Program

Exibitions
Concert / DJ Set
Projection
Conference / Round table
Skate session

Salle Capitulaire / Capitular Hall

International Workshop – “Sciences and Skateboarding” (by invitation only)

Connect x ESSCA
All day
Leo Sharp Photos
Dr Kirsty Smith Photos
Iseki Nobuo Photos
Vanessa Udriot Painting
Soy Panday Painting
Grégoire Grange Photos
Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind Photos
Lome Immersive Sound
18:00 - 22:00

La Cour / The Courtyard

Official Opening

18:00 - 21:00
Fred Mortagne Photos
18:00 - 00:00

Video Premieres

DC shoes : The Plaza Project – Koenig episode 
Monstro de Bangkok
Magenta skateboards surprise video
20:00 - 20:45

DANCING THERAPY

MIKO Immersive Sound
DASLIM Immersive Sound
21:00 - 00:00

Miroir d'Eau / The Water Mirror

David Manaud Photos
All day

Skateable sculptures

All day

Salle Capitulaire / Capitular Hall

Leo Sharp Photos
Dr Kirsty Smith Photos
Vanessa Udriot Painting
Soy Panday Painting
Iseki Nobuo Photos
Grégoire Grange Photos
Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind Photos
Lome Immersive Sound
12:00 - 20:00

Skateboarding in Bordeaux : resistance, mediation, acceptance

Baptiste Pointillart
14:30 - 15:00

Behind the Lens : Co-Creating Skateboard Media

Leo Sharp Photos
Dr Kirsty Smith Photos
15:00 - 15:45

Extérieurs Bruts

Camile Ayme
16:15 - 16:45

Skateboarding programs in Under-Recognised Places

Denia Kopita
Dr Indigo Willing
Dr Marie “Maz” Mayassi
16:45 - 17:30

H3ADZ

17:30 - 17:45

UNITED 3

17:45 - 18:00

La Cour / The Courtyard

Fred Mortagne Photos
10:00 - 00:00

Connect Village

Stands, Bar & Snacking
10:00 - 00:00

MX x Ed Banger Night

Bareeo (MX) Concert
Bonito Boy (Ed Banger) Concert
Malino (MX) Concert
Feadz (Ed Banger) Concert
18:00 - 00:00

Miroir d'Eau / The Water Mirror

Skateables Sculptures

All day
David Manaud Photos
All day

Salle Capitulaire / Capitular Hall

Yoga session Namaskate

Lauren Valls
10:00 - 11:00
Leo Sharp Photos
Dr Kirsty Smith Photos
Vanessa Udriot Painting
Iseki Nobuo Photos
Soy Panday Painting
Grégoire Grange Photos
Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind Photos
Lome Immersive Sound
11:00 - 20:00

The fight for Cultural Preservation and Urban Equity

April Jones
11:30 - 12:00

Make Life Skate Life – Barika Rising

12:00 - 12:30

Guided Tour – Vanessa Udriot Exhibition

Vanessa Udriot Painting
13:00 - 13:15

Saving Vale

Murilo Romão
Rafael Murolo
14:00 - 15:00

Stand up comedy “You Have to Start Somewhere”

René Olivo – Chef Family
15:00 - 15:30

Tokyo tactical skaturbanism

Kai Kagitani
Takahiro Yamazaki
15:45 - 16:45

La Cour / The Courtyard

Connect Village

Stands, Bar & Snacking
10:00 - 19:00
Fred Mortagne Photos
10:00 - 00:00

Connect meet Les Viatiques : Cour Mably takeover Concert

Wallace Jr. Concert
Oli Concert
Alex Murak Concert
19:00 - 00:00

Miroir d'Eau / The Water Mirror

David Manaud Photos
All day

Live Jazz Skate Session Concert

Mellifera Concert
Skate Her
17:00 - 19:00

Salle Capitulaire / Capitular Hall

Yoga for skaters – Namaskate special edition (pilates + nidra)

Lauren Valls
10:00 - 11:00
Leo Sharp Photos
Dr Kirsty Smith Photos
Vanessa Udriot Painting
Iseki Nobuo Photos
Soy Panday Painting
Grégoire Grange Photos
Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind Photos
Lome Immersive Sound
11:00 - 18:00

Mountain High Valley Low

Madars Apse
12:00 - 12:15

Freedom : Renaissance

Julian Dykmans
12:15 - 12:30

City in crisis

12:30 - 12:45

Nixon Video

12:45 - 12:50

Fatbros “On the Broad” documentary

12:50 - 13:00

Industry Section

14:00 - 15:00

Trivia Skate Quizz

La Lodge AKA Thibault Carpentier
16:00 - 18:00

La Cour / The Courtyard

Fred Mortagne Photos
10:00 - 18:00

Connect Village

Stands, Bar & Snacking
10:00 - 18:00

Guided Tour – Fred Mortagne Exhibition

Fred Mortagne Photos
13:00 - 13:15

Closing DJ set Dj Sets

DJ Gramboy Concert
15:00 - 18:00

Miroir d'Eau / The Water Mirror

Skateables Sculptures

All day
David Manaud Photos
All day

Cours du Chapeau Rouge

Miroir d'Eau / The Water Mirror

Guided Visit : Skaturbanism in Bordeaux

Leo Valls
Gustav Eden
10:00 - 11:30

Place de la Comédie

Freestyle Battle Japan x Brazil

Sergio Santoro
Japanese Super Rat
21:00 - 21:30

International Workshop – “Sciences and Skateboarding” (by invitation only)

Born in the United States in the 1950s, skateboarding has evolved over time to become a bridge between sport, social practice, and culture, while maintaining a strong connection to urban space.

Despite ongoing stigmatization, skateboarding has become a creator of identities, influencing fields such as fashion and music, serving as a vehicle for expression, and embracing values of diversity and inclusion.

As a result, these emerging dynamics make skateboarding a rich subject of study within the Humanities and Social Sciences (sociology, urban studies, history, public management, economics, etc.).

In collaboration with ESSCA – School of Management, the 2025 edition of the Connect Festival presents the first international workshop “Sciences and Skateboarding”, inviting researchers to meet, share their work if they wish, and collectively reflect on future research perspectives.

Connect x ESSCA

Exhibitions Thursday

Leo Sharp

Léo Sharp is a British photographer specializing in skateboarding, regarded as one of the UK’s most influential in the field. Former photo editor of Sidewalk magazine, he has been capturing the energy and creativity of the skate scene for over 20 years, with features in Thrasher, Kingpin, and Skateboarder.

For Connect Festival, he joins forces with Dr Kirsty Smith for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Dr Kirsty Smith

Dr Kirsty Smith is a British photographer and researcher, specializing in fashion, extreme sports, and skate culture. Holding a PhD in Photography and teaching at Arts University Plymouth, she has collaborated with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Vans, and Vogue, and exhibited at international festivals.

For Connect Festival, she joins forces with Léo Sharp for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Iseki Nobuo

Notorious for his clean photo style documenting local scenes around Japan and the world and pushing a strong Japanese skateboarding identity, Iseki will join us at this year’s festival to present a special photo exhibition called “Tokyo vibes”. Iseki launched PANCAKE Skateboard Magazine in 2024, which will be featured at our media booth at Cour Mably, and continues to document skateboarding in Japan and abroad as a photographer and editor.

Vanessa Udriot

Skater, architect, and artist from Lausanne, Switzerland, Vanessa Udriot will exhibit a new art installation at this year’s Connect festival. She will explore fluid, non-normative occupations of public space with a series of flags that transform borders into poetic maps of urban freedom. As a skaturbanist, and a skateable sculpture creator, she will share how skateboarding led her to study architecture, how architecture inspired her vision of skateboarding and how her artistic practice became a space of freedom and expression—much like skateboarding itself.

Vanessa is also the co-founder of the local association @lausanneskateboardclub, which has developed international inclusive programs for women, parent-child sessions, initiatives for immigrants and refugees (mainly unaccompanied minors and women), and international collaborations.

Soy Panday

French professional skateboarder, artist, and actor Soy Panday will exhibit a series of new drawings and paintings about the relationship with the urban environment. 

