Skateboarders, trick bike riders, jugglers, drummers, graffiti artists, breakdancers, bmxers, DJs, generally groovy people and more. It's all happening in Dublin this weekend.
I'm looking forward to volunteering for the first time at the Kings of Concrete Festival, which is happening on Wood Quay in Dublin Saturday and Sunday. And yes, it's free.
Put together by the lovely people at Micromedia and a lot of talented people devoting their time, this is a festival celebrating all things great about street art, culture and sports, something I admire but know very little about!
They're taking over the space at the Dublin City Council offices (just down from Christchurch) from 11am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. The set up looks amazing - skate ramps, workshop areas, food markets, free running and a chill out zone. If the weather holds it could be a lot of fun! Here's a map of the place:
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In a city with such a strong and alternative youth culture, brimming with amazing art, unique styles, creativity and a hunger to try new things, it's great to see space and time for this side of things being committed. From the official MySpace page:
"For a variety of reasons this faction of youth culture has remained largely unsupported and underdeveloped in Ireland. For too long we have had to find street spots off our own bat just to participate in the sports we are most passionate about. These spots typically have been unofficial and illegal. All too often security have removed skaters abruptly calling to a halt an otherwise perfect day.You can view the full timetable below, or check out their official MySpace or Bebo pages. It's going to be fun!
Kings of concrete is a celebration of this recent transformation. We hope to help build and sustain a platform to promote the wonderful variety of activities available for youth culture in Ireland today such as skating, inline blading, BMX, break dancing and graffiti amongst others."
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Get there early to sign up for workshops and so on. Hope to see you there. I'll be the old man looking for stabilisers for the skateboard.
I find the venue for this really interesting, considering that during the mid 90's dublin city council banned the skateboarders, bikers and rollerbladers from going near the wonderful skating spots around this building, even installing anti-grind devices.
ReplyDeleteStill, I might pop down to this on the Saturday, looks interesting. :)
Cool! That's a bit different. There really is so much going on if you just pay attention, isn't there!
ReplyDeleteDarren I recommend getting the skating & breakdancing out of the way BEFORE you head to the chocolate festival ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks cool Darragh, looking forward to popping down to this for a look on Saturday :)
@Sinéad - thanks for the comment. The irony of the setting hasn't escaped me either. Looking forward to seeing the set-up shortly!
ReplyDelete@Darren - certainly is. Can't wait to start meeting people (and taking photos)
@Niamh - bring me some chocolate too! See you there :)