Encouraging urban play through skateboarding and community art

In June and July of 2025, Lecturer in Contemporary Applied Performance, Dr Dani Abulhawa toured her skateable sculptures, titled ‘Drift Tricks’, to The Children’s Art School in Huddersfield. They were developed as part of an innovative collaboration between Abulhawa and artist/structural engineer, Bedir Bekar with the intention of introducing one-of-a-kind playable sculptures into urban spaces.

The sculptures were designed as part of the PRIMEdesign skateboarding, art, and community project commissioned by Take-a-Part and Karst Gallery as part of Plymouth City of Culture and were initially made for and in the city of Plymouth. Themed around the climate crisis, the sculptures were imagined as being refashioned bits of broken roof pieces from the Civic Centre in Plymouth, along with the trunk of a fallen tree, into objects for play in the aftermath of a climate disaster. The process for creating these playable/skateable sculptures was participatory, involving the PRIMEdesign youth commitee.

Photo credit: Lauren Mudge

Abulhawa always envisaged that the sculptures would have other lives beyond Plymouth, and since their initial conception in Plymouth they have been presented in Leeds, Huddersfield and Richmond, London. As part of their residence in Huddersfield, Abulhawa ran a series of workshops which were designed to help youth participants interact and play with the sculptures. She anticipates that the workshops will also encourage thinking around how play can be used to creatively explore social issues such as the current climate crisis.