They call themselves skaters, and the act of skateboarding they call skating

Coding Rights, Humberto Corona, Lea Letzel, Luzia Emilia Nees, Norma Ibarra, Steeve Bauras, Queer & Feminist Skate Zines

20 July – 23 August 2020
Opening weekend 17 –19 July 2020
Skate workshop + Film night 21 August 2020 18:00

 

The exhibition They call themselves skaters, and the act of skateboarding they call skating warns against stereotypical representations in skateboarding and invites skaters and non-skaters to influence the construction of identity, culture, and society.

Who are “they”? What else do “they” have in common? Skateboarders are often constructed as a unified group, but it is made up of diverse individuals with intersecting identities that influence their experiences. Not all skateboarders have the same access (and histories of access) to the city. Their bodies are read differently in public.

Despite the widely held belief that skateboarding is a culture that resists social norms, it often reproduces harmful patterns and structures. Class, skin color, sexuality, and gender complicate the seemingly progressive relationship between skateboarding and public space. Contradictory in many ways, skateboarding both reproduces and provides a means to resist hegemonic discourses.

Working towards an inclusive skateboarding environment and reclaiming the right to the city, media, and language, many skaters (who have struggled and continue to struggle for power, safety and mobility) participate in the sport. Through the work of artists, filmmakers, photographers, and publishers, the exhibition explores how people find belonging in skateboarding and the different ways they reimagine and reshape public spaces.

Curated by Agustina Andreoletti

 

 01  KAP686  Film, color 00:02:48  2020

LUZIA EMILIA NEES (*2003, DE) lives and skates in Köln.

 

02  2 SECOND MANUAL  Sound Installation 00:29:25  2019 
LEA LETZEL (*1986, DE) works und livees in Cologne.
Akiko Ahrendt – violin | Dirk Rothbrust – percussion | Tim Hachen – Skateboard | Janosch Pugnaghi – Skateboard | Marcel Weber – Skateboard | Joan Lennard Schubert – sound projection | Lea Letzel – concept

03  ORACLE FOR TRANSFEMINIST TECHNOLOGIES  Card Deck  2019 
CODING RIGHTS (BR) is a brazil­-based women-­run organization working since 2015 to expose and redress the power imbalances built into technology and its application.

04  FROM THE SERIES DECONSTRUCTED LANDSCAPES  Collage, 15x21cm  2020
FROM THE SERIES DECONSTRUCTED LANDSCAPES  Collage, 23x30cm  2019 
FROM THE SERIES THE BODY AS A SKATEPARK  Collage, 22.5x30cm  2019
FROM THE SERIES THE BODY AS A SKATEPARK  Collage, 22.5x30cm  2019
HUMBERTO CORONA (*1986 VE) lives, skates und works in Amsterdam.

05  FABIANA DELFINO, BARCELONA  Photo print  2019
BREANA GEERING, VANCOUVER  Photo print  2020
BEATRICE DOMOND, SEATTLE  Photo print  2017
NORMA IBARRA (MX) lives, skates und works in Vancouver.

06  Queer & Feminist Skate Zines
Bowlcuts / The Skate Witches / Skating with Shes & Hers / Smash the Skatriachy / Xem Skaters / u.v.m.

07  3K PROJECT  Video Installation, b/w, Sound, 00:07:27  2013
STEEVE BAURAS (*1982, FR) lives, skates and works in Paris.

 

Förderung
Kulturamt der Stadt Köln
NRW Kultursekretariat
Kunststiftung NRW

In cooperation with ORANGEMENT EBERTPLATZ.
Thanks to Konstantin Hehl, Konstantin Butz, Dawid Liftinger, Maximiliano Estudies, Hanna Noh.

Funding
Kulturamt der Stadt Köln
NRW Kultursekretariat
Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Kunststiftung NRW

Images
1 — Norma Ibarra: Fabiana Delfino, Barcelona 2019
2-8, 13-16 —  Thomas Lambertz
9-12 — Humberto Corona