Street Art and Graffiti

The article examines the role of art in igniting revolutions, fostering social change, and ultimately transforming reality in Elalamy Youssouf Amine and Hejjamy Yassine's graphic novel Drôles de Rêvolutions. With a satirical tone, the authors explore both the hopes and turmoil surrounding the Arab Spring revolution. Through a thematic analysis of the book's central theme and protagonist, the article demonstrates how art can serve as a powerful tool for activism during times of dissent. It illustrates the concept of artivism-artistic activism-as a means of leading revolution, fueling protesters' dreams, and sketching a more vibrant, hopeful world.

„[Burr] After the war I went back to New York [Hamilton] A-After the war I went back to New York [Burr] I finished up my studies and I practiced law [Hamilton] I practiced law, Burr worked next door.“

Mit diesem Duett der beiden Revolutionskämpfer, Aaron Burr und Alexander Hamilton, lassen die Komponisten Leslie Odom Jr. und Lin-Manuel Miranda den ersten von zwei Akten des Broadway-Musicals „Hamilton“ enden. Der amerikanische Unabhängigkeitskrieg ist hier nicht nur dramaturgisch als Zäsur angelegt, er wird auch als Wendepunkt in den Biografien der handelnden Figuren erzählt. Freilich überwiegen in diesem popkulturellen Stück die positiven Elemente, von aufwärtsgewandter sozialer Mobilität, über steigende Bildungs- und Chancengleichheit bis hin zur politischen Selbstbestimmung der ehemaligen britischen Kolonien.

Zur Janusköpfigkeit des Krieges gehört allerdings ebenso das Schicksal der Besiegten, die Verwüstung ganzer Städte und Landschaften sowie bleibende physische und psychische Schäden der Kombattanten. Dass die (un-)mittelbaren Folgen eines Krieges auf Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft schon in der Entstehung und während eines Konflikts mitgedacht werden müssen, gehört in der modernen Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Phänomen, nicht zuletzt seit den bleibenden Eindrücken der beiden Weltkriege des 20. Jahrhunderts, zum gängigen politischen und wissenschaftlichen Repertoire. Erweitert man die historische Betrachtung von Kriegsfolgen auf die Vormoderne und insbesondere die griechisch-römische Antike stellt man überraschend fest, dass die Bandbreite an Auswirkungen von Kriegen weder systematisch noch phänomenologisch erschöpfend aufgearbeitet wurde.

Die interdisziplinäre Fachtagung widmet sich dieser Forschungslücke und wird die vielschichtigen Folgen von Kriegen auf antike Gesellschaften aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive ergründen. Als Basis für die gemeinsame Beschäftigung mit antiken Kriegsfolgen dient eine kulturwissenschaftliche Herangehensweise. Dieser häufig noch als „New Military History“ bezeichnete Zweig der Militärgeschichte bedient sich sozialgeschichtlicher Theorien und Methoden, um die Betrachtung von Kriegen weg von einer rein historiografischen Analyse von Schlachten und Kämpfen hin zu einer differenzierten Untersuchung der Interdependenzen zwischen Krieg, den daran beteiligten Institutionen und Akteuren sowie der jeweiligen Gesellschaft zu führen. Diesen Ansatz werden die TeilnehmerInnen daraufhin multiperspektivisch erweitern und gezielt Theorien und Erkenntnisse aus weiteren Wissenschaftsfeldern nutzbar machen, um die Auswirkungen von Kriegen in all ihren Facetten analysieren zu können. Das gilt insbesondere für jene Forschungsbereiche, die noch deutliche Innovations- und Erkenntnispotentiale für die antike Militärgeschichte bereithalten. Zu nennen wären hierbei unter anderem die Emotionsgeschichte, Gender und Disability Studies, Körpergeschichte, Landschafts- und Schlachtfeldarchäologie und (Neuro-)Psychologie.

This collection of essays discusses the occurrence, function, and value of imperfection in a variety of human practices. The volume is divided into seven parts, the first addressing general issues; and the remaining six dealing with various domains: music, the visual arts and theatre, literature, everyday life, body aesthetics and personal identity, and urban aesthetics.

