEP END is opening wide the doors of the aesthetic related to skateboarding.

By offering films with a sharp artistic point of view such as Hybridation by Fred Mortagne, Format Perspective by Phil Evans and Topographie anecdotée du skateboard (Anecdotal Topography of Skateboarding) by Raphaël Zarka. By presenting a range of photographs mixing angles and techniques (Éric Antoine, Richard Gilligan, Bertrand Trichet, Sergej Vutuc) and by reflecting on the way this practice is documented today. — Cyrille Calvel, Mathias Thomer

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Exhibition and conference views

p o r t

Object Eric Antoine’s wet collodion plates documenting Port Land, Basel’s DIY spot. Produced media Book, 56 pages, 30 × 24 cm softcover book. Published by 19/80 Éditions and released in April 2014. ISBN 9782919159116

l a n d

© Vincent Coupeau

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IV

CARHARTT WIP

Éric working at Port Land © Nicolas Schneider

RI From an outsider’s perspective it would appear to me that your traditional methods of making photographs are the exact opposite of how modern digital photography works. Everything you shoot happens at a much slower and considered pace. What motivated you to make this shift in your way of working? ÉR It is indeed far from the popular methods of shooting digital or instant photography, but praised nevertheless.

First of all, the exposure times are rather long which forces me to shoot absolutely still (or forced to be still) subjects. Then I use large format cameras so I need to think about my images before shooting. I was not used to shooting skateboarders this way; they usually are in motion. I used to be worried about freezing fast subjects; now I try to make them still. My technique was to adapt to them; now they adapt to the technique. I reversed things quite a bit. The process itself takes time — I prepare my chemicals in advance and wait for them to mature; then I have to go through a lot of delicate steps before getting the final result. But it is all relative — if I chose to paint, it would take me way more time for each piece.

In past years, in my personal work, I thought a lot more like a painter than a photographer. It is a bit less obvious for this series, but still one can notice the pictorial aspect of it.

For three years, I almost exclusively shot wet collodion with ancient large-frame cameras; it is hard to go back (as paradoxical as it is). Its fineness, the freedom this process offers me, the passion I developed for those images and the room it now takes in my life—I’m stuck in it.

Other photographs often seem dull and limited to me now.

The change was not as brutal as you suggest. I always experimented with formats, films, color and black and white chemicals. Wet collodion or other old processes that I use now are a logical result. A few years back, I was forced to slow down with travels and my work for magazines; I chose to spend more time at home then.

I took the time to really learn and practice a complex and capricious process and start a major series of photographs shot with collodion for my artwork that I was already developing parallel to skateboarding.

It is clear that it is a rather reactionary photography; it is a stand against the endless flow of images, digital or not, that we currently suffer. However, I do not take part in some “looking back” movement, retro, vintage or other largely abused terms. This is not what fuels me.

I use this process as I am convinced that it is what’s best for my current needs.

RI The photographs in Port Land work for me on a number of different levels. I love how formal the portraiture is but I also find the context the landscapes provide equally important. Was this approach premeditated or did these decisions all happen whilst making the final edit? ÉR Originally I wanted to shoot strictly the obstacles and details of the bowl. When we talked about it with Oli, we decided that it would be good to shoot portraits of the people who built it and then I added a few images of the surroundings for a better understanding.

Those portraits were improvised as I tried to show a bit of every side of the people — builders and skateboarders.

That is what’s interesting about this series — it shows different generations of skateboarders who built this thing together. They all had a precise role and domain of expertise; they provided their help for only the reward of skating this when it’s done.

Shooting portraits of skateboarders, showing them in no motion is almost paradoxical. Here they appear as workers, feet on the ground instead of a board, even if the board is close by. Also, this kind of still portrait often looks old-fashioned. I usually don’t use this kind of contrasting technique — shooting noticeably contemporary subjects in a style that evokes the past — because I find it too obvious; but in this case the images were complex enough that I gave it a try. The photos were framed in concrete that was built by Puddy, who usually builds copings, so this is kind of a full circle.

