The French Response to Burnside

“…It was rad as hell, kinked as f#@k, rough as an alcoholic tongue, but it was our spot!” – an anonymous creator of La Caverne

In Marseille, France there lies a dark, dingy abandoned warehouse beyond the view of the common people. The telltale graffiti and discarded trash of society’s undesirable class littered this area, and as a result the former site of productivity seemed more like a cave than a building. It is no surprise that skaters, who are often associated with the mantra “Skate and Destroy,” would create a place to express their styles without the regulations of a system that failed to understand them.

La Caverne’s beginnings operated in a similar fashion to the Grimm Brothers fairy tale “The Pied Piper of Hamelin;” the rat catcher enticed the rats.  The abandoned warehouse attracted artists from all over France, and a tagger by the name of Nours, who also skated, told his friends about it and the work began.

Relying on the offerings of acquaintances, a crew of skaters began to invest their time and energy into the hard labor that accompanies the building of a concrete skatepark.  “It takes a lot of energy for just one part of the process and we ruined our hands,” stated the anonymous builder who maintains the La Caverne myspace page where the above photo was located.  During the construction, they dealt with opposition in the form of angry taggers, police, and others who deemed the spot undesirable. 

Working without generators and proper tools, they persisted and created a haven for the rats of society. Enter La Caverne.