This is a nice touch. The Southbank Centre is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, but it has also found a moment to celebrate 50 years of skateboarding in the Undercroft of the Queen Elizabeth Hall with an exhibition of films, audio, photos and boards. Given the Southbank is making a big deal about youth subcultures, the difficult relationship it has had with the skating community in the past could easily have been a bum note. Instead, it is bringing skateboarding in the Undercroft into the wider celebrations without avoiding the past. In fact, the battles with the institution form the central narrative here.
Predominantly, the exhibition showcases short films by Winstan Whitter, Dan Magee, Lev Tanju and Jack Brooks, which tell the history of skaters here, along with animation by Sofia Negri and atmospheric audio by Beatrice Dillon. There is also photography, a selection of often battered boards and a timeline around the walls.