Soy is a pillar in the world of skateboarding, where the practice is appreciated as a subtle and thoughtful form of expression. His graphic art is poetically surreal, narrative, and positive, at times even shamanic. Always on the boundary between two worlds—dream and reality, night and day, yin and yang—Panday invites us to follow him into depths that are never dark, from which we can peacefully observe a parallel dimension : that of the spirit.

Beyond Magenta, for which he designs boards and apparel, he has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Vans, and DC, producing shoes adorned with his artwork, as well as with artists including Mark Gonzales, Raphael Zarka, Benjamin Deberdt, Ocean Howell, and Brian Lotti.

Grégoire Grange

Bordeaux-based photographer Grégoire Grange has always been closely connected to the world of skateboarding. A long-time collaborator of Connect, he has documented the evolution of skaturbanism in Bordeaux, from the very first meetings with the City to the concrete transformations of public space. His work combines an architectural eye with deep roots in countercultures. In parallel, he has worked as an art director and photographer with institutions such as Le Bal, Arc en Rêve, FRAC MÉCA, and Le Confort Moderne. In 2024, Paris Photo entrusted him with a carte blanche to document the fair. His exhibition at Connect retraces eight years of the unique process of integrating skateboarding into Bordeaux’s urban fabric.

Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind

The love of skateboarding has spread across continents and with the help of Make Life Skate Life- an organization of volunteer builders and skateboarders, the grind has gone even more global. Make life skate life and Samantha Robinson will present a collection of photographs showcasing a global movement of sharing the joy of skateboarding with the world.  A messy, sweaty and endlessly determined adventure, because if skateboarding teaches us anything, it’s this—the world is your playground. 

Lome

In which way can skateboarding mark urban soundscape?

To answer this question, the association L’Ouïe M’Enchante approached the Connect project and suggested setting up the “Skate in the city” experiment. A selection of excerpts from these recordings will be available for listening to on headphones.

Indeed, the sharing of public space is as much about the physical and visual presence of skateboarders in the city as it is about their acoustic mark on the urban soundscape, so we can talk about immersion in a “musical” composition of the city.

Official Opening

The doors of Cour Mably open at 6PM to kick off the second edition of CONNECT Skaturbanism Festival. Join skaters, artists, architects, activists, and researchers from across the globe for the opening night: explore 7 exhibitions, catch exclusive video premieres, and celebrate with us late into the night! Connect 2025 is more than a festival — it’s a living proof that skateboarding is cultural, territorial, and transformative.

Exhibition Jeudi Outdoor

Fred Mortagne

Legendary French skateboarding imagery creator Fred Mortagne will present a special exhibition at this year’s Connect festival.

Known worldwide for filming some of the most iconic skate videos of the 2000s, Fred has spent the past decade focusing on photography. His work is a tribute to the urban shapes and architectural forms that skaters are instinctively drawn to — banks, ledges, transitions, and the subtle geometries of the city.

While his search for new skate spots never stops, that same quest often leads him, almost by chance, to places that also become the perfect settings for his photography.Fred’s unique vision blurs the line between skateboarding and art, revealing the poetry hidden in concrete landscapes. Fred also extends his practice to other art forms, including dance, theater, and classical music (Auditorium de Lyon, Ensemble Pygmalion, Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre du Châtelet). His career reflects the growing cultural recognition of skateboarding, from the streets to major stages.

Video Premieres

DC shoes : The Plaza Project – Koenig episode 

Entirely filmed at iconic Bordeaux spot Terrasse Koenig, which has been brought back to life in recent years (thanks to Skaturbanism), this clip sets the stage for DC SHOES’ new video series “The Plazza Project”.

On this single spot, you’ll witness the diversity of styles and creativity each skater brings, turning one plaza into a showcase of endless expression.

Filmed by Stephane Feugas and Robin Claude, and directed by David Manaud.

Monstro de Bangkok

Rémi Luciani & Leo Valls’s Monstro video series 4th installment takes place in Thailand’s capital city. 

Joined by the creative forces of Ben Koppl and Charles Myatt, the crew is embedded in a vibrant picturesque scenery blending vernacular and ultra-modern architectures.

In other words, a fertile soil blooming with unique looking, yet untouched but heavily watched spots by omnipresent security guards.

A memorable journey, motivated by the passion of exploring new grounds, meeting people, learning about cultures while documenting on Super8 motion picture film and VX1000 digital video.

Magenta skateboards surprise video

DANCING THERAPY

DANCING THERAPY was born from the encounter between Miko—a lifelong skater and globetrotting DJ with a passion for underground gems—and Daslim, a tireless digger and music craftsman with over 20 years of experience.

Shaped by their experiences in clubs, collectives, and productions, they blend their worlds to create eclectic, groovy, and festive sets blending funky disco, ’90s house, city pop, UK influences, and bass music. Their mission: to surprise, share hidden gems, and above all… get people dancing.

Find DANCING THERAPY live at the opening night of CONNECT.

MIKO

Immersed in music from an early age, and in skate and street culture from the early 90s, he developed a true passion for rap and house at the end of the decade. He made his debut on Radio Béton in Tours in 2003 and quickly built a reputation as an insatiable digger, vinyl collector, and lover of underground gems. He then roamed the Bordeaux and Parisian nightlife before taking off for nearly a decade across clubs worldwide—from Los Angeles to Tokyo, Melbourne to Bali, via Dubai and Cape Town.

Back in Limoges in 2020, he joined the Sportswear Soundsystem collective and released Tout le monde sur la piste. Today, with his duo Dancing Therapy (alongside Daslim), he returns to the essence: making everyone dance with an eclectic, sharp, and always festive selection.

DASLIM

A digger for over 20 years, Daslim has dedicated his time to relentless digging and dissecting sounds to capture all their subtleties. After several years between Paris and Bordeaux, he multiplied his productions (including for n°10) and notably released a track under the alias WAYCUP, featured on the Memphis sur Vienne mixtape by the Tribe All Starz collective.For the past year, he has joined Miko within Dancing Therapy, bringing his technical skills and abyssal playlist. Together, they deliver eclectic and powerful sets designed to surprise, to make discoveries, and above all—to make people dance.

Exhibition David Manaud

David Manaud

Bordeaux, France

Skateboarder, team manager and photographer David Manaud discovered photography by documenting his early skateboarding sessions with friends. A skateboarder first, he developed an instinctive eye that soon turned toward architecture and urban landscapes. His work expanded to explore the relationship between people, movement, and the city.

Presented outdoors on the Bordeaux quays during Connect, David’s new exhibition reflects that journey: rooted in Bordeaux, enriched by travel, and open to the world. Each photograph comes with its own story, inviting visitors to grasp the human dimension of his work.

Skateable sculptures

Enjoy our skateable sculptures displayed on several iconic Bordeaux public spaces around town. For each and everyone, all day long!

Exhibitions Friday

Leo Sharp

Léo Sharp is a British photographer specializing in skateboarding, regarded as one of the UK’s most influential in the field. Former photo editor of Sidewalk magazine, he has been capturing the energy and creativity of the skate scene for over 20 years, with features in Thrasher, Kingpin, and Skateboarder.

For Connect Festival, he joins forces with Dr Kirsty Smith for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Dr Kirsty Smith

Dr Kirsty Smith is a British photographer and researcher, specializing in fashion, extreme sports, and skate culture. Holding a PhD in Photography and teaching at Arts University Plymouth, she has collaborated with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Vans, and Vogue, and exhibited at international festivals.

For Connect Festival, she joins forces with Léo Sharp for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Vanessa Udriot

Skater, architect, and artist from Lausanne, Switzerland, Vanessa Udriot will exhibit a new art installation at this year’s Connect festival. She will explore fluid, non-normative occupations of public space with a series of flags that transform borders into poetic maps of urban freedom. As a skaturbanist, and a skateable sculpture creator, she will share how skateboarding led her to study architecture, how architecture inspired her vision of skateboarding and how her artistic practice became a space of freedom and expression—much like skateboarding itself.

Vanessa is also the co-founder of the local association @lausanneskateboardclub, which has developed international inclusive programs for women, parent-child sessions, initiatives for immigrants and refugees (mainly unaccompanied minors and women), and international collaborations.

Soy Panday

French professional skateboarder, artist, and actor Soy Panday will exhibit a series of new drawings and paintings about the relationship with the urban environment. 

Soy is a pillar in the world of skateboarding, where the practice is appreciated as a subtle and thoughtful form of expression. His graphic art is poetically surreal, narrative, and positive, at times even shamanic. Always on the boundary between two worlds—dream and reality, night and day, yin and yang—Panday invites us to follow him into depths that are never dark, from which we can peacefully observe a parallel dimension : that of the spirit.

Beyond Magenta, for which he designs boards and apparel, he has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Vans, and DC, producing shoes adorned with his artwork, as well as with artists including Mark Gonzales, Raphael Zarka, Benjamin Deberdt, Ocean Howell, and Brian Lotti.

Iseki Nobuo

Notorious for his clean photo style documenting local scenes around Japan and the world and pushing a strong Japanese skateboarding identity, Iseki will join us at this year’s festival to present a special photo exhibition called “Tokyo vibes”. Iseki launched PANCAKE Skateboard Magazine in 2024, which will be featured at our media booth at Cour Mably, and continues to document skateboarding in Japan and abroad as a photographer and editor.

Grégoire Grange

Bordeaux-based photographer Grégoire Grange has always been closely connected to the world of skateboarding. A long-time collaborator of Connect, he has documented the evolution of skaturbanism in Bordeaux, from the very first meetings with the City to the concrete transformations of public space. His work combines an architectural eye with deep roots in countercultures. In parallel, he has worked as an art director and photographer with institutions such as Le Bal, Arc en Rêve, FRAC MÉCA, and Le Confort Moderne. In 2024, Paris Photo entrusted him with a carte blanche to document the fair. His exhibition at Connect retraces eight years of the unique process of integrating skateboarding into Bordeaux’s urban fabric.

Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind

The love of skateboarding has spread across continents and with the help of Make Life Skate Life- an organization of volunteer builders and skateboarders, the grind has gone even more global. Make life skate life and Samantha Robinson will present a collection of photographs showcasing a global movement of sharing the joy of skateboarding with the world.  A messy, sweaty and endlessly determined adventure, because if skateboarding teaches us anything, it’s this—the world is your playground. 

Lome

In which way can skateboarding mark urban soundscape?

To answer this question, the association L’Ouïe M’Enchante approached the Connect project and suggested setting up the “Skate in the city” experiment. A selection of excerpts from these recordings will be available for listening to on headphones.

Indeed, the sharing of public space is as much about the physical and visual presence of skateboarders in the city as it is about their acoustic mark on the urban soundscape, so we can talk about immersion in a “musical” composition of the city.

Skateboarding in Bordeaux : resistance, mediation, acceptance

PhD researcher Baptiste Pointillart retraced the history of skateboarding in Bordeaux by combining interviews with key actors of the local scene and city representatives with an analysis of public and private archives. His findings reveal how skateboarders’ formal and informal networks fostered a constructive dialogue with municipal authorities, progressively leading to the legitimisation of skateboarding within urban space. The case of Bordeaux highlights the ability of key local actors to shape urban governance and spatial politics. Once banned from many squares, skateboarding has been redefined through mediation and sustained civic engagement as a matter of urban integration.

Baptiste Pointillart

Baptiste Pointillart is a history and geography teacher whose doctoral thesis, defended in 2024, traces the history of skateboarding in Bordeaux from the 1970s to today, with a focus on the recent shift in public policy. Revisited especially for Connect, his work sheds light on how Bordeaux moved from a repressive to an integrative approach toward skateboarding, helping us all understand this process better.

Behind the Lens : Co-Creating Skateboard Media

How are the images and narratives that shape skate culture born? Léo Sharp and Dr Kirsty Smith, share their dual perspective on media creation in skateboarding.

Drawing from their complementary experiences, they will explore the collaborative dynamics between skaters, photographers, media, and cities.

This talk will examine how skateboarding, far beyond a sport, becomes a shared language, co-authored by those who live it and those who document it. A conversation to understand how image and experience intertwine to write the story of a culture in motion.

Leo Sharp

Léo Sharp is a British photographer specializing in skateboarding, regarded as one of the UK’s most influential in the field. Former photo editor of Sidewalk magazine, he has been capturing the energy and creativity of the skate scene for over 20 years, with features in Thrasher, Kingpin, and Skateboarder.

For Connect Festival, he joins forces with Dr Kirsty Smith for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Dr Kirsty Smith

Dr Kirsty Smith is a British photographer and researcher, specializing in fashion, extreme sports, and skate culture. Holding a PhD in Photography and teaching at Arts University Plymouth, she has collaborated with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Vans, and Vogue, and exhibited at international festivals.

For Connect Festival, she joins forces with Léo Sharp for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Extérieurs Bruts

Based on a mythical pattern – the catabase – this film by Diane de Viry and Camille Ayme weaves a material and visual link between the Palais de Tokyo and Portugal’s deepest marble quarry.

We follow the journey of a skateboarder in search of the perfect spot, in a symbolic descent from the city to its primary materiality. In the underground world, the material is no longer shaped for architecture, but raw, massive, scarred by machines. This is where the original skateboarder (Sammy Mould) appears, a mythical figure evolving in the depths of the stone cliffs. 

Adrien Lallau and Arnaud Millet use argentic film to capture the vibrancy of this confrontation between urban figures and raw stone, to the rhythm of the 2080 soundtrack

Camile Ayme

Camille Ayme is a visual artist, architect and skateboarder whose work explores the components of the modern city and the imaginaries of mobility, with a particular focus on landscapes shaped by human extraction.Within this framework, she has developed a deep inquiry into the materiality of the city and its connection to skateboarding. She co-directed the new 16mm film Extérieurs Bruts with Diane de Viry, supported by the Fondation des Artistes, that she will premiere at Connect, following a presentation on skateboarding and materiality.

In 2025, she will defend a practice-based PhD conducted between the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles and Aix-Marseille University, in which she explores the notions of landscape and the Anthropocene through the study of stone and ore quarries. These extraction sites, which she documents through images and words, become the stage for a sensitive reflection on geological transformations, the effects of mining capitalism, and the ways in which they shape the contemporary production of territory.

Skateboarding programs in Under-Recognised Places

  1. Dr Indigo Willing (facilitator) – co-author ‘Skateboarding, Power and Change’
  2. Denia – Free Skate Movement and Skateistan
  3. Marie Maz Mayassi – Melanin Gals and Pals

How can skater-led social programs around the world have the power to renew and restore
overlooked, war-affected, and stigmatized urban spaces ? Could innovative approaches help create more inclusive and safer spaces while being co-designed and shared globally ?

At Connect, we’re proud to include in our vast 2025 program a special panel talk on this
important matter including Denia Kopita from Skateistan (who partner with countries around the globe and through the Goodpush Alliance and Free Movement Skateboarding) and Dr Marie
‘Maz’ Mayassi, Founder and Exec. Director of Melanin Gals and Pals (with a focus on Black,
Indigenous, People of Colour and Queer skaters).

This panel talk will explore how skateboarding programs can educate, refresh, and regenerate
rapidly developing cities to war zones from the perspectives of non-traditional skateboarders in
programs dedicated to empowering diverse populations. Themes include how social
skateboarding projects, activists and researchers are reshaping public spaces into sites of
healing, connection, and possibility.

The talk will be facilitated by Dr. Indigo Willing, a war orphan, refugee/adoptee, author, of
‘Skateboarding, Power and Change’ (co-written with Anthony Pappalardo) and academic at The University of Sydney whose life was shaped by both conflict and skateboarding.

Connect will take place in Bordeaux, France, on October 16-19.

Denia Kopita

Free Skate Movement & Skateistan.

Dr Indigo Willing

co-author of Skateboarding, Power and Change.

Dr Marie “Maz” Mayassi

Founder of Melanin Gals and Pals.