Preceding these seven parts is an introductory chapter by editor Peter Cheyne, who wisely avoids summarizing the book’s content (there are book reviews for that!), and chooses instead to present and defend the conceptual foundations of the imperfectionist aesthetics, or ‘imperfectionism’, with plenty of examples along the way.

Cheyne also replies to a worry previously raised by David Lloyd (2020), who suggests that, whenever imperfections are aimed for—as opposed to being a by-product of some activity— imperfectionism is inherently unstable, for the features in question turn from imperfections to perfections (think of the artisan who aims for an irregular and chipped look while shaping and painting a bowl).

Against this, Cheyne observes that something may be ‘imperfect’ in both a descriptive and an evaluative sense; the former referring to features of an object such as irregularities, production contingences, and lack of polish, and the latter indicating aesthetic dissatisfaction with that object. According to Cheyne, imperfectionist aesthetics holds descriptively imperfect objects to be evaluatively perfect, such that something may unparadoxically be perfectly imperfect. Thus, Cheyne claims, imperfectionism lacks the instability that Lloyd attributes to it.

Джек Стюарт (1926-2005) — художник, преподаватель и искусствовед. С 1970 по 1977 год, в рамках работы над докторской диссертацией, Дж. Стюарт документировал феномен Нью-Йоркского граффити, застав его появление и дальнейшее развитие на поездах и станциях метро. Именно упомянутый период обернулся чередой творческих экспериментов, заложивших основу современных граффити-стилей, распространившихся по всему миру.

«Graffiti Kings» — масштабное исследование граффити в Нью-Йоркском метрополитене, спонтанного художественного явления, получившего распространение в начале 1970-х годов. Джек Стюарт рассказывает о том, как молодые художники рисковали своей жизнью, завоевывая признание среди сверстников из неблагополучных районов, скрашивая и оживляя безликий городской пейзаж. Исследование дополнено отрывками газетных статей, цитатами художников и городских властей, считавших граффити общественной угрозой и вандализмом. Издание предлагает читателям научно-популярный взгляд на золотой век граффити и зарождение этой уникальной формы уличного искусства.

Перевод, редакция, верстка, дизайн и иллюстрации:
Гаврилов Денис Михайлович

Con motivo de la crisis económico -social del año 2001 se profundizó en nuestro país el fenómeno del arte callejero, acontecimiento que apuntaló nuevas exploraciones culturales dentro del ámbito urbano. 1 En la ciudad de La Plata el estallido social generó las proliferaciones de acciones artísticas y modos de manifestación de diversa índole que se acrecentaron en los últimos años. El presente trabajo surge como transferencia de los avances obtenidos en el proyecto de investigación denominado "Arte de acción en La Plata en el siglo XXI. Registro y análisis de intervenciones artísticas", inscripto

The acclaimed Dutch artist group Observatorium has distilled 25 years of learnings into Public Art for Public Life, a beautifully crafted hardbound book published in 2022 by nai010 publishers. Their legacy continues to inspire, having established a lasting impact on the discourse of public art. Geert van de Camp, André Dekker, Lieven Poutsma, and Ruud Reutelingsperger - hailing from diverse backgrounds in art, architecture, education, and writing - together form Observatorium, a Rotterdam-based studio and partnership for public art and placemaking, founded in 1997.

The European Landscape Convention (ELC) acknowledges that the landscape is an important part of the quality of life for people everywhere, in urban areas and the countryside, in degraded areas as well as higher quality areas and recognized as being of outstanding beauty, as well as in everyday areas. Nowadays, many suburbs, arisen as public housing neighborhoods and originally located in peri-urban areas, in addition to constituting a substantial part of the built heritage, are increasingly being configured as new strategic areas, redefining the daily landscape of its users. With the post-occupancy evaluation method (POE), it is possible to assess several aspects of the performance of buildings or open spaces from the users' perspective, taking into consideration objective and subjective factors. It is a multi-method approach, combining interviews, customer satisfaction surveys, behavioral observation, etc. With this perspective, the article, dealing with the 'Parco dei Murales', which is a complex of public housing localized in the Ponticelli suburb in the city of Naples (Italy), aims to understand the visual and qualitative perception of the suburban landscape in the light of the transformation processes that have occurred in recent years. For this purpose, starting from the results of the first application of a user satisfaction survey, the post occupancy evaluation has been applied, analyzing the functional, social, and perceptual attributes of the open spaces of the park.

