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part of
Trick Shots
Sidewalks
In this desktop essay, Belgian skater-photographer Abel Kleinblatt examines how sidewalks are designed to guide pedestrian movement and how skateboarders recontextualise that urban architecture, giving curbs and pavements an alternative purpose. Sidewalks are a skaters’ canvas and a way to explore their creativity and their ability to make an object their own.
Sidewalks is the first episode in a series “on form and function” in which Kleinblatt gathers his thoughts. One of the key ideas he explores is “functional fixedness”: the inability to realise that something known to have a particular use may also perform other functions. Something a skateboarder, according to Kleinblatt, excels at.
Kleinblatt’s stream of consciousness also invites other voices to reflect on the topic, including skateboarder-artist Mark Gonzales, architectural historian Iain Borden, and Antwerp-based pro-skater Maité Steenhoudt.
Bio Abel Kleinblatt
Abel Kleinblatt (Belgium, 1998) is an image-maker who explores his surroundings through the lens of his fixations. Some of them are skateboarding, design, photography, filmmaking, and publications. Having finished his master's in visual arts at the LUCA School of Arts in Brussels, his work is focused on internet culture and social media as a tool to share ideas and generate conversation amongst different individuals.
Credits
Cast
Abel Kleinblatt, Iain Borden, Julian Klincewicz, Maité Steendhoudt, Mark Gonzales
Camera
Abel Kleinblatt, Willem Jones
Editor
Producer