H3ADZ

From Brighton’s streets to the world: skateboarding carries what we can call a territorial identity shaped by culture and architecture. Brighton shaped HEADZ, the same way Bordeaux, Tokyo, or São Paulo, to name a few, shaped their own crews, styles, and projects — proof that skateboarding and environment are inseparable.

In this third chapter of the HEADZ series, Harrisson Wooglar and the crew went all in — climbing rooftops, hitting back alleys, scouring Google Maps, and battling the UK’s rough, unforgiving streets. The reward? A pure reflection of Brighton’s identity through skateboarding.

We at Connect Festival are stoked to premiere Harrisson Wooglar’s new film H3ADZ featuring Diggs English, Albie Edmonds, Michael Tarry, Evan Johnson and more.

UNITED 3

After linking up in Europe for the first United video, and reconnecting in Brazil for United 2, Matheus Dubronks and Daniel Ledermann took it to the Philippines — back to Daniel’s roots. Over two months, they explored the spots Daniel grew up skating, met up with local crews, and dove into the everyday rhythm of life out there. More than just a skate video, United 3 is about connection — to place, to people, and to the shared language of skateboarding. This is what United is really about.

Exhibitions Friday Outdoor

Fred Mortagne

Legendary French skateboarding imagery creator Fred Mortagne will present a special exhibition at this year’s Connect festival.

Known worldwide for filming some of the most iconic skate videos of the 2000s, Fred has spent the past decade focusing on photography. His work is a tribute to the urban shapes and architectural forms that skaters are instinctively drawn to — banks, ledges, transitions, and the subtle geometries of the city.

While his search for new skate spots never stops, that same quest often leads him, almost by chance, to places that also become the perfect settings for his photography.Fred’s unique vision blurs the line between skateboarding and art, revealing the poetry hidden in concrete landscapes. Fred also extends his practice to other art forms, including dance, theater, and classical music (Auditorium de Lyon, Ensemble Pygmalion, Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre du Châtelet). His career reflects the growing cultural recognition of skateboarding, from the streets to major stages.

Connect Village

Flea market, stands, skate media booth, kids activities, osteopath corner, flash tattoo, screenprinting workshop, skate organizations, bar and food.

Stands, Bar & Snacking

MX x Ed Banger Night

Born at the Malraux spot in the ’90s, the MX crew has always blended skateboarding, graffiti, and music in a raw and creative way. In 2024, they launched MX Équipement 94, an independent Bordeaux brand that keeps this spirit alive by supporting the local scene and celebrating skate culture. For Connect, MX teams up with the legendary Ed Banger label for an explosive night where hip-hop and electro collide. The evening will also feature the exclusive premiere of “MX Tape”, a unique edit mixing archives and legendary Bordeaux skate and graffiti footage, all in true MX style.

Bareeo (MX)

Yoan Barroso aka Bareeo is one of the founding members of the MX crew, alongside ORNE and RETRO, hailing from Bordeaux’s legendary Conservatoire spot in the 1990s, which helped shape the city’s skate culture. A passionate skateboarder, graffiti activist, and pioneer of street tagging since the early ’90s, he also played a role in the local hip-hop scene as a DJ. His universe blends the spirit of Steve Rocco’s World Industries with the raw energy of the East Coast scene – from Pepe Martinez to Stevie Williams, through Zoo York. In 2024, he launched MX Équipement 94, an independent Bordeaux skateboard brand paying tribute to the city’s skate history.

Bonito Boy (Ed Banger)

A discreet but essential member of the Ed Banger family for almost 7 years, Bonitoboy juggles between artistic direction and turntables. AD by day, DJ by night, he is one of the label’s best-kept secrets, extending the label’s spirit with free and unpredictable sets!

Malino (MX)

Artist and designer, Nicolas Malinowsky aka Malino, has also been a skateboarder since the early ’90s and a DJ/producer since the late ’90s.

A central figure at Bercy in the 2000s, co-founder of Chill magazine, and later art director at Ill-Studio, Nicolas has been running his own Malinowsky studio since 2014. His practice balances design projects and creative direction (Colette, Netflix, Nike, Ed Banger) with artistic exhibitions (Paris, Los Angeles, Moscow). As a DJ and producer, Nicolas has continuously shared his sharp yet eclectic sonic universe, both in clubs and through fashion films (Vuitton, Fendi, Hermès, Dior). A former art director of the Sound Pellegrino label, he released several tracks there—including the iconic Skateboarder and Disstopia featuring Tommy Kruise. He also signed a remix for Borussia on Ed Banger, a remix for Onelight on his own label, and numerous releases on his imprint 608 ZZ.

As a DJ, Malino has always favored multi-genre exploration over the safe, linear dancefloor approach. Inspired by the school of Feadz, Para One, and Orgasmic, he fuses that culture with strong UK influences rooted in his early love for ’90s–’00s jungle, drum & bass, and dubstep. Today, Nicolas mostly performs at events, delivering highly curated and versatile sets that remain sharp while embracing a broad spectrum of styles.

Feadz (Ed Banger)

FEADZ is a renowned Parisian DJ and producer who has been active for over twenty years. Working at the intersection of hip-hop and techno since the beginning of his career, he has collaborated with numerous artists such as Dj Mehdi, Mr Oizo, Karlito, Uffie, and Justice.

He has released his productions on influential independent labels like Ed Banger and BpitchControl, as well as on innovative underground labels such as Moveltraxx, Paradoxe Club, FDZ-INC, and Promesses.

Feadz is known for being an excellent DJ—technical, versatile, and passionate. He has been a resident on Rinse France for 10 years.

Skateables Sculptures

Enjoy our skateable sculptures displayed on several iconic Bordeaux public spaces around town. For each and everyone, all day long!

Exhibition David Manaud

David Manaud

Bordeaux, France

Skateboarder, team manager and photographer David Manaud discovered photography by documenting his early skateboarding sessions with friends. A skateboarder first, he developed an instinctive eye that soon turned toward architecture and urban landscapes. His work expanded to explore the relationship between people, movement, and the city.

Presented outdoors on the Bordeaux quays during Connect, David’s new exhibition reflects that journey: rooted in Bordeaux, enriched by travel, and open to the world. Each photograph comes with its own story, inviting visitors to grasp the human dimension of his work.

Yoga session Namaskate

Namaskate with Lauren Mahan Valls, yoga teacher.

1 hour. Pay what you want. 

How can you combine your love of skateboarding and its nefarious effects of its practice on the body with well-being and longevity?

The answer may be in listening to oneself and in a regular practice of yoga that combines stretching, strengthening and restorative breathing.

American Lauren Mahan-Valls has been developing with Léo Valls for several years now what they call Namaskate, a yoga sequence calibrated on the skater’s body, and the pain and injuries related to the practice. Come and enjoy a Namaskate session in the Cour Mably, on Saturday, October 18, at 10 a.m., to start off a weekend that promises to be full!

Lauren Valls

Yoga teacher

Originally from California, Lauren discovered yoga as a teenager before studying psychology and holistic health in San Francisco. Now based in Bordeaux, she teaches vinyasa, yin yoga, and yoga nidra with clarity and presence, drawing inspiration from her travels. She also works in psychiatric clinics and co-created with Leo Valls Namaskate, a yoga method adapted for skateboarders, inviting each student to feel welcomed and free to explore movement and self-connection.

Exhibitions Saturday

Leo Sharp

Léo Sharp is a British photographer specializing in skateboarding, regarded as one of the UK’s most influential in the field. Former photo editor of Sidewalk magazine, he has been capturing the energy and creativity of the skate scene for over 20 years, with features in Thrasher, Kingpin, and Skateboarder.

For Connect Festival, he joins forces with Dr Kirsty Smith for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Dr Kirsty Smith

Dr Kirsty Smith is a British photographer and researcher, specializing in fashion, extreme sports, and skate culture. Holding a PhD in Photography and teaching at Arts University Plymouth, she has collaborated with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Vans, and Vogue, and exhibited at international festivals.

