THE FORBIDDEN CONJUNCTION THE Raphaël Zarka FORBID- DEN CON- JUNCTION 1 followed by 5 THE FORBIDDEN CONJUNCTION 29 THE QUESTION IS WHICH IS TO BE MASTER © Éditions B42 & Raphaël Zarka 2011. Graphic design: deValence Translated from the French by Chris Sharp Proofreading : Louise Stein ISBN 978-2-490077-40-3 Dépôt légal, juin 2020. B42—140 E09 Éditions B42 80, rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis 75010 Paris – France
[email protected] www.editions-b42.com The author would like to thank : Cécilia Bécanovic, Mathieu Abonnenc, Maxime Thieffine, Guillaume Constantin, Alexandre Dimos, Élie During, Alexis Papadopoulos, Julien Prévieux, Claude Queyrel and Didier Semin for their support and their advices. The author also wish to thank: Bertrand Trichet, Carhartt, Bischoff/Weiss gallery, Chris Sharp, and Sam Griffin without whom this english edition of that book would not have been possible. THE FORBIDDEN CONJUNCTION PROLOGUE Skateboarding is a tenacious obsession for the those who began doing it early on in their teenage years. Forms created by skate- boarding can be seen more and more in galleries, museums and some of the most significant manifestations of contemporary art. This fact, which some might see as a simple phenomenon of fash- ion, is nothing less than the outcome of a logical evolution: the young skaters who just twenty years ago infested public spaces and built mini-ramps in their backyards, are now of the age to exhibit in Documenta. Skateboarding structures the world view of those who prac- tice it. Despite itself, it engenders a reevaluation of spaces and materials otherwise taken for granted.