Ferit Batir Tribute and Interview

When I move I feel good

Interview by Sergej Vutuc with Ferit Batir via Skype (as seen in Confusion issue #4, published January 2012).

Photos by Sergej Vutuc & Lars Greiwe

Ferit Batir. Frontside Standup Grind. Athens, Greece. Photo: Sergej Vutuc

[13:18:03] sergej vutuc: it’s a little bit strange, to start writing an interview with you and watching you in caffee in zagreb

[13:18:31] compactkaputt: why do you think that i am in zagreb

[13:18:50] sergej vutuc: hehehe, yeah who knows, 1984… that modern update technologie time that you can see and hear everyone everywhere

[13:20:09] sergej vutuc: and that everything could be faked

[13:20:24] compactkaputt: but in general, i am here now

[13:20:35] compactkaputt: changing city from vienna to zagreb

[13:20:44] compactkaputt: into a less developed country

[13:20:54] compactkaputt: less possibilities

[13:21:22] sergej vutuc: its some kind of personal reduction or…

[13:21:44] compactkaputt: you mean a step back, personally

[13:22:34] sergej vutuc: sounds interesting that you say less developed country – less posibilites…

[13:22:47] sergej vutuc: if we turn it to personal view

[13:23:24] sergej vutuc: that make some way to open new ways in life with less influence from out side

[13:24:00] compactkaputt: do you think that i was influenced by outside?

[13:24:46] sergej vutuc: what you think, are have everyday influence from outside

[13:25:18] compactkaputt: we are always inspired from our environment, thats a fact

[13:26:07] compactkaputt: in the last months i go throw a strange phase, you heard probably many things from many people…

[13:26:44] compactkaputt: but not much from me

[13:30:22] sergej vutuc: i was pointing question little bit general but….i think its also interesting to see that side, when people talks lots of about someone but never directly…. how you feel with your family background, grow up in austria, and then grow up with skateboarding/punk, traveling and now moving between austria  – basque country – austria – zagreb

[13:45:29] compactkaputt: its a feeling of being lost, belonging nowhere and having no one, to whom you can talk to about personal or trivial things. in my family we were never talking about anything. i have 3 brothers, my dad was always working a lot, almost 7 days a week. like my mom, she had her job at home being a mother of 4 kids at the age of 22 in a foreign country, in which she came to at 16 as a girl. my dad was never talking much or asking questions or telling about his life or background or showing interest in the things i did. if there was something to say, it was criticising the way i lived. there was always a lot of trouble because of money. we always lived in small flats. there was no place for privacy. the only place where i could have my peace was outside of the flat, outside of home and my family. this is the family side.

[14:00:01] compactkaputt: it was the best thing that happend to me to grow up in and around the punk scenen and yama skateboards. alexander kramer which is the head of yama was and still is like a social worker, who is taking care and giving kids some input. i do not see myself in any kind of scene. thats why i started skateboarding and skateboarding is not a scene for me. i always liked to travel, to be on the road, cause it always gave me the feeling of freedom.

[14:01:43] sergej vutuc: heheheh i grew up in similar situation and can feel it, very well. to me happened those things like punk/hc community and skateboarding become like second or almost first family

[14:05:37] compactkaputt: i never felt like having a home and i still dont feel that i am home here in zagreb its just a spot for a while

[14:05:40] sergej vutuc: what is what

[14:06:44] compactkaputt: home on the road

[14:06:57] compactkaputt: when i move i feel good

[14:07:10] sergej vutuc: you can keep it like that home on the road – road home

[14:07:45] sergej vutuc: moving from one place to another gives you satisfaction

[14:08:29] compactkaputt: i just love to change places, i get bored beeing stuck in one place

[14:08:49] compactkaputt: and the same people

[14:09:27] sergej vutuc: i am very stoked how fast you learn to speak different language

[14:10:05] compactkaputt: i am somehow talented with languages

[14:10:43] sergej vutuc: and you speak wherever you go a little bit of home languages

[14:17:18] compactkaputt: it’s fun trying to talk to people in their language. if you are travelling around, the language is the best thing you can get from a country. i see it as a treasure which grows inside of you and you grow with it.

