Max Boutin is a multidisciplinary artist-researcher-skater, currently completing his PhD in Études et Pratiques des Arts at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM), Canada. In his research-creation work, Max has developed the skateboarding approach of “texturology” within visual and media arts, as a contemporary echo of Jean Dubuffet’s interest in the materiality of the ground, in the mid-1950s. His innovative concept transposes the sensory experience of skate sounds into visual, sonic, and haptic installations, where skateboarding itself is conceived as an act of creation.

His research has received support from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec, Société et culture sector, and Hexagram, an international and interuniversity research-creation network in arts, cultures, and technologies, based in Montréal.

In 2023, he co-authored a paper exploring the perception of skate sounds, entitled The Sonic Spectrums of Skateboarding: From Polarity to Plurality, with Brian Glenney and Paul O’Connor. That same year, he played a pivotal role as the curation and production manager for Hexagram’s “imprints” exhibitions at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria.

Looking ahead, after the publication of his thesis in 2025, he will begin a new project focused on texturology sound composition, during his postdoctoral studies at Université de Montréal, also funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec, Société et culture sector.

Instagram: @texturologies
Artist website: http://maxboutin.com
Hexagram’s page: https://hexagram.ca/en/demo22-max-bou...

Greeting and shout out to the Skate, Create, Educate and Regenerate (SkateCER) project by Dr Indigo Willing - skateboarder, sociologist and SSSHARC Fellow with the Skate, Create, Educate and Regenerate (SkateCER) project www.skatecreateeducateandregenerate.com at SSSHARC and City Canvas Symposium in collaboration with Dr Sanné Mestrom - Public artist and DECRA fellow Art/Play/Risk www.artplayrisk.com at the University of Sydney.

Check out our free event held 17-18 October, 2024
University of Sydney
Free (must register): https://www.artplayrisk.com.au/sympos...

SkateCER video series edited by Dr Indigo Willing