‘Snowboarding is so much more than jumping from the takeoff to the landing.’ In the summer of 1965, Bob Dylan shocked his hardcore fan base by trading his familiar acoustic guitar with a Fender Stratocaster. A few years ago, kind of like Bobby, Sevi decided to reinvent himself and show the world what snowboarders least expected from him. Some people might’ve felt let down, not us. Did I just compare Sevi Van Der Meer with one of our most influential modern icon? Yes, sue me. Both remind us that there’s enough conformity in our world to make it exciting when creatives bring us in unexpected areas of what things can be on the mountain, on our screens, pages, exhibits, or sound waves. Sevi has been navigating the mountains and audacious production projects over the last few years, always with that different idea on his mind, and it has been an everlasting blossom since. We decided to catch up with him last summer and check in on how transformative this turn might’ve been to him, how it is to produce all these creative projects, and where his mind was as a rider, an artist, and the ultimate carpe diem advocate.

INTERVIEW: JUSTIN DUTILH

PHOTOS: JULIEN 'PERLY' PETRY

Hey Sevi, how’s life?

It’s been nice. I just came back from Paris. I went to Fontainebleau for a week to a friend’s place. It’s kind of like an art residency close to the magic forest there, where they have all the boulders. We went for bouldering, then to the coast at Perly’s, to Biarritz, and then back to Paris for la Fête de la musique. It was crazy! 

Ah yeah, that must’ve been fun!

Yeah, so many people! It’s a huge block party. You guys probably have it in Bordeaux, right?

Yeah, it’s all over France, every village, every town, everywhere. You would have some more planned parties, but the main concept is to push amateurs and music lovers in general, so everyone can just play and enjoy. If you want to plug in an amp in front of your house and play, you can.

Yeah, that’s so sick! We just walked around randomly and went from late-night jazz concerts to classical to rave parties. 

Yeah, it’s a real experience. You seem to be quite open to experimenting with things with your latest projects and stuff. What is it that makes you want to try new things?

It all started something like seven years ago. I’ll have to do the math *laughs*. Before that, I filmed with Absinthe for three and a half years. It was amazing, and for sure trampolined me to where I am now, so huge thanks to Vladi (David Vladyka) and the crew for giving me that chance and connecting with so many cool snowboarders. But I got bored with this classic trick, trick, trick snowboard video formula. At the time, I didn’t really have a big vision, but I wanted to do something else, try something, and create with friends. We didn’t want to just focus on snowboarding. There’s so much more you experience than just riding down. I was inspired by others, like Christian  Haller. People like him motivated me to do more of a short film and focus on the sound to bring a feeling of the mountain in and what we experience every day out there. So we got together with Willem Jones, Silvano Zeiter, David “DBK” (Bertschinger Karg), Tobi Bonfanti, Alex Tank, and started creating. I put my life into it, these guys bring theirs, and that cocktail works. The whole process is just so fun! I just like to talk with them, create, and get inspired. It was a new perspective for me as I realized that if I can combine snowboarding with being creative and working on something, I have so much more passion and joy to actually snowboard.

So you were not only bored by the classic way of making videoparts, but also by simply snowboarding?

Yeah, I was kind of bored with snowboarding before that. I was just traveling a lot with different people. What I didn’t realize during that time, but it’s kind of what it is, is that being with new people all the time keeps things a bit superficial. You can build deep relationships, but if you don’t spend a lot of time together, it’s not going to get that deep. When you live closely with your friends and have projects with them, you build a space where you can inspire each other. That’s what keeps me going a bit. And you know, snowboarding is so much more than showing it only from the takeoff to the landing. So we try to bring this into these films and show more than just a trick.

Like with your latest project with the bigger brand, Arc’teryx?

Yeah, then I got on Arc’teryx, and they wanted me to do my own projects and express where I saw my future a bit, too. I took a year off to film with Brown Cinema, because I wanted to snowboard, and you know, I love it. I filmed with them for a couple of weeks, went back and built a deck with DBK, and chose the crew for ‘Every island has a name’. It’s always nice to have a plan of what we want to do with these pitches we make, but it’s mostly to get the approval for a project. We always ask for creative freedom because we know that once the crew gets together and we start to create, so much more pops up in the process. Some ideas will lead to dead ends, but some will lead to new ones, and that’s kind of how we went into this last project. We made this movie with Elena (Hight), Jared (Elston), Danimals, Ito (Aito), and Jake Blauvelt. We had an amazing and really hectic season that year as we chased the snow staying on this creative piece. We wanted to do something special, and for sure had high expectations, which we kind of felt in the crew, too. We didn’t want to do something that was not to the standard of ‘Chroma’. 