[14:22:53] compactkaputt: through moving we meet new people and see new things. we grab the things and ideas we like and use them in our way. i am not talking about copying things and ideas. it is about inspiration and motivation. inspiring and motivating each other… you could also say giving and taking.

[14:25:12] sergej vutuc: inspiration and motivation, two nice words and messages of every travel… also i like to that think with music. it make also something very special  on many different levels / personal levels and that world of giving and taking for me comes similar with music…

[14:34:14] compactkaputt: music is a very important thing, which can be a persons best friend, a mother and a father at the same time, psychotherapy or the best drug. music in an active and passive way. many people just don’t listen to the music which they are hearing. many people do not even listen to each other. they do not take time for each other.

[14:36:40] sergej vutuc: ooo, i think its very hard today to be concentrated on something theres so much influence all around us.  music starts to be one of all those add things, just something in background

[14:41:13] compactkaputt: the time/crime in which we are living in, with its small talks, fast food and short messages, where the price of gold is increasing and the value of human beings is sinking is getting worse and worse.

Backside Air. Belgrade, Serbia. Photo: Sergej Vutuc


one week later….

 

[18:16:58] compactkaputt: i was flat skating earlier at mimara (famous skatespot in zagreb)

[18:17:28] sergej vutuc: hehe. Yes. sounds like good interview start

[18:17:41] compactkaputt: hehehe

[18:17:43] sergej vutuc: you was flat skating at mimara

[18:17:54] compactkaputt: (beer) this sounds good as well

[18:18:03] sergej vutuc: ooo

[18:18:13] sergej vutuc: or you was flat drinking at mimara

[18:18:47] sergej vutuc: so your reduction in life is also on skateboard “terrain” too

[18:18:48] compactkaputt: no no, now i am having a beer at kinoteka a old cinema bar

[18:19:40] compactkaputt: yeah thats a fact

[18:19:52] compactkaputt: but the flat is perfect

[18:20:40] sergej vutuc: i know… how is it with your time.. ‘?

[18:23:16] compactkaputt: i arrived yesterday with my personal things, so i feel home at home.

[18:23:32] compactkaputt: everything is very relaxed

[18:23:39] compactkaputt: i am writing a lot

[18:24:16] compactkaputt: i discoverd writing

[18:28:13] compactkaputt: i have a diary and through my diary i try to write about life and its ups and downs, some writings are in form of poetry, some are in form of short stories,

[18:28:53] compactkaputt: its a very free form of writing

[18:29:02] compactkaputt: not a conventional style

[18:29:09] compactkaputt: its very open

[18:29:46] compactkaputt: writing without any rules

[18:30:25] sergej vutuc: and do you leave it with out rules and convention or you go after over…. is there time to go over

[18:30:55] compactkaputt: some things are sozial critical, some are ironical, some cynical, some just straight

[18:31:15] compactkaputt: till now i did not go over

[18:31:52] compactkaputt: i am reading the stuff i wrote from time to time not all in one but the last pages i wrote  and i like the stuff like it is

[18:32:14] compactkaputt: and thats the pleasure to leave the words and sentences as they come out

[18:32:47] compactkaputt: they all have meaning

[18:33:00] compactkaputt: its a life with its pureest expression

[18:34:27] sergej vutuc: i like that leaving and leaving just open valve und leave stuff to go and with time look on it

[18:35:07] sergej vutuc: i start also to put into my drawings words and some thoughts like scream / inside talk

[18:36:10] sergej vutuc: are you writing lyrics in band

[18:36:53] compactkaputt: i just write, what i will do with that stuff is open

[18:37:58] sergej vutuc: here in zagreb you test also theater stage.

[18:38:20] sergej vutuc: how was it? and are there any ideas to make more of it

[18:40:13] compactkaputt: i was acting in a opera play, i was a drunk argentinian in a tango bar, hanging around with whores… and so on

[18:40:22] compactkaputt: it was a good experience

[18:40:47] compactkaputt: funny that you ask because i wrote while i was working in my fathers’ cafe, and it would be a very good theater play. the scene is in a turkish caffee… and about the turkish community in austria and germany.

