Following les Traceurs

The evolving sport of Le Parkour remakes the dérive as martial art. Defining itself as the art of movement, Le Parkour “is a new way of apprehending the environment which surrounds us, with…the human body.” As wikipedia explains, Le Parkour consists of moving from point to point in an uninterrupted motion, which means running, but also jumping, climbing and otherwise negotiating the urban terrain in a smooth and rapid manner. Founder David Belle states that Le Parkour’s fundamental principles are “escape” and “reach,” allowing one to go wherever one wants. But fluidity and beauty are also key and Le Parkour sees itself as a philosophy, not just as a sport. More on The Art of Le Parkour at the BBC.

But Le Parkour is also a form of “reality hacking,” which makes it part of network culture, inconceivable without Kung Fu movies, video games, and the postwar Brutalism of European suburbs in which it was invented and that makes up its playground. Obviously, Le Parkour is related to skateboarding, but as Anne Galloway points out at spaceandculture.org, Le Parkour is silent. At the risk of offending my skateboarder readers, skateboarding is old school (postmodern), Le Parkour is new school (network culture). Skateboarding requires an intervening object that makes loud, disruptive noises, Le Parkour is largely silent except for the sounds of sneakers contacting objects.

To see Parkour in action, check out “Russian Climbing,” an eight minute long video that captures the phenomenon in a landscape of abandoned, semi-completed Soviet housing or this documentary on Le Parkour founder David Belle.
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The evolving sport of Le Parkour remakes the dérive as martial art. Defining itself as the art of movement, Le Parkour “is a new way of apprehending the environment which surrounds us, with…the human body.” As wikipedia explains, Le Parkour consists of moving from point to point in an uninterrupted motion, which means running, but also jumping, climbing and otherwise negotiating the urban terrain in a smooth and rapid manner. Founder David Belle states that Le Parkour’s fundamental principles are “escape” and “reach,” allowing one to go wherever one wants. But fluidity and beauty are also key and Le Parkour sees itself as a philosophy, not just as a sport. More on The Art of Le Parkour at the BBC.

But Le Parkour is also a form of “reality hacking,” which makes it part of network culture, inconceivable without Kung Fu movies, video games, and the postwar Brutalism of European suburbs in which it was invented and that makes up its playground. Obviously, Le Parkour is related to skateboarding, but as Anne Galloway points out at spaceandculture.org, Le Parkour is silent. At the risk of offending my skateboarder readers, skateboarding is old school (postmodern), Le Parkour is new school (network culture). Skateboarding requires an intervening object that makes loud, disruptive noises, Le Parkour is largely silent except for the sounds of sneakers contacting objects.

To see Parkour in action, check out “Russian Climbing,” an eight minute long video that captures the phenomenon in a landscape of abandoned, semi-completed Soviet housing or this documentary on Le Parkour founder David Belle.
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