You talk about leaving space to creative freedom, but how far away did you land from the original script on that project? 

Elena, Jared, and I have such different styles, and one idea we kept from the beginning was to show that. It’s so beautiful to see it together, because it shows the beauty of the three of us and that everything has its beauty. Beauty is in the individual and in the differences. But there are layers in there which were planned, and others that weren’t, as they came on the go. We kind of knew that we had three sections, but we didn’t really know which ones exactly. It’s still a snowboard movie that depends on conditions and opportunities, too. I wanted to have one exotic location, and two ‘normal’ ones, and first it was Morocco, then Peru, then India, but in the end, we went to Alaska because Elena had created an opportunity there. Alaska gave us these magical two weeks where it snowed for the first four or five days, and then opened up. We had the time of our lives, and a trip we can’t repeat, I guess. It ended up being the end of the snowboarding film. 

But for example, when we were filming in Japan, Willem got bored with shooting only snowboarding and mentioned it to Achille (Mauri). Achille, who wrote the script and helped put the puzzle together in post-production, randomly said there was this artist in Tokyo who freezes flowers in resin, and that he would try to get in contact. Willem ended up going there to film the artwork for two days and came back with a smile and super motivated again. We didn’t know at the time what we were going to do with the footage, but it was so perfect because Willem was happy again. 

Yeah, it’s cool to keep these doors open. There was also some art specifically created for the project, right?

Yeah, the kite artist made two kites out of recycled Arc’teryx materials. The main project was not just the movie, but to bring snowboarding into the museum. We created these pieces that can be part of exhibits, because I think snowboarding can be shown in a museum. Which we did in Milano at Spazio Maiocchi. Also, the violin player composed the original soundtrack, projecting the footage in front of him and jamming to it. At the art show, the artists played an extended live version of the soundtrack to the visuals of the sections for the exhibit. It started with the Alps section with the violin player and a bass player jamming together, which was beautiful. Then this drummer played the drums and the synths for the Japanese part. He started really slow and ended up going off playing drum and bass. And at the end, we had an ambient section for Alaska.

That’s pretty sick! How did the audience react to the exhibit?

Yeah, I think you can guide the viewers so much with music. We really wanted to change the vision a bit for them, too. The ambient music to Alaska is something so special, and I get that some people might not like it because it’s not the same energy. You don’t get the trick, trick, trick thing of going the biggest. For me, it’s really not about going the biggest, to show the beauty of it. The ambient takes in other parts of the snowboarding, and makes you notice different stuff. It was a magical night. I haven’t experienced something like this before, and it will stay in my heart forever. To show snowboarding in such a different environment, and to see the people connect with it on such a deeper level. When you go to a screening, you’re there for 20 minutes, and then you leave. You can be touched, as it’s special to see a film in a cinema, but to have a physical experience is way more powerful. You get there, you go through the exhibition, look at the photos, then you have the performance, and after that you hang out. I’m such a fan of physical experiences. It creates a powerful moment, having a bunch of snowboarders who are inspired to be together and celebrate.

Would you say it was mostly people with a taste for the arts that showed up, or did you also draw more ‘hardcore snowboarder’ fans?

There were different people and different reactions at every event. Showing our latest movie in New York as the first premiere was pretty nerve-racking. Maybe they expected more after ‘Chroma’, especially in America. The western audience seems to be so used to seeing the best snowboarder ever now doing the biggest air possible. I felt it, and I think they didn’t really like ‘Chroma’ back then, too, maybe because it doesn’t highlight a personal snowboarding performance. That’s not what I’m trying to do, though. I’m trying to show snowboarding in a beautiful way, and I don’t care if people recognize me in it. After ‘Chroma’, maybe some people expected it to be different, but still didn’t get the adrenaline rush out of it. But some people liked it and saw what we wanted to make with this. But yeah, I definitely saw different kinds of audiences at the experience and performance events, and at the movie screenings.

Yeah, Beer versus cocktails. 

*laughs* Yeah, or more spritz versus beer. But it was pretty cool to have a project that touches different people.

And how was it working with such a big brand? Did you manage to keep control over your creative process to push your vision, or did you have to compromise a lot?

