Photo: Rahul Gupta, Toronto.com

The Bentway’s summer programming is a celebration of skateboarding culture that merges art and recreation into new and unexpected ways. For six weeks CITE transforms the ice trail at the Bentway into a destination where the public can hone skateboarding skills while participating in accompanying activist, educational, arts and cultural practices that situate the act of skateboarding within the broader context of urban place-making. CITE features interdisciplinary programming including workshops, performances, a marketplace, speaker series, and more.

 The heart of the program is an pop-up skate park titled Semblance, designed by Build for Bokma and commissioned (co-presented) by the Bentway. Semblance utilizes forms and materials that reference iconic skateboarding destinations within Toronto, New York, Barcelona, and other major urban centres. Together the sculptures create a “moveable destination”, a temporary gathering place for local and international skate communities alike.

 CITE speaks to the simultaneous (in)accessibility of urban spaces, to the reclamation of the city by marginalized groups, and the potential for community development through creative collaboration.  

CITE runs from June 30-August 12, 2018 at The Bentway, 250 Fort York Blvd.

For more information about the event, please see here.

 

About Build for Bokma: 

Build for Bokma is a Toronto-based non-profit organization directed by Wes Loates, Josh Singal, and Immony Men. The group’s mandate is to produce multifunctional skateable structures within public space, their long-term goal is to create a memorial DIY skate park that commemorates the life of pro skateboarder Justin Bokma. BFB aims to eliminate the gap between skateboarders and the communities they are a part of, by pursuing innovative and creative ways of integrating skateboarding into the urban landscape of the city. 

Creator: 
Sponsor(s): 
Photograph of Immony Men, West Loates and Josh Singal posing in front of skate ramps at The Bentway.
Thursday, July 5, 2018 - 9:15am