FOREWORD
Since 2014 I've had the pleasure of meeting the Parkour-Vienna community on an almost annual basis, except for the Covid years. They welcomed me into their community with open arms and big smiles and let me tag along with them as they travelled the length and breadth of Vienna city to practise at the best parkour spots. As a keen urban and parkour photographer this gave me the opportunity to photograph these talented athletes against the backdrop of one of the world's most beautiful cities. As an Irishman visiting Vienna I was lucky enough to be shown the real Vienna, far away from the well-trodden tourist trails.
The Parkour-Vienna community embodies the true spirit of the word "community", providing support, encouragement and a warm welcome to people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds. To celebrate 20 years of Parkour-Vienna, I've trawled through the many thousands of photos I've taken with the group over the past ten years and compiled this online exhibition. I've tried my best to choose the images that capture the spirit of Parkour-Vienna, showing not only their amazing parkour skills but also the fun and comraderie of a typical jam in Vienna. I hope you enjoy the photos and maybe they'll inspire you to take up parkour, attend a Parkour-Vienna Forum Meeting or even just visit Vienna!
ABOUT PARKOUR-VIENNA
Parkour-Vienna was founded in the Summer of 2004 by Thomas "TOM" Stoklasa and Lorenz "LoLo" Meyer. Inspired by the trending videos of parkour on the internet they set out to create an online platform to offer information about parkour, to share parkour videos and photos, and also to provide a discussion forum for anyone who wanted to practise parkour. The group organises regular meetings where people can train with one another. Since 2006 they have been running the highly successful Forum Meetings (FM). The FM takes place every Sunday at 13.00 CET all year round regardless of the weather. After meeting at the Schwedenplatz U-Bahn station the group travels to an agreed spot in the city for training. Absolute beginners are most welcome and will receive training in the basics of parkour. You can find out more about Parkour-Vienna at their website parkourvienna.at
ABOUT PARKOUR
Parkour (L'art du deplacement) is a physical discipline which stems from Georges Heberts methode naturelle. It trains practitioners to overcome any obstacle, physical or mental, in the most efficient manner possible. Practitioners, called traceurs (m) or traceuces (f), utilise a vast array of movements such as vaults, wall running, swinging, jumping and rolling to traverse any environment, be it urban architecture or a natural setting. Although it shares many traits with freerunning, parkour is not to be confused with that discipline. The key difference being parkour's focus on efficient, fast movement as opposed to the more aesthetically pleasing, technical moves (flips and spins) found in freerunning. Parkour has its origins in the suburbs of Paris, developed by David Belle, Sebastien Foucan and the Yamakasi group, but is now widely practised around the world as a result of the influence of YouTube, documentaries and movies such as Casino Royale.
2014
Ziegelpark FM
Andipark with Cata and Dan
Wasserwelt
2015
Donauinsel FM
Definitely one of the most enjoyable aspects of meeting the PKV community over the years was experiencing the Cata and Dan double act first hand. The chemistry and timing between these guys resulted in some great parkour movements and lots of funny candid photos. Here's just a few such moments from Donauinsel in 2015.
Andipark with Tim, Cata and Dan
Haus Des Meeres
Tim won the table planche contest!
The frog stand challenge: Tim : 0 - Brendan : 1
Haus Des Meeres FM
2016
WU campus with Tom, Cata and Leon
Donauinsel FM
2017
Andipark with Cata
Schwendermarkt FM
2018
1st District with Tom
Monte Laa FM
FM moves on to Oberlaa
Inside the WU with Cata
I made sure to get written permission to photograph some "portraits" inside the WU (Wirtschafts Universität) before arriving there with Cata. The WU has some amazing buildings, designed by some of the world's most famous architects. My favourite one has to be the Learning Centre designed by Zaha Hadid. The interior is made up of sweeping curves resembling a cruise liner and there's probably not a single flat, vertical surface in the whole building! This made for some really interesting and futuristic-looking parkour images with Cata. We had to time our shots to coincide with the regular patrols of the security guard. If Cata is standing still in a "portrait" image then the security guard was in view!
2019
Kongresspark FM
Faces of PKV
Over the years I've taken many portrait images of the Parkour-Vienna community. Here's a rogues' galley of some of the great people I've met in Vienna.
Thank You ...
To all the members of the Parkour-Vienna community I met at the FMs. Thank you for your warm welcome and showing me your beautiful city.
To Cata, Tom, Dan, Tim and Leon for the extra photo shoots outside of the FMs. Thanks for your patience every time I said "Just one more shot!".
A special word of thanks to Florian for his enthusiasm and valuable assistance with this project.
Brendan
BONUS CONTENT
If you enjoyed this online exhibition then might like to have a magazine copy of some of my favourite images from the exhibition, with some extra PKV content added for the record. A free PDF version can be downloaded from the attached assets.
If you would like a printed copy of the magazine then one can be ordered by clicking here.
