SKATE OR DIE? Pants Ramp Before…
Pants Ramp After…
Team Pants Ramp Vandalized… it appears that a forklift or some kind of other heavy construction equipment destroyed the Artscape sculpture between midnight and 7 a.m. on Monday July 21st. Was this a city plot against skate-boarding? A MICA vendetta against pants? What’s wrong with pants, anyway? It’s really sad.
“Someone vandalized our ramp last night. If you saw or heard anything, please email us at the Ten Tigers email. This is very sad, we worked very hard through some of the hottest days of the year to make our ramp. None of the other sculptures have been tampered with, it seems someone just had it out for the pants.” -Ten Tigers Blog
After After…
I asked Gary Kachadorian at BOPA a few questions about the Pants Ramp and the destruction of it. His response is here: “Hole # 1/Pants Ramp by Jordan Bernier, John Bohl, Alex Ebstein, Steve Santillan, Sara Seidman, and Elie Sollins, was exceptionally well received at Artscape. There was activity and an audience during all of the operating hours of the festival. It was commissioned as a sculpture and prototype of the first hole of a putt-putt golf course where each of the holes would also be skatable. The destruction of the piece was purely an accident. A miscommunication during the teardown of the festival resulted in a worker destroying the right leg before he was stopped. Artscape is working with the artists to repair this damage, as I understand the new right leg will have a cast on it.
“Regarding the longevity of this piece and the community reaction, these are both fluid. The piece could be on site for as long as 10 months as many of the Artscape sculptures are. This is always dependent on how well each piece holds up in the environment and if there are safety or other issues that may require an earlier removal. Regarding the questions you brought up about skate parks I don’t think that Artscape or BOPA are the proper agencies for that discussion but I do want to point out that the city has installed and maintains an open concrete bowl in Carroll Park.”
GOOD NEWS FOR THE RAMP: According to the project director, Jordan Bernier: “The artists have been working hard the past two days to complete repairs needed to make the pants whole again. We hope to have the pants functional by the weekend, weather permitting. I’m confident that the partial destruction was an accident, and while that doesn’t fix the problem, the challenge of putting the pants back together has been an idea that has generated a huge amount of support from friends and the public in general. BOPA has been supportive in our artistic decisions since the beginning of the first construction, and they continue to be supportive through the reconstruction. Friends of the artists even had a bake sale yesterday to raise money for repair costs. Skatebaorders from around the city have been dissappointed to see the ramp hurt, but they are supportive in our resolve to mend the broken leg. People have been stopping by to lend a hand, and at one point, we had ten volunteers helping to move the severed area back into place. Seeing the support of artists, skateboarders, and other members of the community, has solidified my resolve to continue repairing the pants.”