Frontside Smith. Prague, Czech Republic. Photo: Lars Greiwe

[18:44:58] sergej vutuc: you thinking about writing theater show

[18:47:28] compactkaputt: i was just looking and talking with the people, analizing what i saw and heard…

[18:47:43] compactkaputt: also how i felt in between them

[18:48:24] compactkaputt: i have the same background but was a outsider because i am different

[18:48:52] compactkaputt: but after a week they were expecting me, more or less…

[18:49:41] compactkaputt: i know that i have many possibilities to use the written stuff in different ways..

[18:50:12] compactkaputt: i can imagine to put it in a theatar play, i am thinking about it

[18:50:07] sergej vutuc: (step back) how you feel different?

[18:51:36] compactkaputt: the majority of the clients in the cafe of my father is between 18 and 28.

[18:51:51] compactkaputt: so i know this people from my youth, and they know me

[18:52:12] compactkaputt: with some of them i went to school or was playing with them in playgrounds

[18:52:36] compactkaputt: now 90% of them are married and have a kid or more.

[18:52:48] compactkaputt: they did not change a bit

[18:53:08] compactkaputt: as far as i can say

[18:54:49] sergej vutuc: how is to be in communication with them… i mean you travel, you leave religions, you skate and you want to see in life more then job and ring

[18:59:33] compactkaputt: they are stuck in their little world, which they have seen from their parents and they step in the footsteps of their fathers. there was nothing to talk about. they go to work, come home, eat, go to a caffe, play cards, go home, sleep, wake up, work. Their wives are at home taking care of the kids.

[19:01:01] sergej vutuc: how is it with your brothers

[19:07:20] compactkaputt: my older brother is working in the cafe with my dad. my younger brothers (twins) are both football players on the same team and work at the same bank company. they do their stuff. a normal life.

[19:08:09] sergej vutuc: sound like typical twins life

[19:08:26] compactkaputt: somehow yes

[19:08:46] sergej vutuc: something different, do you read skateboard magazines

[19:09:20] sergej vutuc: i mean i open from time to time magazines and thinking to read something but on the end i just get mad…and now i am doing an interview for a magazine

[19:09:34] sergej vutuc: i hope it would not be one of those magazines any way

[19:10:05] compactkaputt: i go to piss and than answer

[19:19:15] compactkaputt: its a pity that most of  the skateboard magazines are in first case an advertisment catalogue and less things are in it to read, are quiet boring. the interviews are almost the same, because the questions are the same. and if someone wants to make a different kind of a portrait of a person, its not welcome because its unsual…

 

Frontside Crooked. Zagreb, Croatia. Photo: Sergej Vutuc

 

[19:35:48] sergej vutuc: ej, do you read any other magazines or newspapers

compactkaputt: i read books

[19:37:31] compactkaputt: from time to time some magazines like geo or profil, or spiegel.

[19:37:58] sergej vutuc: what makes you more interested to read books

[19:38:42] compactkaputt: cause i can feel a book and dive into the story

[19:39:02] compactkaputt: if its a good one

[19:39:20] sergej vutuc: what you read at moment

[19:39:36] compactkaputt: some short stories from haruki murakami

[19:40:13] compactkaputt: i like it because he writes stories about usual persons and their life and feelings

[19:40:09] sergej vutuc: how is it with literature from skaters, do you look sometimes for stuff like that

[19:41:26] compactkaputt: i read the poems from scott, i don’t now other skaters who write, for sure there must be more of them who write

[19:41:44] compactkaputt: like me, laughing

[19:42:03] sergej vutuc: and screaching beard

[19:42:36] compactkaputt: hey i talked with tada about your trip

[19:42:59] sergej vutuc: i hear you are in van

[19:43:06] compactkaputt: the parasite

[19:43:12] sergej vutuc: hehehe

[19:43:21] compactkaputt:  interesting

[19:43:29] sergej vutuc: sounds that you gonna make readings on tour

[19:43:35] sergej vutuc: hmmm very good idea

[19:43:40] compactkaputt: who knows

[19:43:46] sergej vutuc: nooo

[19:43:48] compactkaputt: or i will write

[19:43:54] sergej vutuc: every one on tour must do something

[19:44:10] compactkaputt: of course

[19:44:25] sergej vutuc: sponsor by selling our creativity every day/night

[19:44:32] compactkaputt: i have my part

[19:44:37] sergej vutuc: show in park – basement- kitchen

[19:44:41] sergej vutuc: on street

[19:44:50] sergej vutuc: on the corner of star bucks

[19:45:18] compactkaputt: hey i play bass tada guitar and i was thinking to get a cachon for you