An ambrotype has a very silvery and 3D aspect; in those concrete frames it becomes an object, more a sculpture than a simple photograph. The fragility of glass in 15 raw concrete frames also adds a strong symbol to this series.

All of this is a paradox.

V

d a n g e r d a v e

Object A documentary about the tribulations of David Martelleur Filming period Filmed from 2005 to 2011 Produced media Documentary film (duration: 87 minutes), released on the 18th of June 2014 Production Petit Dragon, Emmanuelle Lepers Co-Production Nightshift, Julien Desplanques, Mathieu Hue Screenplay and Direction Philippe Petit Director of Photography Philippe Petit Sound Philippe Petit Editors Albertine Lastéra, Thomas Marchand, Philippe Petit Participants David Martelleur, Philippe Petit, Guillaume Mocquin, Alex Giraud, Thibaut Lenaerts, Jean Sébastien Gueze, Chris Pfanner, Phil Zwijsen, Hugo Liard, Bertrand Trichet, Jérôme Campbell, Hjalte Halberg Grading Mathieu Caplanne / Nighshift Sound Post-production Benzène Music Sound Editing & Effects Gaétan Chodzko Sound Mix Bruce Keen Sound Superviser Greg Musso / Benjamin Desplanques Original Soundtrack M83, FRUSTRATION, Greg Musso, Philippe Petit et Tho, 1000 sekouss With the support of Carhartt WIP and Vans Technical informations DCP / HD 1920×1080 / COLOR / Stéréo-LCR 5.1 / France – 2014 / Visa no139.378 Distinctions Awarded best feature film of the year at Madrid Skate Film Festival 2014, Best documentary award at Berlin Nord / Nord Film Festival 2014 Screen grabs

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About Philippe Petit, the director © Roland Edzard

Here’s an excerpt from the book; a conversation between Éric Antoine and Richard Gilligan, the author of DIY, see P. [87]

I was born by the banks of the Garonne River. I grew up surrounded by pens and reams of paper. I remember as a child an overwhelming desire to act. I quickly chose meat over fish, the city over the country and my friends over my parents. My love for sound came before my love for images. As an adolescent I spent my evenings hidden in a hallway imagining scenes I had seen my parents watching on TV. Through movies, I quickly took shelter from my monotonous life. Harry Dean Stanton’s wandering existence in Paris, Texas was my first artistic shockwave. From that point on, a movie theatre has remained a space synonymous with awakening and serenity, a space that I could never live without.

PROJECTS 2014

I graduated from high school with neither issues nor brio. I didn’t want to go to the army and did what I needed to do to avoid it. I studied directing at ESAV in Toulouse, and then, unable to bear my hometown, I directed my first short, Primes de Match, which actually dealt with this issue. I acted in the film because not only was it autobiographical but because I felt like it and was good at it. Ever since then I’ve been acting in other people’s films as well as my own—sometimes for pleasure and sometimes out of necessity. My latest film, Buffer Zone, is a project in which I am the sole actor: a magnificent performance, one of self-direction, absolutely egocentric and exhilarating. I subsequently left on an exchange program at INSAS in Brussels where I saw more clouds than ever and received a master’s degree.

From far away, Paris was glimmering with its millions of cinematographic possibilities. I moved there and shot my first feature, Insouciants, in three days, not just to demystify this ‘first’ experience but to move forward with a strong cinematographic gesture.

I then met Emmanuelle Lepers who smiled when I told her that the shoot for Danger Dave would last five years.

