All posts tagged: Skateboarding

Devoted

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At 15, considerably late in the game, I first picked up a skateboard and decided that this was the way I want to spend my time with, the way of exploring and making sense of the physical world around me. When I’m at my parents, my old room still has that skate rat feel to it. Broken boards here and there, some cut-out photos and ads of my favourite pros, some worn-out shoes crammed in the back of the wardrobe and of course, the huge pile of magazines collected along the way. A big chunk of my early skateboarding education, I owe to the videos I borrowed from friends on VHS or DVD and studied over and over and over again, yet my weapon of choice for inspiration were the print magazines released every month. Now, in times of the digital word, countless blogs, social media, digesting the news about literally anything – not just the subculture of skateboarding – has changed radically, not just compared to the early 2000’s, but the pre-internet times. And …

Paving Space

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Often times skateboarders look at public space in a way others cannot necessarily relate to. They see obstacles in the city architecture as something to explore, to interpret and to creatively push the boundaries of what’s possible once more. ‘Paving Space’, a collaboration between artist and skateboarder Raphaël Zarka, Carhartt WIP and Isle Skateboards, illustrates this curious, explorative spirit of street skateboarding beautifully. At the time, Raphaël was captivated by the works of 19th century mathematician Arthur Moritz Schoenflies and his groundbreaking three-dimensional geometric models. Seeing its sculptural potential and seemingly endless possibilities, he started reconstructing them into large-scale modules for a series of shows at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Singapore and Sainte-Croix Museum in Poitiers. But instead of exhibiting his geometric formations as static pieces of art, Raphaël invited a group of pro skateboarders to use the spaces as creative laboratories: By riding the wooden sculptures, exploring different assembly methods and thus informing its arrangement in the different spaces, the lines between obstacle and artwork started to blur. …

On The Bookshelf: Made For Skate

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Rowley XLT, Koston 4, TNT, Chief, Reynolds 3, DVS CT, the list goes on and on. Well, what probably sounds like a lot of gibberish to some is only a small fraction of the compadres that kept my feet safe day in day out on my trips down the city streets and to the local park, joined me jumping down stairs and handrails or enduring pool and miniramp sessions since I started skateboarding back in ‘01. It’s hard to describe why I still remember this so vividly, but let’s put it this way: My weapons of choice – the piles of broken wood and the mass of shredded footwear – had as much of a story to tell as it might’ve been this soft toy from your early childhood, the first football jersey that made its way under the Christmas tree or even the first band shirt you bought ages ago. There is an emotional value, a form of identification and dissociation that so often goes without saying. ‘The worn down soles, the frazzled laces. You made …

Desillusion’s The Life We Chose

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It’s one of my favourite things of inspiration ever. Yes, we’re talking about Desillusion Magazine. Fusing the worlds of street and beach, the collective straight from the shores of France’s surf Mecca of Hossegor pays tribute to the youth & a subculture raised on a surf and/or skateboard. Since kickstarting their project in 2002, la maison desillusion has shaken up the print and digital world, released dozens of print mags and documentaries, shedding some light on the many creative individuals who are devoted to their inherent lifestyle and culture. Sticking out with avant garde aesthetics and innovative stories, minimal advertising and great ambitions, they recently turned from regular bi-monthly print issues to hefty hardcover tomes of insightful content. Based on their article ‘Anything that can go wrong, will’ published in Desillusion Magazine 48, Tome 4, director Pierre David now created short film ‘The Life We Chose’ in cooperation with Converse. It features a day in the life of L.A.-based skateboard pro Don ‘Nuge’ Nguyen, talking about the local scene, its communal spirit, his decision to …

The Pigeon Plan

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We’ve seen wonderful charitable projects that had quite an impact on the lives of kids in areas shattered by war, natural catastrophes and social marginalisation by threading new, alternative paths. While ambitious ventures such as ‘Skateistan‘ are mostly supported by newly created organisations, generous sponsors, widespread media coverage (inside and outside of the mainstream) and hundreds of helping hands, a small project initiated by the collective around professional skateboarders Louis Taubert, Kerem Elvers and Lucas Fiederling takes a similar line, though with entirely different DIY resources and aspirations. The idea behind ‘The Pigeon Plan’ originates from a number of trips down to South Africa in the last few years, which left them saddened by the massive gap between the rich and poor in the country. While most newly erected skateparks in South Africa have a pretty good standard, many kids from underprivileged backgrounds can’t afford to use them without the necessary equipment at hand. That’s how the initiative comes into play: Over the last few months, 100 once-loved boards have been donated, collected and equipped …

© Sergej Vutuc

Into the Wastelands: Interview with Sergej Vutuc

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Up until a friend from Hamburg told me about an exhibition called ‘As something could be…’ a few weeks ago, I had practically no clue who photographer Sergej Vutuc is. Outright intrigued and eagerly browsing the web for his portfolio, my eyes fixated on the stunningly disturbing b/w shots he brought back from his trip to Japan. Fukushima, to be more precise. So I dropped him a line if he wants to do an interview for Wildland Mag. He was instantly hooked. After a lengthy back and forth between Scotland, Germany and the US (where he’s currently residing) we eventually pulled off an exciting Q&A that gives a short glimpse into Sergej’s upbringings, the way he understands and lives photography, the DIY culture, skateboarding and his fearless journey to the wastelands around Fukushima on the hunt for crazy spots. Hello Sergej, let’s start with a small introduction. Tell us a bit about yourself and how would you describe your photographic work? Well, it’s always the hardest thing to talk about yourself. I was born in …

Spot On: Swanski

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Ever since I set my feet on a four-wheeled wooden plank (precisely this one) in my early teens, my heart is entangled with the spirit, art and culture of skateboarding. And besides being the ultimate expression of freedom, escapism and shared identity, it was and always will be a fascinating hotbed for creative minds. Folks like Swanski. As I am closely following the scene’s myriad of print magazines and online media, his name eventually surfaced on my radar with the release of his graphic designs for ‘Girl skateboards’ newest ‘OG series‘ a few days ago. Whereas my sheer ignorance conveys a different picture, the Polish artist is by no means the new kid in town, but rather expresses his genuine relationship with street culture for over ten years. Based in Warsaw, he is running his own graphic design studio ‘Swanarts’ and his apparel brand ‘turbokolor’, collaborated with industry heavyweights like Vans or Lakai and travels the world to share his eclectic art. Well, Swanski’s works are simply as versatile in matters of technique, style and material as they are dripping with creativity, expression and inspiration: Ranging from graphic designs, acrylic paintings and urban …

© LLSB

Let the Good Times Roll: ‘Long Live South Bank’

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Growing up in an urbanized region of Germany, I eventually started skateboarding with a few friends in the early-2000’s. Magazines and skate videos allowed us to think out of the box, although media has been very focused on what was happening in the US-‘motherland’. Every now and then, a rad concrete skate spot in London appeared on a magazine’s photo or in a split-second video sequence: The ‘Undercroft’. From my callow continental perspective, it was the spot of the capital. Quite so! Soon after local skateboarders adopted the spot at the forefront of the Thames for their own means in the mid-70s, the foremost neglected ‘Undercroft’ evolved as an iconic part of London’s Southbank. Gradually, the secret birthplace of British skateboarding grew organically and generated a lively scene of like-minded. Apart from skateboarders, the concrete spot attracted generations of BMXers, photographers, directors and graffiti artists throughout its almost 40 years of existence. The Undercroft has become a symbol of a vivid cultural heritage for young people, for creative minds as well as an attraction for those, who …