This chapter attends to a hyperlocal case study-the implementation of a commissioned mural atop a prior accumulation of self-sanctioned graffiti in a central Athenian neighborhoodto reflect on a set of broader questions around conflict, crisis, and cultural heritage: What is the place of street art and graffiti in the constitution and contestation of urban cultural heritage? And what do these ephemeral cultural practices reveal about the tangible and intangible heritage of urban crisis and conflict? Adopting the terms "evental heritage" and "negative curation," it asserts that street art and graffiti, especially in contexts of crisis, are relevant to the study of cultural heritage not as potential artifacts of heritagization but rather as methodological devices for reading how conflict over urban heritage-, image-, and meaning-making plays out on city walls.

Lewis Mumford makes the case that the first (western) utopia was a City, and that the first (western) City was a utopia, and David Harvey similarly iterates that "[t]he figures of 'the city' and of 'Utopia' have long been intertwined". The fates of these two constructs are thus seemingly indissolubly linked. Regrettably, this initial construct, the City as utopia / utopia as the City, very shortly mutated into the originary dystopia, inaugurating the conception of the City as a place of suffering and social ills. This inherent dystopian aspect of the early City can be traced to the impulse to control and exclude, a phenomenon not limited to the Cities and utopias of antiquity, but concretely constitutive of the spatial and social geographies of a critical mass of contemporary global cities. This article interprets the works of street artists Banksy, Mustafa Hulusi, Invader and Ben Wilson as exemplary of the production of an alternative utopia which seeks to...

Abstract: Urban anthropologists are shifting from traditional approaches that treated the city merely as the “object” or “context” of research, focusing instead on the city as a dynamic process, shaped and reshaped by city-making practices implemented by its inhabitants. This paper analyzes street art as both a city-making practice and as an anthropological tool for studying contemporary cities, not as “object” or “context” but as dynamic processes. The analysis is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2022 and 2023 in Medellín’s Comuna 13. The purpose of the research was to study the impact of street art on the residents’ life experiences. Drawing on walking and photographing ethnography, the research employed a novel method leveraging the local practice of the Graffitour–a guided walking tour based on narrating Comuna 13’s history through street art. The author participated in 10 Graffitour sessions, recording the guides’ narrations and photographing street artworks. This article will present five of these street artworks, along with their respective narrations, each reflecting a different period in Comuna 13’s history. Analyzing these five street artworks will provide readers with an image of Comuna 13 not as a static object or a mere context but as a dynamic process, while simultaneously revealing street art as a powerful resident-driven city-making practice. While street art is a globally widespread form of artistic expression, its deep contextual and situated characteristics can offer novel avenues for studying complex urban phenomena. Nevertheless, its potential for anthropological understanding has yet to be fully explored. This paper proposes to fill this gap by offering urban scholars new and fascinating possibilities to study contemporary cities through the lens of street art.

Keywords: Comuna 13, street art, urban anthropology, visual anthropology, walking ethnography.

Antropología y ciudad. Arte callejero en la Comuna 13 de Medellín: una práctica para hacer ciudad y una herramienta etnográfica

Resumen: actualmente, los antropólogos de lo urbano han comenzado a alejarse de las aproximaciones tradicionales a la ciudad como un simple “objeto” o un “contexto” de investigación, para dar paso a un enfoque que entiende la ciudad como un proceso dinámico que es configurado y reconfigurado por las prácticas de hacer ciudad de sus habitantes. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el arte urbano como una práctica para hacer ciudad y una herramienta antropológica para estudiar las ciudades contemporáneas en calidad de procesos dinámicos y no como simples “objetos” o “contextos”. Este análisis se basa en el trabajo etnográfico de campo que se llevó a cabo en la Comuna 13 de Medellín, Colombia, entre 2022 y 2023. El propósito de la investigación era estudiar el impacto del arte urbano en las experiencias de vida de los residentes de la comuna. Para tal fin, el estudio se valió de la etnografía de los caminos y la fotoetnografía para implementar un método novedoso que aprovecha e integra la práctica local del Graffitour —un recorrido guiado, el cual narra la historia de la Comuna 13 por medio del arte urbano—. El autor participó en diez de estos recorridos, durante los que grabó las narraciones de los guías y fotografió las obras de arte urbano. En este artículo se presentan y analizan cinco de estas obras —cada una de las cuales encarna un periodo particular de la historia de la comuna—, así como las narraciones que las acompañan, con el fin de permitirles a los lectores observar la Comuna 13 más como un proceso dinámico y menos como un objeto estático o un simple contexto. De manera paralela, el texto busca destacar el arte urbano como una poderosa práctica mediante la cual los residentes hacen ciudad. Más allá de su extendida popularidad a nivel mundial como una forma de expresión artística, el arte urbano tiene unas profundas características contextuales y situadas que aportan nuevas vías para el estudio de fenómenos urbanos complejos; sin embargo, su potencial para la comprensión desde la antropología está aún por explorarse. En este sentido, el artículo busca aportar a ese vacío y ofrecerle a la academia nuevas y fascinantes posibilidades para el estudio de las ciudades contemporáneas a través del lente del arte urbano.

Palabras clave: antropología urbana, antropología visual, arte urbano, Comuna 13, etnografía del caminar.

Antropologia e cidade. Arte de rua na Comuna 13 de Medellín: uma prática para fazer cidade e uma ferramenta etnográfica

Resumo: atualmente, os antropólogos do urbano começaram a se afastar das abordagens tradicionais da cidade como simples “objeto” ou “contexto” de pesquisa para uma abordagem que entende a cidade como um processo dinâmico que é configurado e reconfigurado pelas práticas de fazer cidade de seus habitantes. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a arte urbana como prática de fazer cidades e uma ferramenta antropológica para estudar as cidades contemporâneas como processos dinâmicos, e não como meros “objetos” ou “contextos”. Esta análise se baseia em um trabalho de campo etnográfico realizado na Comuna 13 de Medellín, Colômbia, entre 2022 e 2023. O objetivo da pesquisa foi estudar o impacto da arte urbana nas experiências de vida dos residentes da comuna. Para tanto, o estudo utilizou a etnografia de percurso e a fotoetnografia para implementar um novo método que aproveita e integra a prática local do Graffitour — um percorrido guiado que narra a história da Comuna 13 por meio da arte urbana. O autor participou de 10 desses tours, durante os quais registrou as narrações do guia e fotografou as obras de arte urbana. Neste artigo, são apresentadas e analisadas cinco dessas obras — cada uma delas representa um período específico da história da comuna —, bem como as narrativas que as acompanham, a fim de permitir que os leitores observem a Comuna 13 mais como um processo dinâmico e menos como um objeto estático ou um simples contexto. Paralelamente, o texto procura destacar a arte urbana como prática poderosa por meio da qual os moradores fazem cidade. Além de sua ampla popularidade em todo o mundo como forma de expressão artística, a arte urbana tem características contextuais e situadas profundas que oferecem novos caminhos para o estudo de fenômenos urbanos complexos; no entanto, seu potencial para a compreensão antropológica ainda não foi explorado. Nesse sentido, o artigo busca contribuir para essa lacuna e oferecer à academia novas e fascinantes possibilidades para o estudo das cidades contemporâneas por meio das lentes da arte urbana.

Palavras-chave: antropologia urbana, antropologia visual, arte urbana, Comuna 13, etnografia do caminhar.

