Episode 56 - Sander Hölsgens
Episode 56 with Sander Hölsgens, skateboarder, filmmaker and academic based in Rotterdam, Holland. Together we discussed him growing up in Kerkrade and picking up his first board in the early 2000’s as a teenager, studying art and anthropology and labeling himself a skateboarding anthropologist, writing his PhD thesis on skateboarding in Seoul, South Korea, co-creating and organizing the Pushing Boarders conferences/events in 2018 and 2019 in London and Malmö, his current position at the University of Leiden, his thoughts on the climate crisis and why the skateboarding community is not addressing this issue more, his upcoming projects… (00:13) - Intro (01:13) - Getting started (05:47) - First mag and first video (06:52) - John Rattray influence (09:42) - Ever dreamt of getting sponsored/turning pro? (11:22) - How good of a student were you? (16:38) - Journey with academia (21:53) - PhD thesis on skateboarding in Seoul (26:03) - Skateboarding anthropologist (30:16) - Film Recordings festival (32:47) - Pushing Boarders (38:47) - How many days, how many panels at both editions? (41:11) - Was the second edition more chill than the first one? (43:14) - How difficult was it to involve sponsors? (49:16) - Why hasn’t there been another edition of PB since 2019? (54:06) - Current initiatives that are inspired by Pushing Boarders (56:50) - Current position at the University of Leiden (01:00:46) - Article about skateboarding and failure with Paul O’Connor (01:04:38) - Studying the skateboarding scene in Korea (01:16:06) - Climate crisis: why is it not discussed more in skateboarding? (01:26:07) - Upcoming projects (01:28:14) - Most valuable lesson learned from skateboarding (01:30:13) - Friends questions (01:57:29) - Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards