The Skateboarding Summit was held on 24-25 November 2018 in Łódź. I  invited local skateboarders to create a project and discuss mechanisms of social exclusion through the lens of skate sports. Skateboarding is a way of reinterpreting urban spaces. It is full of freedom, vitality and unpredictability. Skateboarders are disturbing the social order because they demonstrate, in a very simple way, that the urban space does not belong to everyone. 

We met in the empty WY Gallery in Łódź. In a couple of hours, the skaters constructed a makeshift skatepark solely out of the interior elements they found on location. This process triggered a discussion about whether skaters were feeling excluded or whether they were feeling included in a true social sense, within the core of the city.

The outcome of the project is a black and white video that built the narrative of exclusion and otherness while showcasing some of the most impactful slogans uttered by participating skaters.

The music has been composed in collaboration with Zu Fidler, especially for this video, based on transformed parts of recorded conversations with skateboarders.

Participants:
Anna Jochymek ig: @anna_jochymek
Damian „florek” Florczak ig: @_df97_
Marcin Polak ig: @ miejmiejsce
Marcin Sińczak ig: @neverletgofme
Mateusz Czyczyn ig: @out.ofstep
Oszka Mrozowicz ig: @mrooszka
Tomasz „Gonzi” Haładaj ig: @buttholelovereater