Contemporary urban sports such as skateboarding, parkour and roller skating have a long-rooted history in youth subcultures that defied societal norms. These cultures provide a safe haven for those excluded from the ‘mainstream’ with the city becoming their playground. The global popularity that urban sports now enjoys and inclusion in professional competitions shouldn’t be taken for granted.
So what do artists and skaters have in common? The desire and power to transform public spaces to encourage connection and social cohesion, say Dr Sanné Mestrom, Senior Lecturer in Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts and Dr Indigo Willing, skateboarder, sociologist and Visiting Fellow in the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre at the University of Sydney.
Their new research aims to address gaps in public art and highlight the power of urban play. Mestrom says our urban landscapes need to move away from a 100-year legacy of being designed by, and designed for, men.
She continues, “Public art and urban sport side-by-side can revolutionise our approach to city planning, particularly as a way to empower adolescents and address the underrepresentation of young women, non-binary individuals and other non-traditional users of urban spaces.”
Mestrom is an artist with a sculpture practice and the leader of public art project, Art/Play/Risk, an interdisciplinary research and creative project with public engagement at its core.
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Willing, a skateboarder, sociologist and founder of the SkateCER research project, adds there is huge potential for public spaces to be welcoming and inclusive.
“If you think about the contemporary urban sport infrastructure that exists today, what comes to mind may be something quite brutalist and intimidating in form; for example, a concrete playground with no colour, garden or areas for parents to sit,” says Willing.
”Our research shows that well-designed public spaces can promote opportunity and act as a bridge between diverse cultures and perspectives. That could be by creating a sense of community for people from all backgrounds, providing the infrastructure for young athletes to develop their skills and work towards a professional sporting career, or through nurturing creativity and expression.”
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Part of the solution is ‘skateable sculptures’, public art that is meant to be interacted with and utilised, rather than standing as an untouchable visual feature.
Together with input from local communities, Mestrom has designed three sculptures that welcome skaters, scooterers and traceurs to test their skills and try new tricks. The sculptures were installed outside the Chau Chak Wing Museum during the Art/Play/Risk symposium this year, with Olympian Poppy Starr Olsen, wheelchair athlete Timothy Lachlan and Arrernte man and founder of Indigenous-led Spinifex Skateboards, Nicky Hayes, skating the curves and rails.
Local councils, public spaces and artwashing
When it comes to improving our public spaces, local councils play an immediate role, but sometimes even with the best intentions things go wrong.
Public art that is not well-designed can become problematic. It’s important to understand that public art cannot be designed in isolation and just placed anywhere to live out a life of its own. When local councils spend a large amount of money to commission a public artwork that fails to address the needs of the community, it can become artwashing.
Mestrom says, “It’s great when councils and developers bring in artists to address gender equity and marginalisation, yet often we’re seeing art being exploited to cover over more systemic issues.
“Artwashing can conceal existing challenges, such as exclusion and gentrification in high-density cities, by viewing art solely as something that should be beautiful or visually appealing rather than utilitarian, and by creating and installing art without consulting communities or amplifying local voices to understand what they need and want from their urban spaces.”
The takeaway? “Our research is helping us understand how and why we need to reimagine spaces that empower communities, while making sure that we, as artists, architects and designers, are holding ourselves and our local councils accountable for our contributions to art in the public realm,” concludes Mestrom.