[19:45:25] compactkaputt: gipsy punks forever

[19:46:35] compactkaputt: we will see

[19:46:41] compactkaputt: kaj bu bu

[19:46:51] sergej vutuc: great that sounds slowly on big crazy tour

[19:47:51] sergej vutuc: marakesch – moscwa

[19:52:55] sergej vutuc: how you feel after one week break of doing interview and been again on it

[19:53:09] sergej vutuc: something change in life

[19:53:24] compactkaputt: i feel like i am talking to my friend again

[19:54:07] compactkaputt: the last months were months of change for me

[19:54:10] compactkaputt: personally

[19:54:38] compactkaputt: many things happend

[19:54:46] compactkaputt: which are hard to explain

[19:55:08] compactkaputt: i was lost

[19:55:15] compactkaputt: and i found myself again

[19:55:25] compactkaputt: almost

[19:55:48] sergej vutuc: love that there is allways humor by you

[19:56:09] compactkaputt: we need it, its the best thing to laugh about yourself

[19:56:16] compactkaputt: but we can not always

[19:56:32] compactkaputt: cause sometimes we do not have anything to laugh

[19:57:16] compactkaputt: sometimes we feel empty

[19:57:29] compactkaputt: and exhausted

[19:57:45] compactkaputt: alone

[19:58:11] sergej vutuc: whats mean to you be alone?

[19:59:28] compactkaputt: to be weak and in this times we need friends or a pen….

[20:01:26] sergej vutuc: its very interessting we have friends here and there and we have sometimes that feeling of alone, emptiness

[20:36:27] sergej vutuc: should we do it tomorrow

[20:36:57] compactkaputt: we can keep on its just this answer were i want to write with clear head

[20:37:43] compactkaputt: sometimes we do not have answers at the second

[20:38:09] compactkaputt: hard interview partner, yelda

[20:38:14] sergej vutuc: hehehe

[20:38:26] sergej vutuc: i need answer on it

[20:38:32] sergej vutuc: to keep rolling interview

[20:38:42] compactkaputt: i try to focus

[20:39:53] sergej vutuc: i am little bit empty of questions…i mean ask you some standard things…like in magazines

[20:40:08] sergej vutuc: i can not

[20:40:19] sergej vutuc: so i need it…….

[20:40:45] compactkaputt: i will ask you something and we will find a new way

[20:40:58] compactkaputt: how do you feel about anika and you, after braking up

[20:42:33] sergej vutuc: hm, everything has sanse somewhere….and i think we

[20:43:24] sergej vutuc: came in life on some points where we need that think..and our love was so big that it need sad/bad end…

[20:43:53] sergej vutuc: on other hand we couldn´t maybe split

[20:44:28] compactkaputt: do you feel free or are your thoughts leading you to her

[20:44:42] sergej vutuc: and somethings after that show it and i am little bit sad that we lost our friendship what for me has one of bigest life meaning

[20:46:08] sergej vutuc: i feel free and i love it but i think lot of about her/friendship and is there anyway to talk and why…and there is no answer…and i dont see it

[20:46:21] sergej vutuc: for be free i was more or less free

[20:46:40] sergej vutuc: and that is for me importent to be in releashonship and be free

[20:47:08] compactkaputt: otherwise we would not be in a relationship

[20:47:08] sergej vutuc: cos if you are not free in releashonship then you loose something

[20:47:17] compactkaputt: to je to

[20:47:17] sergej vutuc: nooo

[20:47:29] sergej vutuc: we lossing personality

[20:47:36] compactkaputt: to je to

[20:48:06] sergej vutuc: and that is like boomerang

[20:48:23] sergej vutuc: you gonna come back and you ask what i was doing

[20:48:26] sergej vutuc: bullshite

[20:48:45] compactkaputt: between us…

[20:49:03] sergej vutuc: no..i was in answer

[20:49:07] sergej vutuc: hehehe

[20:49:12] compactkaputt: i ask myself what i am doing here, and i now that i am just here because of maja

[20:49:58] sergej vutuc: is it your whole decision

[20:50:19] compactkaputt: no way, stari! are you crazy!