Honestly, huge thanks to these guys at Arc’teryx for supporting independent snowboard films. They trusted us with what we wanted to do and gave us the freedom to do it. Of course, we had many feedback rounds, and they wanted to be involved in the whole process, so we had to update them, but in general, it was amazing how everything went, how they trusted us and supported us. For example, the exhibition was planned from the beginning, but was cancelled at some point. But because the whole film was made to be part of an art show, we pushed it again, and they understood the importance of what we wanted to do with it. So they managed to twist budgets around to make it happen.

I guess they don’t know much about the snowboard world, and how it can be very close to different art forms, so they put their full trust in you guys, which is pretty sick.

Which is amazing! I think that’s what a brand should do. It should trust the people, they’re involving, and not try to micro-manage to do it the way they want it. 

Okay, let’s talk about another art form, dance. In the movie “Every Island Has a name” there is a mention about dancing between control and freedom. How does this inspire you?

It’s like dancing with the wind with a kite, or like paragliding, too. Imagine you’re flying and soaring with the wind coming from the front over the hill. With the right amount of wind, you can soar and stay in control. As soon as you can turn left or right, I believe you’re touching freedom, and you kind of step out of your comfort zone. If you’re fully in the moment, you can see the wind as the future. Whatever is in front of you is the future, and everything in the back is the past. When you’re in the moment, and in the middle, you can move from side to side and dance with the wind. Paragliding can make you dance in this invisible world because the wind is not so visible. 

That’s very poetic and philosophical, too. I love it. Do you ever feel like you’re dancing when you snowboard, too?

I see it as a performance. It starts when I strap in, and it ends when I strap out. This whole thing is like one dynamic field where I can just express myself and let go of something I need to do. I probably have an idea of what I want to do, but I let it go and just react to what’s in front of me. I think that’s so much fun to do and play with it. Snowboarding is a bodily expression, and that’s what a dance is, I guess. You let free, and go with the movements you feel like doing in a flowy way of connecting each movement to another. I come from dancing, too. I used to break dance a lot. I don’t know if this inspired me to go in that direction. I just love to use this form to express my personality and how I feel. It’s not that I really want to express myself, but it just kind of happens. When I feel good and free to let go, this is kind of what comes out of it.

That’s cool. Trying new stuff, new tricks, or even playing with gravity are things you find in dancing, too. I imagine break dancing has influenced the way you snowboard today. Do you think that your breakdance battle experience helped you at your NST duels? *laughs*

*laughs* I guess a breakdance battle was my last competition, so it probably did. I think my whole life inspired me to snowboard the way I do, today. But I never wanted to be better than somebody at snowboarding. When I got more into snowboarding, it didn’t feel like snowboarding should be judged. With break dancing, it was a bit different. I used to do battles, but we also did choreos and dances together. I also never saw it as something that could be used to beat someone else. It was more of a dance together thing. Then it’s funny what happened with getting the invite for Natural Selection. It made me feel so up and down. I know I can’t perform when somebody tells me to perform, so I was in a constant clash of being excited or not. But once I got there, it was pretty fun, and amazing to see that I could let go of the competition. It didn’t feel like a contest. It was just Brandon (Davis) and me, and some filmers we didn’t even see. It didn’t feel like a battle, but it definitely pushed me to snowboard, try tricks, and not only stay on the back foot.

In a breakdance battle, you’re dancing in front of someone, and watching your opponent perform, which is different at NST, I guess. 

Yeah, in a breakdance battle, you also want to pick up on what the other person did, and then try to mix this into your dance to kind of show it in a different way, or make fun of it, or not. I actually saw a lot of what Brandon did, but he didn’t see what I did. I won the russian ball, so I got to go first every time.

Did you see when he almost landed on that rock a couple of times? That was pretty gnarly.

Yeah, yeah. There were so many rocks. It was a rock field before we got there, then it snowed one and a half meters in three days, with a lot of wind, so it was kind of wind-compressed snow. You couldn’t see the rocks, but there were a bunch hiding. It was sketchy, but it turned out fine.

I really think snowboarding is like dancing with gravity. Do you ever try to visualise gravity as a thing when you’re actually riding, so you can play with it?

Yeah, for sure. I try to play with gravity and use the little bumps to catch air and try to land in transitions. I let it confront me. When you ride in a natural terrain, you have to let it go, and kind of let nature do the thing. You just ride over it, adapt to nature, and do what the mountain tells you to do. I think it’s a nice way to look at it. The mountain can tell you so much about what you’re gonna do, or the way you can do it if you follow it.

You mentioned how you can dance with something invisible, like the wind earlier. Most people dance with music, but with snowboarding, it’s as if gravity allows us to dance without any music, don’t you think?