Public art plays a crucial role in transforming urban landscapes, serving as a catalyst for social cohesion, cultural
expression, and urban revitalization. This study explores the significance of public art in Kadıköy, Istanbul, as a
case study for understanding its impact on urban spaces. Through a multidisciplinary approach, including
literature review, case studies, and impact assessment, key findings emerge regarding the effectiveness of public
art in reshaping Kadıköy's open spaces and green areas.
Findings indicate that public art in Kadıköy fosters community engagement, celebrates cultural identity, and
enhances the aesthetic appeal of the district. By analyzing notable public art projects, such as murals, sculptures,
and installations, the study identifies best practices for promoting public art, including community engagement,
diversity, and sustainability. Despite challenges such as gentrification and funding constraints, public art in
Kadıköy serves as a powerful tool for urban regeneration and cultural enrichment.
The significance of public art in Kadıköy extends beyond mere decoration; it reflects the district's values,
aspirations, and collective memory. Through collaborative efforts between policymakers, urban planners, artists,
and residents, Kadıköy has emerged as a vibrant hub of creativity and inclusivity, showcasing the transformative
potential of public art in urban development. This study suggests avenues for future research, including
longitudinal studies and comparative analyses, to further explore the impact of public art on urban landscapes
worldwide.

Artiste polymorphe associé à la tendance plus ou moins vaste du street art, l’anglais Banksy autorise, au moins, deux appréhensions à travers le prisme de l’image, lesquelles procèdent de deux acceptions voisines mais distinctes de la notion : la première prise se situe sur le plan du logos, en tant que production iconique concrète et artistique liée à différents modes d’expression et techniques, oscillant entre une certaine forme de fixité et une dimension mouvante sinon mouvementée ; mais, au-delà du produit, la question se pose également du côté de l’émetteur, puisque l’image que celui-ci diffuse de sa propre personne, la représentation intuitive qu’il autorise que ses récepteurs se fassent de lui-même, est également sujette à inflexions.

This article aims to characterize collective and territorial identity disputes among young participants in
the 2019 Social Outburst in Chile. It highlights the crisis of representativeness that the country has been
experiencing for years and focuses on the youth subject as a protagonist of social movements. A mixed
methodology was designed, which resulted in an online questionnaire applied to a sample of 41 young people and
students between 15 and 24 years old, residents of communities in the Metropolitan Region. It is concluded that
distrust towards political institutions persists. Still, new collective-territorial identities emerge through the
resignification of public spaces, various mass demonstrations, and a militant symbology.

English Abstract: The essay aims to demonstrate that participatory ecological art focused on planting, sowing, and cultivation serves as a means to promote a culture of environmental care. After exploring several artistic projects involving community engagement in landscape stewardship, the essay focuses on the debate concerning gesture and behavioral patterns. Finally, by examining artist Egle Oddo's Performative Habitats project, it seeks to understand how art can influence the formation of new habits through both increased environmental awareness and repeated action, employing key theoretical frameworks of Everyday Aesthetics.
Italian Abstract: L'articolo si propone di dimostrare che l'arte ecologica partecipativa, focalizzata su piantare, seminare e coltivare, rappresenta un mezzo per promuovere una cultura della cura ambientale. Dopo aver esplorato diversi progetti artistici che coinvolgono la comunità nella gestione del paesaggio, l'articolo si concentra sul dibattito riguardante il gesto e i modelli comportamentali. Infine, esaminando il progetto Performative Habitats dell'artista Egle Oddo, cerca di comprendere come l'arte possa influenzare la formazione di nuove abitudini attraverso una maggiore consapevolezza ambientale e l'azione ripetuta, impiegando i principali quadri teorici dell'Estetica del Quotidiano.

This paper presents a small, cableless and cost-effective (circa € 500 in 2022) device that embeds an RTK-enabled GNSS receiver and IMU in a 3D printed case to record the exterior orientation of photos via the camera's hot shoe. This hardware solution was developed within the academic graffiti project INDIGO to enable a faster and more robust exterior orientation (via incremental SfM) of the hundreds of weekly acquired graffiti photographs. The device relies solely on commercially available open-source development components that require only minimal knowledge of electronics. Moreover, it is small enough not to disturb the photographer but still provide constant visual feedback about the device's overall and positional solution status. To realistically test the achievable positional and rotational accuracy, we acquired a dense network of graffiti photos in INDIGO's test area. This test showed that the device provides centimetre-accurate photo positions and one-degree accurate pitch and roll values. The heading or yaw is probably only usable to some extent since it primarily relies on magnetometer measurements, which get quickly disturbed in an urban environment. In addition, the test revealed that the camera's internal IMU can provide roll and pitch values with sub-degree accuracy.