[20:51:19] sergej vutuc: love

[20:51:28] compactkaputt: love is dangerous

[20:51:43] sergej vutuc: yes, beautiful

[20:52:08] sergej vutuc: i like that whole package…heartbreak

[20:52:28] sergej vutuc: and flying over whole world

[20:52:48] compactkaputt: while beeing in love, do you mean that?

[20:53:12] sergej vutuc: yes

[20:53:17] compactkaputt: thats great

[20:53:30] compactkaputt: of course

[20:53:46] compactkaputt: and i have a crazy woman on my side

[20:53:49] sergej vutuc: there are words from one of bosnien poet ivo andric

[20:54:24] sergej vutuc: “depth of his recent fall, he measured the height of its former power”

Ferit Batir. Backside Ollie. Belgrade, Serbia. Photo: Sergej Vutuc

 

[20:57:49] sergej vutuc: and i hear those words at 3 o clock in morning in wc on bus station in rijeka from guy in toilet

[20:58:02] compactkaputt: amazin

[20:58:11] sergej vutuc: it was one of the most interesting conversations

[20:58:58] sergej vutuc: i didnt have any kuna with me so i pass by guy in toilet on way back i feel bad so i say to him sorry i dont have money…

[20:59:26] sergej vutuc: and he just say to me when you come somewhere you must first say hallo or good night….

[21:18:37] compactkaputt: i just got a great idea

[21:18:50] compactkaputt: i love to be in touch with creative and alive people

[21:19:02] compactkaputt: i will tell you now

[21:19:06] compactkaputt: fuck interview for now

[21:19:09] compactkaputt: for now, cekay?

[21:19:41] sergej vutuc: reci

[21:19:55] compactkaputt: i want to make a blog where i just interview

people behind “curtains” of life

[21:20:00] compactkaputt: positive people

[21:20:18] sergej vutuc: yes

[21:20:24] compactkaputt: with the pictures i take and ask them why and what they are doing

[21:20:31] compactkaputt: doesent matter which field, i want personalities

[21:20:39] sergej vutuc: sounds very good

[21:21:19] compactkaputt: their personalities on my blog

[21:21:47] compactkaputt: people like maja kovac, sergej vutuc, lars greiwe, paul Labadie, david tura, and so on.

[21:22:25] compactkaputt: people who are giving and living

[21:22:29] compactkaputt: kuzis

[21:22:34] sergej vutuc: hehehe

[21:23:14] compactkaputt: lele zuodar

[21:23:25] sergej vutuc: yeah stari…maybe you should say to jonathan and start to do interviews for confusion

 

Backside Crail. Dresden, Germany. Photo: Lars Greiwe

 

[21:23:45] compactkaputt: not bad, good idea

[21:23:48] sergej vutuc: not only for your self 😉

[21:24:01] compactkaputt: to je to

[21:24:05] compactkaputt: not only for myself

[21:24:08] compactkaputt: for all of us

[21:24:22] compactkaputt:  everything i did till now i did it for the people but

[21:24:24] sergej vutuc: do it i would like to read it

[21:24:31] compactkaputt: they did not understood it

[21:24:37] compactkaputt: some of them at least

[21:25:15] sergej vutuc: it is like that

[21:25:35] sergej vutuc: but that is our also tast?

[21:25:50] sergej vutuc: and giving chance to everyone

[21:25:57] sergej vutuc: good character

[21:26:13] sergej vutuc: karma foster 😉

[21:26:22] compactkaputt: to je to

[21:26:50] compactkaputt: i am surprised about our chaotic interview

[21:27:01] sergej vutuc: hehehe

[21:27:40] sergej vutuc: its modern time

[21:28:02] sergej vutuc: ipod – facebook – skype – chat

[21:28:09] sergej vutuc: fast quick

[21:33:15] sergej vutuc: ej, what you would ask persons like lars if you would doing interview with them

[21:34:34] compactkaputt: what were the reasons to choose a teamrider?

