Riding Modern Art

This volume brings together a collection of 50 black-and-white photographs of people skateboarding on sculptures in public spaces. Through his study of the process of appropriation and reuse of these works of art in the public realm – challenging skateboarders to test their limits with new manoeuvres and tricks – artist Raphaël Zarka shifts the approach to a work of art in a way that underlines the dynamism of modern urban sculpture. The idea of movement in these often abstract and geometric pieces is made visible by the skateboarders, translated into pure physics and raw energy. With works by Picasso, Oteiza, Volten, and more. Ten images are missing from this collection, as sculptors have refused to see their artwork reproduced. The spaces dedicated to those photographs remain purposely empty.