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In a
month where once again, politicians demonstrate a complete
lack of understanding of culture at a street level, it is
heartening to see projects that seek to tie in a variety of
talents and disciplines and return them directly to their
origin.
Moving Units - this year’s offering from the Side Effects
of Urethane crew - is all about presenting the diversity of
skate related artists, both in the gallery and on the street.
Despite a cool gallery exhibition featuring works by the likes
of Richard Sayer, Adam Neate, Pete Fowler and Marcus Oakley;
a retrospective photographic show at Cide skateshop; and a
screening of Rollin’ Through the Decades - Winstan Whitter’s
epic history of British skateboarding; the real focus of this
project were a series of skate-able concrete sculptures at
London’s Southbank, the UK’s spiritual home of
skateboarding.
As well as marking a departure from the unspoken London policy
of trying to stop skaters using public monuments, this project
saw an about turn in Southbank’s position regarding
the cultural worth of skateboarding – not simply blindly
tolerating it (which is as good as they have ever offered
– they’ve usually offered far worse), but actively
encouraging it.
As well as allowing the sculptures to be dropped on their
property as a semi-permanent feature, and screening the Rolling
Through the Decades premier at the NFT, Southbank have given
over an amount of exterior wall space to Moving Units to create
murals, and hope to work with skaters on an ongoing basis
to provide an improved and more open-minded cultural facility.
It’s amazing what can be achieved with a bit of foresight,
an open mind and a bit of communication. It would be good
if certain politicians could take a page from this book and,
instead of trying to curb the ‘problem’ of ‘street
art’ by blindly attacking it in the hope that they can
punish people out of creating it, embrace it as the valuable
cultural asset it is and help nurture and direct it. More
skate-able sculptures are planned for other locations around
London in the near future.
The Moving Units exhibition will tour Spain and Holland later
in the year.
Further information from www.movingunits.co.uk
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