For Connect Festival, she joins forces with Léo Sharp for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Vanessa Udriot

Skater, architect, and artist from Lausanne, Switzerland, Vanessa Udriot will exhibit a new art installation at this year’s Connect festival. She will explore fluid, non-normative occupations of public space with a series of flags that transform borders into poetic maps of urban freedom. As a skaturbanist, and a skateable sculpture creator, she will share how skateboarding led her to study architecture, how architecture inspired her vision of skateboarding and how her artistic practice became a space of freedom and expression—much like skateboarding itself.

Vanessa is also the co-founder of the local association @lausanneskateboardclub, which has developed international inclusive programs for women, parent-child sessions, initiatives for immigrants and refugees (mainly unaccompanied minors and women), and international collaborations.

Iseki Nobuo

Notorious for his clean photo style documenting local scenes around Japan and the world and pushing a strong Japanese skateboarding identity, Iseki will join us at this year’s festival to present a special photo exhibition called “Tokyo vibes”. Iseki launched PANCAKE Skateboard Magazine in 2024, which will be featured at our media booth at Cour Mably, and continues to document skateboarding in Japan and abroad as a photographer and editor.

Soy Panday

French professional skateboarder, artist, and actor Soy Panday will exhibit a series of new drawings and paintings about the relationship with the urban environment. 

Soy is a pillar in the world of skateboarding, where the practice is appreciated as a subtle and thoughtful form of expression. His graphic art is poetically surreal, narrative, and positive, at times even shamanic. Always on the boundary between two worlds—dream and reality, night and day, yin and yang—Panday invites us to follow him into depths that are never dark, from which we can peacefully observe a parallel dimension : that of the spirit.

Beyond Magenta, for which he designs boards and apparel, he has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Vans, and DC, producing shoes adorned with his artwork, as well as with artists including Mark Gonzales, Raphael Zarka, Benjamin Deberdt, Ocean Howell, and Brian Lotti.

Grégoire Grange

Bordeaux-based photographer Grégoire Grange has always been closely connected to the world of skateboarding. A long-time collaborator of Connect, he has documented the evolution of skaturbanism in Bordeaux, from the very first meetings with the City to the concrete transformations of public space. His work combines an architectural eye with deep roots in countercultures. In parallel, he has worked as an art director and photographer with institutions such as Le Bal, Arc en Rêve, FRAC MÉCA, and Le Confort Moderne. In 2024, Paris Photo entrusted him with a carte blanche to document the fair. His exhibition at Connect retraces eight years of the unique process of integrating skateboarding into Bordeaux’s urban fabric.

Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind

The love of skateboarding has spread across continents and with the help of Make Life Skate Life- an organization of volunteer builders and skateboarders, the grind has gone even more global. Make life skate life and Samantha Robinson will present a collection of photographs showcasing a global movement of sharing the joy of skateboarding with the world.  A messy, sweaty and endlessly determined adventure, because if skateboarding teaches us anything, it’s this—the world is your playground. 

Lome

In which way can skateboarding mark urban soundscape?

To answer this question, the association L’Ouïe M’Enchante approached the Connect project and suggested setting up the “Skate in the city” experiment. A selection of excerpts from these recordings will be available for listening to on headphones.

Indeed, the sharing of public space is as much about the physical and visual presence of skateboarders in the city as it is about their acoustic mark on the urban soundscape, so we can talk about immersion in a “musical” composition of the city.

The fight for Cultural Preservation and Urban Equity

Award-winning filmmaker and skateboarder April Jones will present the premiere of her new documentary teaser, Save DIY, highlighting DIY skateparks around the world and the communities that protect them. This is a continuance of her most recent film, Concrete which chronicles the 7-year bureaucratic battle to save the Channel Street DIY skatepark. She will also be giving a talk on how to utilize storytelling to help preserve DIY projects.

April Jones

April Jones is an international award-winning filmmaker and lifelong skateboarder. Her body of work spans nearly two decades covering heavy metal and punk rock music, and DIY skateboarding communities. 

Her newest feature documentary, Concrete Law, chronicles the seven-year bureaucratic battle to legalize the iconic Channel Street Skatepark (streaming distribution 2026).

The fight to save Channel Street became the spark for a broader mission—Save DIY, a movement that Jones now carries forward through visual storytelling, advocacy, and film.

Jones will be giving a presentation at the Connect Festival on harnessing the power of visual storytelling as a (skate)tool for advocacy. She will also premiere her new short film, a teaser for her upcoming documentary Save DIY (2027). The short highlights grassroots missions and DIY skateparks, featuring communities from Suvilahti Skatepark (Helsinki, Finland), 2er DIY (Hannover, Germany), Dowgee Alley DIY [RIP] (Münster, Germany), NorDIY [RIP] (Stuttgart, Germany), and La Casita DIY (Málaga, Spain).

Through Save DIY, she helps to amplify the voices of skate communities working to protect and sustain community-built skateparks, while addressing what she considers one of skateboarding’s most urgent crises: the loss of third spaces

Make Life Skate Life – Barika Rising

Barika Rising is a short documentary By James Holman that captures the construction of the world’s first concrete skatepark inside a refugee camp—an inspiring collaboration between skateboarders in Sulaymaniyah (Kurdistan, Northern Iraq) and seven volunteers from the NGO Make Life Skate Life. What begins as a grassroots construction project quickly unfolds into a deeper story of the realities of life inside a refugee camp, community, and youth-led transformation.

Through intimate visuals and observational storytelling, the film offers a rare glimpse into daily life in displacement—focusing not on crisis, but on creativity and agency. The skatepark becomes a symbol of possibility, where play is reclaimed as a tool for healing, identity, and community. Barika Rising is designed to shift narratives around refugee experiences, highlight the power of youth-driven initiatives, and encourage collaboration between NGOs, artists, and local communities. It’s a testament to what can happen when displaced populations are not only supported—but empowered. 

Guided Tour – Vanessa Udriot Exhibition

Vanessa Udriot

Skater, architect, and artist from Lausanne, Switzerland, Vanessa Udriot will exhibit a new art installation at this year’s Connect festival. She will explore fluid, non-normative occupations of public space with a series of flags that transform borders into poetic maps of urban freedom. As a skaturbanist, and a skateable sculpture creator, she will share how skateboarding led her to study architecture, how architecture inspired her vision of skateboarding and how her artistic practice became a space of freedom and expression—much like skateboarding itself.

Vanessa is also the co-founder of the local association @lausanneskateboardclub, which has developed international inclusive programs for women, parent-child sessions, initiatives for immigrants and refugees (mainly unaccompanied minors and women), and international collaborations.

Saving Vale

« Saving Vale » or how the most famous skate spot in Brazil got saved. With the passion and activism of the São Paulo skate community and local key actors, the city agreed to build the « Vale skateboarding memorial » ; a skatable monument, repurposing the existing granite stones and paying homage to the previous landscape and decades-long skateboarding history of the place. 

Connect will welcome Rafael Murolo skater and architect for the city of São Paulo, who worked on the design of the new spot and Murilo Romão of Flanantes crew who got the community to stand up to save this beloved public space. 

Their presentation, accompanied by a special video edit, will help us understand the process behind this incredible project in a very unique context.  A touching story, and an impactful case study for skaturbanism. 

Murilo Romão

Murilo Romão is a Brazilian professional skateboarder, audiovisual producer, leader of the Flanantes Collective.

Mr. Romão, a São Paulo native, has been a professional skateboarder since 2012 and holds a degree in Radio and TV from Belas Artes Faculty, Brazil. His expertise in camera work led to the production of numerous skateboarding videos. His work gained prominence with the redevelopment of Roosevelt Square in São Paulo, where he began exploring urban inhabitance and the right to the city in his videos. In 2016, Romão founded Flanantes, an audiovisual collective comprising skateboarders with diverse expertise in architecture, photography, urban anthropology, arts, and music. In 2019 starts a movement called “Salve o Vale” to preserve the historical value of the epic spot for the skateboarding community. 

He integrates skateboarding culture into education, leveraging its practices for pedagogical purposes. In 2023, Mr.Romão was a featured participant at “The Stoke Sessions: An International Conference on the Culture, History, and Politics of Surfing and Skateboarding” at San Diego State University.

