During this year’s event — themed “Concrete Waves:
Homage to Skate Culture” — 20 giant steel shipping
containers, placed around a 70-foot wooden
skateboarding ramp on the sand in Collins Park,
house projects by up-and-coming artists from as far
away as Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, Great
Britain, Italy, Norway and Poland.
“There was a time in the late ’70s and early ’80s
with all the skaters and artists doing graffiti, and
we wanted to do this again in Miami Beach,” Art
Basel spokesman Peter Vetsch said. “At the
beginning, graffiti and skate culture weren’t art,
but the art scene adopted them.”
Local skaters from MIA Skateshop in
Miami Beach
will perform on the ramp from Dec. 6 to 8 at 6 and
8:30 p.m.
Legendary skateboarder Tony Alva (Lords of
Dogtown) will headline a performance on Friday
that segues into a “theater, dance and multimedia
spectacle,” said Frank Galland, manager of MIA
Skateshop in
Miami Beach.
“He’s gonna do his thing, which is pretty much
always wild. It’ll be a whole colorful, wild scene.”
Besides its obvious function, the skate ramp also
serves a more utilitarian purpose.
“The skate ramp doubles as a café,” said David
Weinstein, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center’s director
of programs. “So when you’re not skating on it,
you’re eating on it. We have specially designed
furniture so you sit on the ramp and eat.”
Ryan McGinness, a New York City-based artist whose
work is rooted in street and skate cultures, will
create an installation and painting around the ramp.
Attendees can purchase McGinness-designed
skateboards during the event.
“Since McGinness is from this graffiti scene, he
fits perfectly into this whole program,” Vetsch
said.
The
four-day festivities — which kicked off Dec. 5 with
a concert by Iggy and the Stooges, the legendary
punk rock band fronted by Iggy Pop — features daily
soundtracks and dance sets from punk to hip-hop to
techno. DJ Keen One provides the soundtrack from 6
to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6; DJ Tranton will
entertain from 6 to 8 p.m. Fri., Dec. 7; and
DADEaBASS/Three Amigos are scheduled for the finale
from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8.
Plus, WPS1 Art Radio, the Internet radio station of
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City, will broadcast from Art
Positions. This is the fourth year wps1.org has been
involved with Art Positions. Go to
www.wps1.org for live streamcasts from 2
to 5 p.m. through Dec. 9. You can also catch them on
the
University
of
Miami’s
radio station, WVUM 90.5.
“It’ll be sort of a talk radio, where we’ll be
basically dragging one person after another and
asking them to tell their stories,” Weinstein said.
“The whole thing is focused on the skate culture
world, so there is a strong editorial lean towards
that direction.”