[21:34:49] compactkaputt: why did he stopped working for chrt?

[21:35:52] compactkaputt: what is he doing at the moment?

[21:36:03] compactkaputt: where does he see himself in some years?

[21:36:55] compactkaputt: what is his dream?

[21:37:25] compactkaputt: these are spontanious questions

[21:38:54] compactkaputt: what is, for him, life about?

[21:39:34] sergej vutuc:  how you see his work, what he means to you from all those years

 

Ferit Batir. Transfer to frontside double trucker grind. Zajecar, Serbia. Photo: Sergej Vutuc

 

[21:40:35] compactkaputt: for me lars is a person, who wanted to help the people around him, which he liked to live their dreams and support them as much as possible.

[21:40:50] compactkaputt: like you and me

[21:41:04] compactkaputt: he had other possibilities than we have

[21:41:15] compactkaputt: but we have possibilities as well

[21:42:00] compactkaputt: to support people we love

[21:42:11] compactkaputt: for that what they are and do… simple

[21:49:01] sergej vutuc: how you see yama skateboards

[21:50:30] compactkaputt: now i know why i am here, i am here in zagreb next to the woman i love, because i am working on my plan for 2012. i am here to recover and start with new energie for  the new year.

[21:52:34] sergej vutuc: what kind of year should be

[21:52:44] compactkaputt: yama skateboards, is a very important part of my life, which still goes on.

[21:52:55] compactkaputt: a productive year!

 

Ferit Batir. Backside disaster. Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Sergej Vutuc

 

[21:53:05] compactkaputt: creative year

[21:53:41] compactkaputt: a new year

[21:53:59] compactkaputt: a new year for a new born

[21:54:12] compactkaputt: reincarnation

[21:56:19] sergej vutuc: i was on one tour with you/yama and it was little bit chaotic for me but more in way of relationship between you guys

[21:57:06] sergej vutuc: is that kind of living most of you in different places change something in team

[22:02:07] compactkaputt: since we were spread through the years and yama/alex got a kid, in the meantime two, some of us were still in school, some were working, some studying, some travelling. we lost the connection to each other, but now we are building up again. the new base for yama will be in vienna. where most of us are now. we are organizing ourselfs.

[22:15:27] sergej vutuc: definitely there are two worlds in skateboarding business and other world – how ever we call it…where you see yourself and them

[22:21:52] compactkaputt: i hate capitalism, the system we are living in is not good and healthy, we know that. i am a part of the business, because i have my part in the skateboarding world as a sponsored skateboarder. i appreciate the support which i get. thanks to all who support me in the thing which i love, but i see myself far away from all the business. i am who i am and i do what i do. i don’t like the fucking business.

[22:24:32] sergej vutuc: is possible that skateboarding be different, run by himself

[22:31:38] compactkaputt: skatebaording can be run by itself. we see the d.i.y. movement growing all over the world. people build their own parks, print their own shirts, some people make their own boards and so on.

[22:35:15] compactkaputt: it would be more friendly and real.

[22:47:11] sergej vutuc: most of those d.i.y. skateboard companies exist cos people who run them has other job to make money for living

[22:47:35] sergej vutuc: i had once a conversation: with gio from dumb about skateboard scene in milano and italy cos they have so many companys and they are all friends…i was wondering cos here in germany i have feeling is much diffrent…and gio told me “cos we dont must live of it”

[22:55:18] compactkaputt: i think of communities in skateboarding and other creative people. if we are not looking for money, we can do our own thing without expecting to get rich or fame out of the thing we are doing. we are doing the things because we like to do them and if we have a small “company” like the r.o.w. gang from slovenia/dravograd has, than we have our own boards for us and our friends and the rest is just what it is, skateboarding.

