Sigh. Keepin it wheel in North America is one Sandee Moore, who for the exhibition
Godzilla vs. Skateboarders: Skateboarding as a critique of social spaces, built what every technoscape reader has been dreaming of. A skateboard ramp which triggers samples. Check the sickness.
Can u describe ‘the mixer’?
“The Mixer: The Ultimate Skate Activity Center” is an installation laid out like a skate park. People can play on the ramp, triggering samples from “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2” over headphones. Because they have headphones, the skaters seem to be oblivious to what’s going on around them, and relate to the ramp as if no one else was in the space. Watching the kind of “dance” they go through trying to “map” the aural space of the ramp is great entertainment!
What inspired it?
The idea for an interactive 1/2 pipe with sensors and sound samples was there for a long time. All my skater friends seemed into Atari video game noises. When I first played Tony Hawk 2, I was overwhelmed by the soundtrack. It was like a skate video/ video game. I realized that the connection of music to skate culture was essential and the project grew from there.
What were your aims with it?
Generally my work is about social systems, communities and conversations. With the Mixer I wanted to address my relationship to the skate community and their relationship to the larger social group of this city. I hoped the installation would be an approachable space for pro and anti-skateboarders to interact in some way.
What intrigues you about the skateboard as a technology?
I like the simplicity of the skateboard and its relation to the body. It’s the sort of technology that is overlooked and can therefore slip between the cracks and go places other sorts of technology can’t.
Do u skate yourself? ( How high can you ollie? )
Mmmmyah. Started skating when I was 17. I’ve pretty much given up trying to ollie my long board (ouch my shins!). On a regular board, about knee high.
So you dig skate-video games?
I’m not very good at video games (because I’m too embodied in the physical world?) but I like Tony Hawk 2. Tricking in the new games is really cool and exciting, if totally unrealist–you actually pick up speed when you grind.
If skaters were super-heroes, what’d your special-power trick be?
I’d grind and slide along the window sills of big, institutional buildings and rescue all those lonely, alienated people from the corporate structure by breaking their hermetetically sealed windows and throwing in loads of yummy food, good music and coupons for hugs.
Your weirdest skate dream?
Dreamt once I was getting head from the 16 year old boy who works at the skate shop, and one of my students kept barging in to talk to me about her project. I was like, hey, do you mind? Can’t you see I’m getting head?!
Future interface plans?
I’m not satisfied with the slow reaction time of the photo-resistors, so I’m going to install pressure sensors in the ramps. I have a few projects in the works that involve more of a tinker toy/clockwork technology.
[…] odd articles from my former blog, the now defunct octapod.org/jeanpoole, which covered live video, electronic art and music, tasmanian tigers, gangsta rapping physicists and other odds and ends from 2001-2005. […]