In 2025 Murilo launched “É Pico!” – a book about urban skateboarding with illustrations by artist Mariana Zanetti.

Rafael Murolo

Rafael Pollastrini Murolo is a Brazilian architect and urbanist, based in São Paulo. He graduated from the University of São Paulo’s Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism (FAU-USP) in 2009 and completed his master’s degree at the same institution in 2019, with a dissertation titled “Between passing and being: the redesign of the street as a place of permanence and conviviality in the city of São Paulo.” He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at FAU-USP, where his research explores the design of urban public spaces and the practice of skateboarding.

His professional experience spans various areas and scales. While working at the firm GrupoSP (2007-2009), he participated in the national award-winning design for the SEBRAE headquarters in Brasília. In 2010, as a member of the research group for fluvial urban infrastructure at FAU-USP’s Design Laboratory (LabProj), he worked on urban design studies for the São Paulo Metropolitan Waterway Ring. From 2014 to 2019, he worked at the municipal public company SpUrbanismo, where he developed architectural projects for Unified Educational Centers (CEU); urban projects to integrate public facilities in São Paulo’s peripheral areas through sustainable street design; created the “Skateable Spaces Handbook: Guidelines for Adapting Public Open Spaces for Skateboarding”; and worked with the skateboarding community to design the Anhangabaú Valley Skate Memorial. In 2021, he worked at the Mâcon-based firm Anne-Laure Giroud et Tim Boursier Paysagistes. Since 2022, he has been a civil servant municipal architect for the City of São Paulo.

Stand up comedy “You Have to Start Somewhere”

“You Have to Start Somewhere” is a set and retrospective by René Olivo, old friend,  skateboarder, creative director and comedian from Milan, Italy. Known for blending strange thoughts, cultural contradictions, and raw truths, René brings a personal take on connections, aging as a skateboarder and skate culture – all tailor-made for Connect.

René Olivo – Chef Family

We’re already smiling to ourselves at the idea of introducing a stand-up comedy show at this year’s event. Because even if there are many important, crucial and sometimes hard topics to be discussed, skateboarding definitely needs more humor and satire, as well. 

Here are a few words on the matter by René himself: “Despite skating for 27 years, I wasn’t invited for my skating (yikes). Instead, Leo and Julien had the brilliant idea to give me a stage and have me “BE FUNNY”. Apparently, two years of stand-up comedy is all it takes to successfully entertain a huge crowd of skateboarders, architects, photographers and possibly some government officials. No pressure…”

René will be joined on stage by Diego Garcia, Andrea Cinisello and Andrea Di Liddo –  members of the Milan-based skate crew CHEF. Together they will reveal the initial spark that connected the Milano and Bordeaux skate scenes. Because in skating—like in life—you have to start somewhere.

Tokyo tactical skaturbanism

Takahiro Yamazaki (University of Tokyo) with an introduction by Kai Kagitani

Street skating in Tokyo has developed a very unique identity over the past decades. The urban public spaces interpreted by Tokyo’s skaters are closely linked to Japan’s urban planning system. Tokyo is full of POPS (Privately Owned Public Space) which offer exceptionally high-quality spaces and have become iconic skate spots. However, nearly all POPS (and other public spaces) are fully forbidden to skate, and are filled with no skateboarding signs or skate stoppers. How can this change for the better, and with which strategy?

Connect is proud to welcome Takahiro Yamazaki, public space researcher and urban planning PhD at the University of Tokyo. These past few years, Takahiro and his team have been working on a new research that aims to clarify the current state of skate spots in Tokyo (they identified more than 250 skate spots) and explore the potential for transforming some of them into integrated skateable spaces through dialogue with managers. 

Takahiro’s presentation will be introduced by a short presentation of Kai Kagitani, skater and PhD anthropology student at Kyoto University, on the simultaneous and paradoxical development of skateparks and skate stoppers in Japanese cities. 

Kai Kagitani

Kai Kagitani is a skater and PhD anthropology student at Kyoto University.

He has been ethnographically examining the ecology of street emerged through skateboarding, mainly in Hiroshima. His current doctoral research further focuses on the politics surrounding the grey area of body and space in skateboarding.

Kai is also the Operations Manager of TRAJECTORIA, an online journal published by the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, which is situated at the intersection of anthropology, museums and art in terms of visual practice and representation.

Takahiro Yamazaki

Professor Takahiro Yamazaki @fukei_yama3 is a public space researcher and urban planning PhD at the University of Tokyo. These past few years, Takahiro and his team have been working on a new research that aims to clarify the current state of skate spots in Tokyo (they identified more than 250 skate spots) and explore the potential for transforming some of them into integrated skateable spaces through dialogue with managers.

Connect Village

Flea market, stands, skate media booth, kids activities, osteopath corner, flash tattoo, screenprinting workshop, skate organizations, bar and food.

Stands, Bar & Snacking

Exhibition Saturday Outdoor

Fred Mortagne

Legendary French skateboarding imagery creator Fred Mortagne will present a special exhibition at this year’s Connect festival.

Known worldwide for filming some of the most iconic skate videos of the 2000s, Fred has spent the past decade focusing on photography. His work is a tribute to the urban shapes and architectural forms that skaters are instinctively drawn to — banks, ledges, transitions, and the subtle geometries of the city.

While his search for new skate spots never stops, that same quest often leads him, almost by chance, to places that also become the perfect settings for his photography.Fred’s unique vision blurs the line between skateboarding and art, revealing the poetry hidden in concrete landscapes. Fred also extends his practice to other art forms, including dance, theater, and classical music (Auditorium de Lyon, Ensemble Pygmalion, Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre du Châtelet). His career reflects the growing cultural recognition of skateboarding, from the streets to major stages.

Connect meet Les Viatiques : Cour Mably takeover

19h – 21h – Wallace JR. & Oli

21h – 00h – Alex Murak

Wallace Jr.

Following in the footsteps of his uncle and mentor Wallace, a seasoned DJ, Wallace Jr. is committed to carrying on the family’s passion for music—and above all, for good living.

A longtime member of the Viatiques collective, active in Bordeaux and beyond for over 8 years, Wallace Jr. has built a rich experience of nightlife, both behind the decks and behind the scenes, often alongside his partner Nipraa, with whom he forms the duo Sunny ZG. Rarely does an hour go by in his day without headphones on, exploring and discovering new sounds. From ambient to house, via downtempo and breaks, detouring through trip hop and trance, Wallace Jr. embraces it all—giving generously, playing wholeheartedly, and cherishing every moment spent sharing the music he loves.

Oli

After four years promoting the local and international electronic scene in La Rochelle, Oli is now shaping his own musical identity with Les Viatiques, sharing an emotive and diverse sound across Bordeaux and beyond. Music has the power to bring people together and carry them away—and that is exactly what Oli strives to convey through every set he plays.

Alex Murak

A true music enthusiast and collector, Alex Murak bought his first turntables back in 1993.

He discovered the power and influence of Detroit Techno through DJs like Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Jeff Mills. The sound of Chicago also played a major role in shaping his style, with artists such as Gemini and Derrick Carter, and labels like Cajual, Relief, and Guidance. In 1997, he even held a residency at the legendary Rex Club in Paris alongside Mark Grant and Diz.

A key figure of the Parisian scene and now based in Bordeaux, Alex Murak belongs to that family of DJ-producers who deliver a distinctly groovy sound between House and Techno. Whether performing solo or with his longtime friend Jef K (head of the Silvernetwork label), he has released numerous collaborations and productions on labels such as Organic, Overall, Melisma, Akbal, and Dame-Music. His Silver Team project Life Below the City of Lights, signed to Rebirth, was charted by leading names like Dyed Soundorom, Seuil, Shonky, Alland Byallo, and Raresh—who even created his own edit of the track. His remix for Melisma, The Jhabas – Later Org, was also edited by Arpiar.

In recent years, Alex Murak has performed at some of the most renowned clubs in France and across Europe, including Fabric in London, Club Der Visionaere in Berlin, Club Deep in Madrid, In Your Face in Antwerp, Wood in Brussels, Be Cool and Sonar in Barcelona, as well as Rex Club, Rebel Rave, Katapult, Alter Paname, and Concrète in Paris.

