SueAnne Ware & Darcy Newberry-Dupe – AppropriSK8

AppropriSK8 encourages a radical rethink of urban space, appropriation + ownership through design and prototype of skate able armatures from ‘hacked’ council urban furniture. Confronting the prevalence of ‘anti-skate’ design of urban spaces within our cities and contesting notions of ‘public’ space, the objects designed and prototyped by the students will encourage skater appropriation rather than deter it.
A detailed summary of the contents of Melbourne City Council’s material depots will be provided to the students and the design brief will ask that these materials be upcycled/ recycled into skate-able armatures. Newcastle’s skate spaces and public spaces will be mapped, documented and overlaid to analyse existing and future opportunities for spatial appropriation and kinesthetics within the urban fabric.
Additionally, the documentation of the elective, as well as a curation of these designs will serve as part of a collaborative exhibition between SueAnne Ware, Mark Jacques and Katrina Simon which proposes to occupy RMIT’s Design Hub Gallery and Plaza with skateboarding and skate subculture events in December 2020.