I mean, we have music in the mountains. The silence and the sound of the wind are like music that can make me dance. There’s so much you can listen to in the “silence”. Hearing the wind going over ridges, for example. It definitely just calms me down and brings me into this kind of zone that I want to be in. I don’t really need actual music to hear the rhythm of the mountains a bit. I think we connect with it in another sense. Everything starts with being in the right state of mind. If you’re in a state where you can focus on the little things and all the details, you’re in the present. You can hear the sound of the wind, see a bump in front of you kicking you out, see a landing, and things line it all up and dance. During the Arc’teryx Academy last winter, we started one day by selecting a 20-30 minute set that everybody was going to listen to in headphones and then ride together. It was so nice to see what music does with your snowboarding. It was kind of a meditation set, so it would start with bird songs and go into an ambient phase, then pick up some energy. You could see people kind of slowing down, turning, and enjoying, and then getting more energetic, going a bit faster, turning, and jumping. It was really cool to see.

That sounds like a lot of fun! So when we dance while snowboarding, we use the sound, we use the gravity, and of course, our snowboards. 

When you helped develop the ‘Deep Fake’ board for Ride, you described that just as water has its own turns, you hoped that this board would make people dance in the mountains. How can a snowboard help someone achieve that? It’s such a beautiful thing to try different boards, and to feel what you like, or what you don’t like. Then, bringing it to words and figuring out why you actually like a board more than another is a different thing.  It was amazing to actually figure that out. I went into it trying all the boards from the whole range, and gave feedback on what I liked, or not, and what I would love to have. So after trying all those different models, they sent me a prototype. I did the same kind of testing, but I paid more attention to all the little details, knowing that I could really test these different shapes, flexes, radiuses, if needed, and give feedback on it. At the end, it was really like fine-tuning that made the board what it is. It’s mostly the radius that makes it so playful. I like to ride over my back foot and use it as a start to get to my shoulder and guide me into my turns. Having the radius set back from the tail to the nose helps send one turn from the beginning to the end. It’s just so beautiful to have this whole turn and then the whole turn back. Also, we made it with a softer nose, a softer tail, and more control in the middle. It makes the board so dancey, playful, and opens the possibility to do butters, and play with it. There’s so much life in the board, and a ton of details they’ve put into it that I have no idea about. *laughs*

Any thoughts on where we’re at as humans right now with deep fakes?

We’re in an interesting, but also difficult phase, I guess.

Yeah, it makes you wonder about our future. What’s your future Sevi? 

Well we have this secret project we started working on. We are going to start shooting next winter. I’m very excited to experiment with new ideas! Also, we have this music and sound collective with a bunch of my friends, and we have quite a few things happening during the summer break. We’re gonna play some gigs in festivals, and also go do stage decoration and installation in others. At the moment I’m working on doing an installation for this experimental electronic music festival. It’s going to be outside of Basel in an art space in an old psychiatric clinic. We have this beautiful room where we’re building a fountain where water constantly flows. We’re going to put microphones in and have the sound of the water spread through some effects in the room. Every DJ playing there will have access to the sound of the water during their sets, too. It’s on top of the building, so you kind of need to find this room and can follow the sound of the water to find it.

That sounds so cool! Do you like it best to only DJ or do these kind of installations?

I like both. I love to do sound installations. I’m looking forward do a live set with the sound of the water. I can’t manage to give the people what they want. Being a DJ, it’s kind of something you have to do, and I struggle with this a lot. Also in snowboarding, or in my general expression, I suppose. I have an idea of what people want, and what to give, but I have this thing in me that I just can’t. I have to do it in another way, which is beautiful but also challenging, maybe.

Yeah, I think a very good DJ gives the people what they want, with them not knowing what they actually want, you know what I mean?

Yeah, and that’s a beautiful thing, exactly. You have to be able to guide the people through the phases you want to guide them. That’s how I see it, and that’s what I love. 

What kind of music are you into right now?

For this Basel festival, it’s gonna be more electronic, ambient, experimental,  and some drum and bass. The same as the set I’m gonna play on the mountain for the Arc’teryx Academy in Chamonix. I’m also going to play at night there, so I’m preparing a set with cumbia, Latin music, and going into bass. It’s gonna be a bit funny.

Sounds like a proper dance party! Well, thanks a lot for the chat. Any last words, Sevi?

Huge thanks to all my friends, to you guys, to the people that are around me, and who inspire me to see the world in a different way, or at least change the vision of it. 

Watch Sevi dance in Between Days: