Converse partners with the Guggenheim to celebrate Alexis Sablone's debut pro model shoe.

"“The building is a simple idea,” the director Jeremy Elkin, who wore an orange shirt and a black cap, said. “The piece has to reflect that. That ethos.” Sablone didn’t want to look down. “It would make me dizzy,” she said. “The only flat surface is the ground, so you have no reference points for where you are in space.” She’d also discovered that the ramp was coated in a layer of what she likened to “Masonite dust,” which stuck to her wheels. The skating was fast; the ramp was surprisingly steep. “The amount of curvature, the only thing you can compare it to is a parking garage, honestly,” she said. During the test shot, she’d almost rammed a protrusion. “I don’t want to be the first skateboarder to skate the ramp and the first skateboarder to break the museum,” she said.

Elkin repositioned the crew and made a new plan. Sablone would start at the top and roll down to the next floor for a full orbit, but stop at the balcony. Then the production would move down a floor and start again. Sablone bounded back up and retook her starting place. Elkin called, “Action!” Sablone stepped on her board and started rolling. The rotunda filled with a humming buzz that grew louder as she picked up speed. She leaned like a surfer. Elkin got the shot, and the crew trudged down the ramp to repeat the drill. They wrapped at around 7 a.m., as the oculus was filling with light. Sablone, damp with sweat, was limping slightly. “I grew up skating in the nineties,” she said, smiling. “I never, ever would expect to be here.”" - The New Yorker

Illustration by João Fazenda.

Photography by Jonathan Mehring.