She never left my side or gave up on me. Moving forward, my need to work more closely with the actors and on the narrative has pushed me to work on my next project, Continentale, in a less direct manner. And a desire for new horizons has brought me to not situate the film in this city with 400 movie theatres, a city where I still live today.

a g e n t s p r o v o c a t e u r s 1 0 0 s u b v e r s i v e s k a t e b o a r d

Poster for the film

g r a p h i c s

At the San Sebastian Film Festival © Roke

BEST FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR AT MADRID SKATE FILM FESTIVAL 2014

BEST DOCU MENTARY AWARD AT BERLIN NORD/NORD FILM FESTIVAL 2014

OFFICIAL SELECTION PORTO POST DOC FILM FESTIVAL 2014

VI

OFFICIAL SELECTION SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014

CARHARTT WIP

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Object An anthology of subversive and provocative board graphics by Sebastien Carayol. Produced media Book, 224 pages, 20,2 × 25,4 cm on offset paper, hardcover, published by Gingko Press and released in June 2014. ISBN 9781584235279

Los Angeles exhibition

Ben Horton’s screen-printed poster for the Paris launch © Sam Graham for Subliminal Projects

Deathwish Skateboards, Brian Romero model A Deathwish Story designed by Colin Price, 2013

VII

MY GREATEST ALMOST There’s a danger in writing a “catalog-type” book. Because try as you may, you will never be exhaustive. It took weeks to cut my list of 300 boards to only 100 for Agents Provocateurs: 100 Subversive Skateboard Graphics. I had to balance themes and artists, classic vs. unknown graphics, not make it an all-’90s-nostalgia-patheticold-dude book, not rewrite Sean “Category Killer” Cliver’s book, and not make it an “American imperialism” celebration — because of course, we are all communists over here in France.

And now, with the book written and published, I still think about boards I missed. No board was purposely omitted, except one that the artist didn’t want in the book — an innocuous pedophile joke against a colleague 20 years ago never ages well. But this Brian Romero deck is one that slipped through the cracks for no good reason.

There are a few other decks that I’m bummed I missed. But hey, that’s what second editions are for — hopefully. — Seb Carayol PROJECTS 2014

Object A collaboration with Polar involving classic greek sculptures, skateboarding duets on DIY spots and a zine published on the occasion. Includes a history of Pontus’ Social Sculptures. Participants Jerome Campbell, Hjalte Halberg, Michal Juras, Oskar Rozenberg, David Stenström, Pontus Alv, Jan Kliewer, Jakob Ovgren Produced media Zine, 56 pages, 21 × 28 cm on newsprint, photographs by Nils Svensson, illustration by Jacob Ovgren and Stefan Narancic.

Released on the 8th of October 2014.

s u r v i v o r

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Object A collaboration with Lovenskate Products A stainless steel thermos to keep tea warm, designed and printed in the UK by Lovenskate with an illustrated guide to successful tea-making and good times at the skatepark. Technical infos Capacity: 592 ml / Weight: 290 g (w/o cap) / Size: 22 × 7,5 cm (w/o cap) / Opening Diameter: 54 mm / Manufactured by Klean Kanteen

© Jakob Ovgren

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Copenhagen exhibition

© Nils Svensson

s t o k e r

© Nils Svensson

The goods

VIII

CARHARTT WIP

a f r e e r i d e ,

Object As part of a 3-day performance project called Exercises in Revolution, Raphaël Zarka installed a replica of Tony Smith’s Free Ride in front of the MAXXI (Rome, Italy), a sculpture from 1962 for Roman skateboarders to perform on. The installation took place from the 29th to the 31st of October 2014, 3 to 7 p.m. Participants Sylvain Tognelli and Bram De Cleen At Raphaël’s studio during the discussion

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Carhartt ads featuring interactions between sculpture and skateboarding

z a r k a

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Tony Smith himself

© Davide Biondani

Sylvain, blunt to fakie in the Villa Medici gardens and at the MAXXI, playing Anna Scalfi’s Partout où les circonstances l’exigeront, 2014

