Inside Copenhagen with Rune Glifberg, the Danish Destroyer

Yeah, started the right way. Get the call first and then the heat. — What's up, guys? I'm here in Copenhagen, Denmark. Uh this is my first time here. I want to try to figure out what it is about this city that people seem so stoked to live here. I think this is like the city that wins that award every year for like the happiest people on the planet. We're going to meet up with our friend Rune Glifberg while we're here. Probably know Rune from his storied skateboarding career of over three decades. Uh he's a two-time X Games gold medalist. He has over 12 medals in the X Games. You know him from probably some of his early 2000s Flip video parts. Some of the most iconic skate videos of all time. So, Rune's going to show us around and kind of show us what it is about Copenhagen that he likes. Uh so, I'm stoked. I hope you guys enjoy it. — To look at Danish architecture, you have to kind of rewind and rewind into like, you know, like mid-century — uh stuff that was happening in the like 1950s, '60s. Arne Jacobsen, uh Poul Kjærholm, like all these like famous furniture designers and architects that did a lot of cool stuff. Um but, I think the overall thought of like Danish and Scandinavian architecture and furniture and things like that is uh simplicity. It's very similar to the sort of Japanese way of looking at things. Simplicity and like clean lines is still like very much the the expression of Danish uh architecture. Architecture here and how architects look at everything is they're trying to create spaces that are living and breathing on an everyday basis. So, whether it's implementing some sort of skateboarding or other sports, basketball, like uh little like football fields, you know, just make the spaces so they're living and breathing. Architects here really look at creating spaces that are very much made for living and breathing city. You know, they want you to be in the streets enjoying what's there. Like you don't want to seclude into the houses. You want to You want people to come out of their houses and have public spaces that really work for a lot of different activities. For me, when I grew up in Copenhagen, there's a lot of cobblestone streets and all this modern architecture wasn't happening yet like that wave of like sort of like uh reinventing the city architecturally uh hadn't really started yet. At least not in a way that we were able to skateboard all of the city. So, now it seems like Copenhagen is all almost become like one of like the key points of interest for skateboarding in Europe, just like how Barcelona was 25 years ago. — Yeah, so we just walked to Copenhagen Contemporary. That's like uh 1 minute from restaurant where we just had lunch. And uh this is for me a cool space to come and kind of just get lost and uh it's a really big building. They're old shipyards where they used to build massive ships. So, really high ceilings in there and um yeah, I mean you can pretty much fit any type of art in there you want, you know, just because of the size of the place. — But, I think right now they have something on that's um kind of themed around like mechanical art, like kind of trippy weird stuff that's like all based on like mechanics and like electronics and stuff like that. Should be pretty interesting. I like to go in there, sometimes shoot photos and just yeah, just kind of get lost in there. It's a cool spot to just kind of like hang out and yeah, just see stuff. — We moved in here in 2006 when the original gallery is over here. Um but, today we have three different spaces. So, we have this is the main gallery space with the office in back end and have 18 gallery, which is down here, which is a white cube space and then our salon, which is also a book shop, print shop. I think at least the V1, one of the things that we've always been focusing about is being open towards all sorts of age groups in regards to how you get

introduced to art. I think it's uh art can be very hard to get into if you don't know anything about it, but I think art can also be for everyone. — Art for us does not have to be expensive to be good. It has to be well made and well thought of and it has to speak to the audience in the world. I think that's what we look into. I would say one of the things that we think of is that art gets people together and I think it's a very privileged to have spaces where we can show art. — Yeah, well, Christiania is uh is a place that people from the On the side here, they used to be a squat on the other side of the street. There was lack of uh places to stay. So, one day they decided to It was standing empty. It was a military area. So, it was empty for a couple of years, but people were looking over the fence and what's going on. People starting, you know, scavenging things in here and people had an idea of doing something and then 1971, September 26th, they kicked in the fence over there and they kind of manifested this place. The manifestation was to build a society without any pollution, socially and psychologically pollution. — So, it used to be a workers area, you know, and people were poor back then and people needed places to stay and they it made sense and the government actually was like, "Okay, let's do a social experiment. Let's see. " Then later, you know, they were like, "No, no, no, no. " They were already a movement. — Well, it's built in '98 and it started out with a mini ramp. This section over there is a part of the mini ramp. And the neighbors down there, they didn't, you know, like it too much. And back up here, there was only a forest like then. So, I took the mini ramp and moved it up here and people just started I went to get a whole lot of wood and people just started and added things to it and yeah, like this. Yeah, we want this. And together with friends and a whole lot of volunteers, you know, and people could see the idea and we were lacking places to skate. So, — So, we're here uh, Babylon, super nice restaurant, high-end food. They also have a nightclub here, which is, uh, cool. So, basically, go upstairs, have dinner with your friends, stay as late as you want. You can stay at the table all night. They close the restaurant at 2:00. Yeah, it's my friend's restaurant. Uh, they do really well, really nice people all around. Like, everyone, like, even like the promoters from the nightclub, young dudes, super nice. Everyone here This is a This is like a family spot. Like, everyone that works here, super nice. — Yeah, let's cruise in and let's see what it's all about. — My Danish going to take good care of us. — The trout roe, the chives, and the whipped cream fresh on top, and eat it as a finger food. Feel like Copenhagen is like, like a food Mecca as well. And I I feel like at many different levels. Like, if you go to a restaurant that's just like a everyday type restaurant, the level's really high. It's good. And, uh, I think I mean, I think what's special about this place is the food is really good, it's really elevated. But, you have a sense of, uh, it's really relaxed. Uh, and everyone comes as they are, you know, t-shirt, whatever. There's no judgement here at this place, you know? Uh, yeah, everyone's pretty much hanging and doing their thing. — So we're here at Helle's, which is essentially a It's a cheese shop, so they got all kinds of really good cheeses from I'd say all over the world probably. But the sandwiches are oh my god, next level. They got sandwich of the week, which always of course

