Watching George Mano’s last video part “Adapa”, I thought to myself shall I ask the flatland community on the FM IG. Is flatland an artform or sport? The response was amazing, and I definitely wasn’t expecting George to write about in on his FB account, and just like that a new DISCUSSION POINT section is born here on Flatmattersonline. Over to George, let us know what you think in the comments. Love how this happened, so organically. Thank you to George for sharing his thoughts with us…

Text & Photos: George Manos.

Motivated by Effraim’s latest question on the FLATMATTERSONLINE IG about Flatland being an artform or a sport (the aenaous question) and since it was my latest video edit,ADAPA that became the reason of his pondering, I take the opportunity to state my opinion in this and also to explain my viewpoint for the last 7 years.
For me, and for many others, Flatland is the perfect medium to express bodily and mentally simultaneously. I tend to lean more on the art aspect obviously, as a means of craftsmanship/performance art, as a form of channeling energy productively regarding my character, taste, and personal purposes. Flatland competitions of any kind are used mainly as a bigger platform to showcase my ideas and to pass on the message of individuality, all other benefits or winnings are just a bonus and part of the game. Riding is a reflection of one’s being. Everything in life leads to self discovery and development even if we are unconscious of this process.

Specifically my riding seemingly reached a technical pinnacle, regarding the use of footjam/scuff/ tire technique in 2016 when I released NLIGHT. After that I felt satisfied with this specific vision and exploration of this technique, and combos which was necessary, since tires mostly covered the void of pegs. I saw it as another tool, and I still posted some clips with this technique as mostly leftovers or trick variations that had in mind and didn’t make it to NLIGHT edit due to time limitations. A pot of tricks I would easily explore a bit more, but not really interested to further develop. I also felt free to explore my artistic vision by experimentic with strange , unorthodox locations , symbolism, video editing, and use my complete arsenal of tricks in that case for artistic purposes. I even put pegs for a short period of time in the pandemic, I dare to confess!

Technically, over these last 7 years I tried to create a new base of tricks and artistic expression, and this is marked with PENDULUX. Single tricks or really small combinations, bizarre positions but still in many cases the tire was needed as a stepping stone. In SERPRISE even not touching the seat, while in DRAGONRISE I went the opposite way and mainly grabbed the seat and floated no footed positions –even positions with no entry or end, in order to explore the viewpoint of Takaaki Fukuda, for those in the know. In both these edits you can see glimpses of scuffles techniques, while mainly floating or sliding-snakelike on the bike in some way. All this ended with ΟΦΙDEUS and DRAGPAZEN,my latest HERESY edits, a few months ago where I took the decision to go even deeper by not using the tire at all, leading to a purist point of view, and signifies a new era of my riding! With that being said don’ t be surprised if you see me in any case touch tires, seat or even pegs, I like to shake the waters, just know that my goal is other! As for ADAPA it worked out of circumstances as a conclusion showcasing all facets of what I ‘ve done so far , all in 1 minute. It is composed of instagram clips for a Profile Racing project which turned into a normal edit with the help of Matt Coplon, and I am happy it turned out great!

Riding has become even more personal than it was never before, in point where I understand that most people would hardly relate to what I am doing, aesthetically and technically, and I accept that –not always content with misunderstandings, but still I prefer it this way. I know by experience that actions speak louder than words but since we live in a world of words, this may be helpful or necessary at times. To those of the same viewpoint these words are a reinforcement, to those of a different viewpoint it is a means of understanding.
Ride Beyond!