BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN SPORT AND ART / FWT and Audi are proud to release “Genesis” a fast-paced, high energy journey about freeriding, imagination and creativity.

„Behind every line on the Freeride World Tour there is an idea, an inspiration, a vision – just as much as it is the case for a visual artist. In both worlds imagination plays a central role. It is no coincidence that riders themselves talk about „drawing lines“ or „imagining lines“: before existing on the snow, their lines exist only in imagination. The mountain is a canvas.“

As director David Arnaud explains, “I’ve been collaborating with Freeride World Tour for many years and yet, time after time I’m blown away but the level of creativity and the skills of riders. It’s fascinating to see the many different types of skiing that can be expressed on a single competition venue. It feels like every run is a unique creation.”

A strong concept won’t go far without proper execution. There again the answer lies at the heart of FWT: the riders themselves.

“For the most part riders on the Tour are nice, easygoing personalities, but once they’ve put their skis on it’s a different story. Every once in a while during a run there’ll be that one moment when magic happens and they turn into some kind of superhero with amazing powers. That’s how skilled they are. That’s an idea that’s been with me for some time, so naturally I thought that the artwork should revolve around the codes of comics and superheroes”.

The next steps consisted in identifying the scenes that would work well once translated into comics. High contrast situations and strong facial expressions were the way to go.

“It’s been a long process of trial and error, exploring different ways we could convey that message. Such a story can be explored in a thousand different ways, which makes it difficult at times to stay on track. When in doubt about the artwork I received, I kept going back to a simple yes/no question: would I be happy to hang this drawing on the walls of my office? A yes would mean that it could make it into the clip.”