differs. I think it's pretty much my favorite sandwich in the city. I also like it cuz it's right around the corner from where I live, so it's easy for me, but it really is super tasty. Yeah, no wonder it won a prize, huh? Yeah, that was really good. — When I opened this skate shop in 2003, we didn't even have a indoor skate park. I opened actually the day before the indoor skate park opened. And that was the whole reason why I opened the skate shop. But before that, we had 20 years without an indoor place. We had small places like mini ramp stuff inside, but we didn't have a a normal huge skate park. I mean it's like it's it seems like it's exploded like it within the last 5 years or something, especially with the Copenhagen Open. A lot of people come here just to skate actually. We have a lot of skate tourists just coming for Copenhagen. It's because it's such an open city, you know, and the police don't bother you if you skate on the sidewalk, and we have a lot of spots here as well. — Yeah, that's me. That's little baby Rune. — Still rocking the '90s. But uh this is an old skate park uh indoor uh mini ramp that we had um I like this It was on the fourth floor of this building. And here's Thomas, the shop owner. We just happened to be doing the uh the uh doing the same trick. Both doing lean to tails. There's Alan. Everyone all on the same like mini ramp uh that was like on the fourth floor of this like youth club um way back in like the '90s, yeah. — The skate park has been here since 1988, the summer of '88. They had a metal ramp and I was there to cut the ribbon with the mayor. And yeah, it started from there. — And then in 2011, we got the concrete part. — We've been skating here since '88. Like this is this was my — childhood park kind of, you know? And we pretty much like back then we had a vert ramp and there was some like asphalt. And we had jump ramps and whatever stuff we were building. So this is definitely like the foundation of like the Copenhagen skate scene, like what grew out of it like in the '80s and '90s. — The skate park is definitely like one of the most I think like important um skateboarding landmarks here in the city, you know? It's got everything. It's very diverse. It's got, you know, everything for like the massive crazy over vert stuff that you see behind me. It's got a vert ramp, smaller bowls, street course, and like proper like ledges and manual pads. So, it's well suited for everyone and you know, come here and have a session with your friends and yeah, it's just an open spot for everyone. — Well, Nicky Guerrero is the first Danish professional skateboarder. He was one of my childhood idols as far as skateboarding goes. First one that I saw really like skateboard for real like doing airs on a vert ramp and like proper pro level stuff. I mean, he was he was definitely like the biggest inspiration and for me to get into vert skating kind of like like, "Fuck, I want to be a pro skater. Like that's what I want to do. " Like I saw him do that and I was like, "Yeah, that's it. " — Rune means a lot to Copenhagen because he took it to the next level, you know, and he was over in the States and he

won the X Games and he won all kinds of contests and he took the vert skating to the pool and everything, you know, and — he's just so technical and yeah, it's just great and I'm honored to travel around with Rune and skate with him. — We just came here La Banquina, nice little spot up by Refshaleøen. It's one of the spots that some people come and like — have their little morning coffee or my case of tea and jump in. — Nice way to start the day. I guess the heart pumping, get some adrenaline, get some endorphins. You know, it just really kind of like kick-start your day in a nice healthy way and just you feel really refreshed afterwards and I mean we're going to do the sauna as well. They have a nice little sauna here. Get some sweat going, get these cold dips and just kind of like really just get the blood flowing and — yeah, just get a big smile on your face for the day and — The Danish way of living is like really social, you know? It's all about community, friends and family and I think not everyone is just here for their own benefit, you know? I think every everyone here knows that they have a place in society and they need to contribute to their — our society, you know, the our neighbors or we pay high taxes and nobody really minds that, you know? Like so everyone's down to contribute to the community and um really just have a social and a sort of a healthy approach to life. I think about your fellow human being that's maybe not doing as good as you might be, you know? So we all try to keep the playing field even and you know, making sure everyone's taken care of and everyone's good and that's kind of like the Danish way of living, I think.