Fisher Halfpipe: Skating as a Cross-cultural Platform

Fisher Beacon Project #2

Curated by Everard Findlay, Fisher Halfpipe explores the idea of the commons, and the way that certain sports, such as skateboarding, transcend barriers of race, class, and culture to draw disparate groups into community. An individual sport, in which the skater must contend with the laws of physics and physicality, skating is a true meritocracy; a level playing field, on which raw ability is readily apparent.

The Halfpipe itself will be a monolithic mass bisecting the main arcade of the Fisher Lobby. Patrons will walk through gateways beneath and will be able to view skaters above with the magnificent Fisher as a backdrop, curves of the structure and the arcs of skaters cutting through space mirroring the Fisher’s vaulted, frescoed and inlaid walls and ceilings.

The Fisher holds a unique place in the Detroit story, emblematic of the dramatic highs and lows Detroit has experienced in the past century, built upon the velocity and momentum afforded by the motor vehicle. Through these fluctuations, beauty and humanity has survived and thrived. Fisher Halfpipe continues this story, with another kind of vehicle, another kind of momentum, another kind of high and low - the Skateboard and the Rider - triumphantly activating the phenomenal space through motion once again.