[23:02:50] sergej vutuc: is nice that here in europe growing more and more d.i.y skateboarding scene

 

Frontside Lipslide. Namur, Belgium. Photo: Sergej Vutuc

 

one day later…

[19:42:37] compactkaputt: even if we are sorrounded by friends or some people, in the end we are alone and we do our own thing, we can get exhausted by our environment and its monotony, if  the days seem to be like a routine and we are not satisfied with our life and ourselfs we have to change… ourselfs, our enviroment, our habbits… the hard part of it is, to be honest to yourself and face the reality, accept your mistakes and failures, which can be really hard to deal with… because at that point you start to question yourself and go very deep inside you, the deeper you go, the darker it can get, depends on what you are searching for. some things are hidden in the dark and if you discover them, face them, it can be frightening. you search for answers and explanations, but it is what it is, you see what you see. accept it and move on, that’s all you can do. move on!

 

Ferit Batir. Backside Lipslide. Dresden, Germany. Photo: Lars Greiwe

 

[21:17:08] sergej vutuc: i think about how much pain is around skateboarding but also how much people using painkiller and its never subject in skateboarding

[21:20:27] compactkaputt: it reminds me on people who drink a lot and take cocaine, sometimes i drink till i am out, but i do not use doping to continue drinking. our bodie tells us when it needs a break.

[21:22:35] sergej vutuc: do you drink in this time more

[21:37:07] compactkaputt: i reduced my alcohol consumption. i started to drink very early in the age of 14, quite a lot and regularly till 2009.  i was drinking almoust every day three to eight or more beers and some stronger stuff in between. 2010 was a smoking year with less alcohol. at the moment i smoke almost nothing and drink from time to time a beer or two, sometimes five. no planed excess anymore.

[21:40:21] sergej vutuc: wauuu

[21:41:01] sergej vutuc: you give always full speed by skating.

[21:42:28] sergej vutuc: how is with rail and hard trick skating…you keep head clean

[21:47:23] compactkaputt: yeah, i like to skate fast, if i skate slow i get bored, i go as fast as i can. i have more controll when i skate fast. if you skate fast you dont have time to think, so you are not scared. at least in transitions its like that. if i skate rails i just go for it. i imagine how i do the trick from the run up till the landing. i visualize it and if i can visualize it, i know that i will land it.

Frontside Crooked grind and Frontside Lipslide. Belgrade, Serbia. Photos: Sergej Vutuc

[21:50:19] sergej vutuc: i see it….it was always so interesting to see how you completly with body and board visualize your trick

[21:56:55] compactkaputt: i know that i can realize everything which i can imagine… as long as it is realistic, i am laughing…

[21:48:42] sergej vutuc: we was together on tour in slowenia with r.o.w. guys. you went with them to thier home town. that meeting was so stong that you guys exchanged tattoos too

[22:15:30] compactkaputt: when i met deso in ljubljana i felt like i found a brother and my feelings were right. he invited me to come with him to visit his friends, the r.o.w. gang. so i did. we met the guys in kranj where they were building a miniramp. we had a lot of beers and wine mixed with fanta, one of these days, drinking with meaning. you, deso, mico, kupa and me were sleeping in the mini. we woke up and you guys told me about the pissing story. i could not remember anything, but deso was wet like a fish and freezing during the night. it was not his piss. we were laughing about the situation and i was feeling kinda bad, but thiese guys were just relaxed and saw it as a great experience. real people. i love them. we went on to dravograd, the r.o.w. headquarter and spent some days, where i got a r.o.w. tattoo and a drawing by deso, tattooed by mico. we were talking, listening to bob dylan and having a good time. biggest respect to the r.o.w. gang!

[22:27:06] sergej vutuc: mmm, talking abut future is hard and i dont like. i know that you we have some plans but that everything has right time….but maybe would be interesting to have some kind favourites. 5 – 10 your favorite turkish songwriter

[22:31:03] compactkaputt: -erkin koray

[22:31:11] compactkaputt: -orhan gencebay

[22:31:18] compactkaputt: -fikret kizilok

[22:31:26] compactkaputt: -baris manco

[22:31:50] compactkaputt: -sezen aksu

[22:33:28] compactkaputt: -m.f.ö.

[22:34:02] compactkaputt: -cem karaca

[22:34:09] compactkaputt: dosta

[22:38:55] sergej vutuc: super

[22:39:08] sergej vutuc: bleibst noch da am bier oder

[22:39:41] compactkaputt: ich bin noch da bis 11, falls du was fragen willst frag

[22:58:07] sergej vutuc: hvala

[22:58:11] compactkaputt: ajde bok

Ferit Batir. Wallride yank off transfer under the bridge in Cologne, Germany. Photo: J. Hay

 

That concludes the interview by Sergej Vutuc with Ferit Batir as seen in Confusion issue #4, published January 2012.

Now we continue the tribute to Ferit Batir with other photographers interactions over the years with Ferit and some tribute quotes from friends.

“I MEET FERIT IN 2011.SINCE THEN THERE WERE A LOT OF CHANGES IN OUR LIVES .HE WAS ALWAYS TRUE FRIEND ,BROTHER,GOOD LISTENER AND LOVING PERSON .WE HAD ENDLESS TALKS ,LAUGHS AND EMOTINAL MOMENTS .WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU .IN MY HEART YOU ARE IN A SPECIAL PLACE .
TAKE CARE WHEREEVER YOU ARE ŠIŠ MIŠ ♥️”  – YOUR BROTHER DESO.

Ferit and Deso.

“I met Ferit in 2013 during a long week end in Postojna, Slovenja, where the locals from Pumpa DIY used to organize an event once per year…that I miss now so bad ! I can’t describe the energy that you were able to breath in there. Pure energy and creativity from 100% OG skateboarders. And for sure was not missing the fun times between skate sessions and two nights with 12 bands playing in this old gas station surrounded now of concrete shaped here and there, ending into a roll in into the trees where a wooden mid vert ramp is placed. In all this somehow Ferit captured my attention, for the style he has skateing for sure, but in general for his behaviour. I always thought I was going to meet up with him again one day soon and have the chance to know him better, but this never happened. The energy I lived during that days, are all in one photo that for me represents skateboarding in his most pure essence.  The same photo I proposed to Jaywalk, the band I was playing with years ago in Italy, and became the cover of our first and only album. Thank you Ferit (R.I.P.). Thank you skateboarding. ” – Alberto Scattolin

 

Ferit at Pumpa Party in Slovenia
Photos: Alberto Scattolin

Ferit. FSA at the Pumpa Ramp in Slovenia

Cover of Alberto Scattolin’s band JAYWALK demo tape. Backside boneless at Pumpa ramp.

Ferit contemplating at Pumpa

Ferit at Pumpa Party.

Pumpa party in Slovenia

Ferit and Friends. Pumpa Party.  Photos: Alberto Scattolin

 

“Ferit had a big heart and was a great guy – the older ones of our crew, like me, saw him growing up in skateboarding – we remember well when he came first time to our local park with his first complete… he immediately became a member of us and showed us his huge talent!!  Over the years we had so many good memories with the Yama tours, rock concerts, drinking and partying together. There been happy moments and sad moments – skatefam helps, but not in everything.”  – B

Ferit tribute session in Austria. Photo: M. Deronja

Ferit tribute session. Photo: M. Deronja

Next set of photos of Ferit and friends by M. Deronja

Ferit. Photo: M. Deronja

Ferit. Photo: M. Deronja

Bernd and Ferit. Photo: M. Deronja

Ferit. Photo: M. Deronja

Ferit. Photo: M. Deronja

Photos by Piper

Ferit in Konstanz, Germany. Photo: Piper

Ferit in Konstanz, Germany Photo: Piper

Ferit. Photo: Piper

Ferit. Frontside boardslide. Photo: Piper

Ferit in Basel, Switzerland. Photo: Piper

Ferit. Backside crailslide at La Kantera. Photo: Piper

Ferit in Guernika. Photo: Piper

Ferit. Photo: Piper

Ferit and the Yama boys at Roller Gap during the Yama Carhartt Mental Weirdo tour in 2009. Photo: Jean-Thomas Tschirret

Ferit on tour. 2009. Photo: Jean-Thomas Tschirret

Ferit and the Yama boys. Photo: Jean-Thomas Tschirret

Ferit. Yama Carhartt mental weirdo tour in 2009. Photo: Jean-Thomas Tschirret

Ferit at after a session at Horst Klub, Switzerland. Photo: Phil Ayad

On the road with Ferit from Dresden to Prague on the Carhartt “DDR” tour in 2011. Photo: Christian Petzold

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