Viewing Skate 50

Fifty years on from the beginnings of the Undercroft skate space, the Southbank Centre marks the occasion with Skate 50, a multimedia exhibition exploring the history of the site and the communities that formed around it. Developed alongside active members of the Southbank skate scene, the exhibition brings together photography, moving image and sound to tell the story of a space widely recognised as the birthplace of British skateboarding.

Skate 50 understands the Undercroft as much more than a backdrop for the sport. Across five decades, it has been a site of style, resistance and self-expression, claimed and fiercely protected by the people who use it. Archive material sits alongside new commissions by artists and skaters with a personal connection to the scene, keeping the focus on the community that made the space what it is.