Exhibition David Manaud

David Manaud

Bordeaux, France

Skateboarder, team manager and photographer David Manaud discovered photography by documenting his early skateboarding sessions with friends. A skateboarder first, he developed an instinctive eye that soon turned toward architecture and urban landscapes. His work expanded to explore the relationship between people, movement, and the city.

Presented outdoors on the Bordeaux quays during Connect, David’s new exhibition reflects that journey: rooted in Bordeaux, enriched by travel, and open to the world. Each photograph comes with its own story, inviting visitors to grasp the human dimension of his work.

Live Jazz Skate Session

Come celebrate public space, play and jazz music for a special skate session on our skateable sculptures at Miroir d’eau, with a live jazz concert by the great ladies from Mellifera, a women jazz organization, and the vibes and hype of Skate Her, a women skate organization. With special goodies by Nixon. Open for each and everyone!

Mellifera

Mellifera is a Bordeaux-based jazz association, created in 2021. Composed of around thirty female musicians from various musical backgrounds, the collective offers a dedicated space for practice, exchange, and the promotion of artists from the region.

As a true laboratory for experimentation, Mellifera aims to make jazz accessible and safe for female musicians while also serving as a springboard for their professionalization. The collective is also committed to raising public awareness about the role of women in jazz, gender issues related to instruments, and the existing musical heritage.

For Connect, Mellifera will play live during a skate session on our skateable sculptures, open to each and everyone! A special time that we cannot wait to share with you.

Skate Her

Skateher is an inclusive collective that empowers women’s creativity through skateboarding and art. Alongside their booth at the Connect Village, featuring merch and an exhibition, Skateher will bring a feminine note to the jazz session.

Yoga for skaters – Namaskate special edition (pilates + nidra)

1 hour. Pay what you want. 

How can you combine your love of skateboarding and its nefarious effects of its practice on the body with well-being and longevity ?

The answer may be in listening to oneself and in a regular practice of yoga that combines stretching, strengthening and restorative breathing.

American Lauren Mahan-Valls has been developing with Léo Valls for several years now what they call Namaskate, a yoga sequence calibrated on the skater’s body, and the pain and injuries related to the practice. Come and enjoy a Namaskate session in the Cour Mably, on Saturday, October 18, at 10 a.m., to start off a weekend that promises to be full !

This special Sunday morning session will be a Namaskate class pilates inspired and will finish with a short yoga nidra (Sleep yoga!).

Lauren Valls

Yoga teacher

Originally from California, Lauren discovered yoga as a teenager before studying psychology and holistic health in San Francisco. Now based in Bordeaux, she teaches vinyasa, yin yoga, and yoga nidra with clarity and presence, drawing inspiration from her travels. She also works in psychiatric clinics and co-created with Leo Valls Namaskate, a yoga method adapted for skateboarders, inviting each student to feel welcomed and free to explore movement and self-connection.

Exhibition Sunday

Leo Sharp

Léo Sharp is a British photographer specializing in skateboarding, regarded as one of the UK’s most influential in the field. Former photo editor of Sidewalk magazine, he has been capturing the energy and creativity of the skate scene for over 20 years, with features in Thrasher, Kingpin, and Skateboarder.

For Connect Festival, he joins forces with Dr Kirsty Smith for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Dr Kirsty Smith

Dr Kirsty Smith is a British photographer and researcher, specializing in fashion, extreme sports, and skate culture. Holding a PhD in Photography and teaching at Arts University Plymouth, she has collaborated with brands such as Nike, Adidas, Vans, and Vogue, and exhibited at international festivals.

For Connect Festival, she joins forces with Léo Sharp for an exhibition where their approaches complement each other : one through decades of capturing skate life across evolving cityscapes, the other through critical research and culture-based production.

Vanessa Udriot

Skater, architect, and artist from Lausanne, Switzerland, Vanessa Udriot will exhibit a new art installation at this year’s Connect festival. She will explore fluid, non-normative occupations of public space with a series of flags that transform borders into poetic maps of urban freedom. As a skaturbanist, and a skateable sculpture creator, she will share how skateboarding led her to study architecture, how architecture inspired her vision of skateboarding and how her artistic practice became a space of freedom and expression—much like skateboarding itself.

Vanessa is also the co-founder of the local association @lausanneskateboardclub, which has developed international inclusive programs for women, parent-child sessions, initiatives for immigrants and refugees (mainly unaccompanied minors and women), and international collaborations.

Iseki Nobuo

Notorious for his clean photo style documenting local scenes around Japan and the world and pushing a strong Japanese skateboarding identity, Iseki will join us at this year’s festival to present a special photo exhibition called “Tokyo vibes”. Iseki launched PANCAKE Skateboard Magazine in 2024, which will be featured at our media booth at Cour Mably, and continues to document skateboarding in Japan and abroad as a photographer and editor.

Soy Panday

French professional skateboarder, artist, and actor Soy Panday will exhibit a series of new drawings and paintings about the relationship with the urban environment. 

Soy is a pillar in the world of skateboarding, where the practice is appreciated as a subtle and thoughtful form of expression. His graphic art is poetically surreal, narrative, and positive, at times even shamanic. Always on the boundary between two worlds—dream and reality, night and day, yin and yang—Panday invites us to follow him into depths that are never dark, from which we can peacefully observe a parallel dimension : that of the spirit.

Beyond Magenta, for which he designs boards and apparel, he has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Vans, and DC, producing shoes adorned with his artwork, as well as with artists including Mark Gonzales, Raphael Zarka, Benjamin Deberdt, Ocean Howell, and Brian Lotti.

Grégoire Grange

Bordeaux-based photographer Grégoire Grange has always been closely connected to the world of skateboarding. A long-time collaborator of Connect, he has documented the evolution of skaturbanism in Bordeaux, from the very first meetings with the City to the concrete transformations of public space. His work combines an architectural eye with deep roots in countercultures. In parallel, he has worked as an art director and photographer with institutions such as Le Bal, Arc en Rêve, FRAC MÉCA, and Le Confort Moderne. In 2024, Paris Photo entrusted him with a carte blanche to document the fair. His exhibition at Connect retraces eight years of the unique process of integrating skateboarding into Bordeaux’s urban fabric.

Make Life Skate Life – The Global Grind

The love of skateboarding has spread across continents and with the help of Make Life Skate Life- an organization of volunteer builders and skateboarders, the grind has gone even more global. Make life skate life and Samantha Robinson will present a collection of photographs showcasing a global movement of sharing the joy of skateboarding with the world.  A messy, sweaty and endlessly determined adventure, because if skateboarding teaches us anything, it’s this—the world is your playground. 

Lome

In which way can skateboarding mark urban soundscape?

To answer this question, the association L’Ouïe M’Enchante approached the Connect project and suggested setting up the “Skate in the city” experiment. A selection of excerpts from these recordings will be available for listening to on headphones.

Indeed, the sharing of public space is as much about the physical and visual presence of skateboarders in the city as it is about their acoustic mark on the urban soundscape, so we can talk about immersion in a “musical” composition of the city.

Mountain High Valley Low

Mountain High Valley Low by Yves Marchon is a poetic and visually striking exploration of skateboarding legend Madars’ career and his connection to Switzerland, blending skateboarding mastery with cinematic artistry. Shot entirely on 16mm, it breaks traditional skate film conventions, offering a raw, immersive journey through stunning alpine landscapes, personal perseverance, and creative expression. 

Yves Marchon has been filming skateboarding and documenting the culture around it for 30 years. Today he is working as a freelance Director, Director of Photography, and Producer, bringing his expertise in both digital and film formats to a wide range of projects.

Madars Apse

Madars Apse is a Latvian professional skateboarder celebrated for his creativity, global travels, and contagious energy. Beyond his unique style on the board, he’s also the host of Skate Tales, the series that dives into skateboarding’s most unexpected stories. Wherever he goes, Madars brings humor, originality, and pure stoke.