IX

louuisa menke - krooked grind • photo : lars greiwe

hjalte halberg - pivot to fakie • photo: bertrand trichet

p u s h t o p e d a l

Bikes [A] Pete’s bike by Pelago. 52 cm tourer/recycled mtb in TIG-welded vintage and Columbus Cromor tubing [B] Giovanni’s bike by Legor. 53 cm cyclocross bike in TIG-welded Columbus Zona tubing [C] Joe’s bike by Ted James. 56 cm tourer/cyclocross bike in fillet-brazed Columbus Life tubing [D] Joseph’s bike by Zino Frames. 56 cm tourer in fillet-brazed Columbus Zona tubing

Object A bicycle trip around Fuerteventura with skateboarders and bike-builders, on bikes specifically made for the occasion. Dates From 8th to the 17th of October 2014 Participants Ted James, Salvatore Verrillo, Timo Hyppönen, Mattia Paganotti, Joe Gavin, Joseph Biais, Pete Ruikka, Gio Grazzani Produced media 27:33 minutes film, released on the 12th of December 2014 Production, Art Direction and Still Photography Bertrand Trichet Interviews David Turakiewicz Graphic Design Juan Moreno Filmed and Edited by Joe Gavin Additional Filming Davide Frassine, David Turakiewicz, Enrico Gorrea, Samu Karvonen, Teemu Korhonen, Luca Fortini, Gregory James MacDonald Technical and Mechanic Support Davide Frassine Special Thanks Sean Lomax, Enrico Gorrea Supported by Columbus, Cinelli and Xsories [A]

Screen grabs

EuROs 10,00 / GBp 8,5 dKK 80 / sEK 100 / NOK 100 cHF 13,5 / cZK 260

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[C]

At the NY Bicycle Film Festival Poster for the film

PRESENTS

Push to PEDAL

Barcelona launch

A film by JOE GAVIN with TED JAMES, SALVATORE VERRILLO, TIMO HYPPÖNEN, MATTIA PAGANOTTI, JOE GAVIN, JOSEPH BIAIS, PETE RUIKKA, GIO GRAZZANI, production, art direction, still photography BERTRAND TRICHET, interviews DAVID TURAKIEWICZ, graphic design JUAN MORENO additional filming DAVIDE FRASSINE, DAVID TURAKIEWICZ, ENRICO GORREA, SAMU KARVONEN, TEEMU KORHONEN, LUCA FORTINI, GREGORY JAMES MACDONALD, technical and mechanic support DAVIDE FRASSINE, special thanks SEAN LOMAX, ENRICO GORREA. In collaboration with:

X

Supported by:

OFFICIAL SELECTION NY BIKE FILM FESTIVAL 2014

Publisher Work In Progress, Textilhandels GmbH, Hegenheimer Str. 16, DE-79576 Weil Am Rhein, Germany Editorship Jad Hussein, Olivier Talbot, Bertrand Trichet Design and Layout Jad Hussein Copy Editor Barbara Caron Retouching Maxime Verret Translations Mathilde Mazau, Simon Turner Printing Die Keure, Bruggen Color Separation Printmodel, Paris Typeface Titles set in RATIO, designed by Clément Rouzaud Contributors 1:1 Landskab, Sam Ashley, Loïc Benoit, Joseph Biais, Davide Biondani, Mike Blabac, Seb Carayol, Sébastien Charlot, Anne Chauvet, Sam Clark, David Couliau, Vincent Coupeau, Bram De Cleen, Percy Dean, Fred Demard, Ian Dykmans, Giulia Ferracci, Lars Greiwe, Vincent Guillermin, Jon Horner, Alex Irvine, Lisa Jacob, Paul Labadie, Jacob Ovgren, Alex Pires, Stephane Rançon, Roke, Adam Sello, Anna Sinofzik, Nils Svensson, Joël Tettamanti, Mathias Thomer, Sylvain Tognelli, David Turakiewicz, Davy Van Laere, Marcel Veldman, Sergej Vutuc, Günter, Richard Wett, Raphaël Zarka, Alexis Zavialoff Cover images Top: Joseph Biais by Joël Tettamanti and Bertrand Trichet Bottom: David Martelleur by Sergej Vutuc ISSN In progress