Lines

Eesu Lehtola’s work Lines shows that public space is not neutral: it is governed by norms and rules. Skateboarding makes this visible. It opens up a space to new meanings and reminds us that shared environments can have as many uses as there are users.

For most city residents, infrastructure and architecture are seen first and foremost through services and businesses. For skaters, the most interesting aspects of a space are its structures and surfaces and the paths that run through them (in skating terms, the lines), not so much the intended function of the space.

Eesu Lehtola has been skateboarding for 30 years and has through it found his way into art, creative work and culture. Lehtola is from Kotka. His works are made of plywood, which is also the main material used to make skateboards. The three-dimensionality of the works reflects the multidimensionality of skateboarding and the spaces used for it.

For his works, Lehtola skated in the public spaces of his childhood home town of Kotka and recorded a wide range of data about his movements: the routes he took, the time spent in particular spaces, average and peak speeds, and calories burned. This material served as a basis for the abstract art and video works that will be included in the exhibition, as well as for a short documentary film that will be released separately later. They visualise spaces, the paths taken through them and other stored information.