Freedom : Renaissance

In May 2023, “Freedom”,  a free skatepark, music studio, and cultural hub located in the heart of Accra, Ghana, was seized and taken for ransom in an overnight coup lead by a mysterious land-grabber. 

Sandy, Harmonie, Sarah, and Eden still cannot access their park. In the past two years they have faced rejection, intimidation and sabotage, but they have learned valuable lessons, stayed the course and protected their community. Today, they continue to fight the unspoken resistance that arises when women lead where they’re not expected to. With the support of old friends and new allies, they are embarking on a new chapter called “Freedom Renaissance”: a total, sustainable rebuild of the skatepark and music studio on a new plot of land. Produced by Cascade Berlin, directed by Julian Dykmans.

Julian Dykmans

A Director and Producer, Dykmans originally came up as a professional skateboarder in Europe and in the US. Antiz, the pan-European brand he founded over 20 years ago, is going strong to this day. Dykmans’ various experiences in the skate industry provided him with a perfect pivot into video and photo production. In 2019, he co-founded Cascade with partner Lou Savoir.

Rooted in culture and fuelled by positive impact, over the years the pair have developed a production/agency hybrid specialized in sport and high-quality commercial content while devoting a large part part of their resources to documentary-making for NGOs and in the arts.

City in crisis

City in crisis is a short film examining the decline of Dublin through the eyes of a skateboarder (our friend Phili Halton, from Goblin skatemag, who presented at last year edition of Connect) as his journey reveals the cracks beneath the City’s facade as profit -driven development reshapes the capital of Ireland. By Louis O’flynn.

Nixon Video

As a proud partner of Connect, Nixon is premiering a brand-new video showcasing different generations of its team riding through the iconic spots of Southern France, around Perpignan. Featuring Antony Lopez, Nassim Lachhab, Lucien Gourdal, Madeleine Larcheron, Vincent Matheron, and Mehdi Soltane.

Fatbros “On the Broad” documentary

Short documentary by Takahiro Morita about the legendary Japanese skateshop Fatbros and the making of the video “On the Broad”, highlighting how Japanese skaters organize themselves to produce footage in Tokyo.

Industry Section

Info coming soon.

Trivia Skate Quizz

A Trivia for Skate nerds!

Are you able to recognize a handrail located on the other side of the planet only because you saw it in some obscure skate video? Do you automatically have Guy Mariano’s skating pop up in your head as you listen to the first notes of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” ? Or maybe you’re able to name Mark Suciu’s last trick in Verso from memory? If so, you suffer from heavy skate-nerdery and this trivia will be your cure !

Spots, tricks, videos, music, photography : everything goes !

Hosted by La Lodge (Thibaut Carpentier), a blogger and passionate skateboarder who loves all those little details that form the collective imagination of skateboarders.

La Lodge AKA Thibault Carpentier

Exhibition Sunday Outdoor

Fred Mortagne

Legendary French skateboarding imagery creator Fred Mortagne will present a special exhibition at this year’s Connect festival.

Known worldwide for filming some of the most iconic skate videos of the 2000s, Fred has spent the past decade focusing on photography. His work is a tribute to the urban shapes and architectural forms that skaters are instinctively drawn to — banks, ledges, transitions, and the subtle geometries of the city.

While his search for new skate spots never stops, that same quest often leads him, almost by chance, to places that also become the perfect settings for his photography.Fred’s unique vision blurs the line between skateboarding and art, revealing the poetry hidden in concrete landscapes. Fred also extends his practice to other art forms, including dance, theater, and classical music (Auditorium de Lyon, Ensemble Pygmalion, Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre du Châtelet). His career reflects the growing cultural recognition of skateboarding, from the streets to major stages.

Connect Village

Flea market, stands, skate media booth, kids activities, osteopath corner, flash tattoo, screenprinting workshop, skate organizations, bar and food.

Stands, Bar & Snacking

Guided Tour – Fred Mortagne Exhibition

Fred Mortagne

Legendary French skateboarding imagery creator Fred Mortagne will present a special exhibition at this year’s Connect festival.

Known worldwide for filming some of the most iconic skate videos of the 2000s, Fred has spent the past decade focusing on photography. His work is a tribute to the urban shapes and architectural forms that skaters are instinctively drawn to — banks, ledges, transitions, and the subtle geometries of the city.

While his search for new skate spots never stops, that same quest often leads him, almost by chance, to places that also become the perfect settings for his photography.Fred’s unique vision blurs the line between skateboarding and art, revealing the poetry hidden in concrete landscapes. Fred also extends his practice to other art forms, including dance, theater, and classical music (Auditorium de Lyon, Ensemble Pygmalion, Opéra de Lyon, Théâtre du Châtelet). His career reflects the growing cultural recognition of skateboarding, from the streets to major stages.

Closing DJ set

DJ Gramboy

Gramboy was born within the Brazilian popular sound system culture by influence of his dad, who is a sound owner and a speaker builder. With this experience, he has a keen eye for the dancefloor bringing an original selection out of his 45sec cases.

His sets showcase basically a wide variety of Brazilians grooves , funky an disco – always spinning obscure and alternative cuts of lcassics as well as Jamaican, Latin and African music.

Skateables Sculptures

Enjoy our skateable sculptures displayed on several iconic Bordeaux public spaces around town. For each and everyone, all day long!

Exhibition David Manaud

David Manaud

Bordeaux, France

Skateboarder, team manager and photographer David Manaud discovered photography by documenting his early skateboarding sessions with friends. A skateboarder first, he developed an instinctive eye that soon turned toward architecture and urban landscapes. His work expanded to explore the relationship between people, movement, and the city.

Presented outdoors on the Bordeaux quays during Connect, David’s new exhibition reflects that journey: rooted in Bordeaux, enriched by travel, and open to the world. Each photograph comes with its own story, inviting visitors to grasp the human dimension of his work.

Guided Visit : Skaturbanism in Bordeaux

Join Léo Valls (Bordeaux) and Gustav Eden (Malmö) for a unique guided tour of the city through the lens of skaturbanism. Discover the stories and processes behind the city’s most groundbreaking projects, guided by two of the leading voices of this global movement. Free for all. Meeting point to be announced soon.  

Leo Valls

Born and based in Bordeaux, Léo Valls is an internationally recognized professional skateboarder, one of the pioneers of the skaturbanism movement, and the co founder of the Connect festival. 

Skateboarding has taken him around the world, where he has collaborated with diverse communities and developed a practice rooted more in artistic and urban expression than in pure performance. Sponsored by brands such as DC Shoes and Magenta Skateboards, his influence stretches from Japan to the United States, with appearances in numerous international skate videos and public exhibitions. His projects also include the development of shared public spaces with skateboarding and the creation of skatable sculpture exhibitions that merge art and urban play.

Today, Léo is recognized as a global voice of skaturbanism, combining professional skateboarding, cultural advocacy, and consulting for architects and municipalities to envision more vibrant, inclusive, and playful cities.

Gustav Eden

Gustav Eden is the skateboarding coordinator for the City of Malmö Streets and Parks dpt. He’s regarded as one of the key figures of the Skaturbanism movement. Gustav has been developing skateboarding related projects to generate long-term benefits for his city and has been an inspiration for many. In 2024, he finalized one of his biggest projects, the reconstruction of a part of Love Park in the center of Malmö.

Freestyle Battle Japan x Brazil

When the 80’s meet 2025 on Bordeaux marble! Get ready for a freestyle showdown like no other: two of the most innovative minds in modern skateboarding bringing sparks, spins, and serious magic straight to the marble of downtown Bordeaux : “On my right… the unstoppable Japanese Super Rat, all the way from Tokyo, Japan! And on my left… the wizard Sergio Santoro, repping Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!”

Sergio Santoro

Sergio Santoro is a Brazilian skateboarder from Rio de Janeiro, known for his creative approach and positivity. A unique figure on the international scene, he blends technical skill, style, and improvisation.

Japanese Super Rat

Japanese Super Rat is a skater from Tokyo, known for his creativity and high energy. He became a figure of modern skateboarding with iconic video parts such as Lenz 3, and mixes spontaneuous skateboarding with technical freestyle tricks and a unique sense of humor.