‘I can’t stop thinkin bout you!’ Skate Premiere

After the success of last year's ‘Through the eyes of a skater’ event at Centrala, Ruebun, Japhet and Darren announced that it was back for a second time. Same place but new artists and films.

On Saturday the 19th of August 2023 the second edition of ‘Through the eyes of the skater’ exhibition was at Birmingham centrala space but this time was revamped and called ‘I can’t stop thinkin bout you!’

Hosted by Darren, Japhet and Reuben and sponsored by Ideal Birmingham, BourneBrook DIY, Birmingham Skate Spaces, Casino Skateboards  and Og Distributions.

I spoke to Reuben, one of the founders of the event and he said “The whole idea originally came from Darren wanting to premiere his skate video at centrala, at the time Japhet was doing previous art exhibitions so we thought to hit two birds with one stone. Then more ideas and inspiration came I guess. The name of the event ( I can’t stop thinkin ‘bout you!) came from Darren. It was inspired by one of Callum's pieces from last year's exhibition. And last year's name (Through the eyes of the skater) came from us trying to give the perspective of a skateboarder in Birmingham and how we are faced with aggressive architecture.”

 

This year they had artists to filmers to photographers exhibiting their work, everyone work that was up was from the west midlands and local skaters from in and around birmingham areas, artist including GÌselle Alicia, Lewis Davies, Ivan, Shaun Boyle, Tactical Spuckler, Alice, Callum Sidlauskus, Reuben and Japhet.

Photographers such as Raj Sami and Wig Worland. Films from  Wolftown Skateboards, Steak Tapes, This Is Birmingham, Casino Skateboards, Spread Eagle Sports and Leisure and Silhouette Films.

There were unpublished photos of Birmingham skating throughout the 90’s and 00s from Wig Worland and Kris Ludford. 

The event was free but they were selling t-shirts and totes at the event to help raise money for the event in the future. The artwork on the merch was done by artist Callum Sidlauskus.

It was nice seeing all of the Skate scene come together from pro riders like Marcus Palmer to Skateboard enthusiasts like Holly and i. Skaters from all over the Midlands came down to Digbeth to celebrate the Birmingham skate scene. A few different Skate collectives were there including Wolftown, SkateHut team and This is Birmingham Crew. 

Another question I asked Reuben was what's it like to be part of the Birmingham community and do you think it's growing? And Reuben answered “It is growing for sure, I think the basis of it is having like minded people around that share the same intentions.”

My Final question was what's your plans for next year? Will there be more of these events? Which Reuben answered “next year there will be another event, on a bigger scale and hopefully work with more people. But for the future I recognise anything is possible.”

The exhibition was featured one night only at Centrala space in digbeth, Centrala is a publicly-funded gallery and the only advocate for Central and European art and artists outside London. Their mission is all-embracing: they are powerful advocates for social integration, bringing together diverse audiences under one roof sharing, exploring, debating and connecting with high quality artists and events.

 

Interview with Darren Whitcombe (Founder)

Can you kindly introduce yourself please?

Yeah, I’m Darren.

How did you come up with the idea of the event?

I went to the Bournbrook DIY skate night at the Mocking Bird Cinema early summer 2022 and was really inspired by what I saw. A few days later, I was talking to Reuben and we both felt the same way about putting on an event in the city centre where we could show films, artwork and music. Next thing I knew, we were holding our first one at Centrala.

Where did the name ‘silhouette’ come from? And what’s the story behind it?

I really liked the word and the more I said it, the more I liked it. There’s also a lot that can be done with it, it can be anything you like, adaptable, changing, etc.

What and who have been your inspirations in filming?

I’m inspired by Chris Emery’s Wolftown videos. He’s got such a strong vision and I think that’s reflected in what he’s doing. I’m also inspired by the Magenta videos, like Just Cruise 2, and the Sour videos. When I saw Sour Solution 2 and Simon Isaksson’s came on skating to ABBA’s Dancing Queen, I thought to myself, anything is possible.

Anyone you want to give a shoutout to?

Yeah, the whole Bournbrook crew for starting something special during lockdown at the same time Eastside got demolished, the timing couldn’t have been better.