Book published as part of Brad Downey and John Fekner's public art project DATES DOORS THEN & MORE. The book not only documents and discusses different aspects of the interventions created in public space, but is itself such an intervention. While the digital version is freely available here, a limited edition hard copy of the book is available to purchase at Lunds konsthall.

The Photographer entrevista a The Photographer.
Repito la fórmula que empleé en 2019: una entrevista conmigo mismo.
De este modo, me aseguro abordar en profundidad todos los temas que considero importantes.

La flexibilidad es la mayor ventaja de este formato: puedo escribir a mi propio ritmo, sin las presiones de una entrevista presencial. Esto me permite pausar, revisar, reescribir y, en definitiva, lograr el resultado más satisfactorio posible.
Hace cinco años, opté por este tipo de narrativa tras comprobar que, después de mucha actividad no quedaban energías para cumplir con esa costumbre adquirida de volcar y relatar por escrito situaciones y emociones recién vividas en caliente.
En 2015, con "THE PHOTOGRAPHER - STREET ART 2015", ya documenté mis primeros pasos en el mundo del arte urbano clandestino. Este trabajo me permitió profundizar en mi propia evolución y compartir, a través de escritos, mi pasión por la actividad callejera.

Han pasado ya nueve años desde aquellas primeras líneas donde la novedad se mezclaba con el miedo, el atrevimiento con la inconsciencia y la satisfacción con una épica y un romanticismo desconocidos para  mí.

Durante todo este tiempo, mis notas personales se han disparado y dispersado en miles de publicaciones, , subidas a Instagram con diverso contenido. Para mí, esta red social funciona como un diario visual y textual de mi trabajo.

En esta entrevista, quien pregunta es "M" (mrbt62) y quien responde es "The Photographer" “P”.

Algunas preguntas se dirigen al relato de hechos y situaciones, mientras que otras apuntan a resultados más analíticos y elaborados, buscando siempre una vertiente didáctica que pueda resultar de interés y utilidad para el lector.

¡Allá vamos!

Il Guercino è tra i più celebri pittori del Seicento barocco. A soli venticinque anni, già molto noto, decide di aprire l'Accademia del Nudo a Cento, sua città natale, situata nel bel mezzo dell'Emilia pontificia. La scuola ottiene un certo successo, ma gli impegni e le committenze sempre più numerose lo costringono spesso ad allontanarsene per lunghi periodi. Durante uno dei suoi frequenti spostamenti, incontra Jacopo Palma il giovane, (l'incontro tra i due avviene a Venezia alla fine del 1618), al quale presenta come una sorta di biglietto da visita una ventina di suoi pregevoli disegni. L'anziano pittore veneziano ne rimane basito. Tornato a Cento, Guercino decide di selezionare alcuni suoi disegni per ricavarne un manuale di esercizi per gli alunni dell'Accademia del Nudo. A tal fine prende contatti con uno dei più importanti incisori di area bolognese, Oliviero Gatti, affidandogli il compito di ricavare una serie di incisioni da quei disegni. Ne ricava un album di sussidio allo studio che tra l'altro lo allinea a molte delle accademie del tempo che già dagli ultimi anni del Cinquecento sostituiscono le botteghe, come luogo di primo apprendimento dei rudimenti della pittura. Nel corso della sua lunga vita, Guercino farà incidere altri due manuali di questo genere. Alla acribia filologica e all'acume critico di Leonardo Masone, autore di questo pregevole lavoro sul pittore emiliano, dobbiamo la prima inedita sistemazione, corredata da commento, di questi testi. Questo sarebbe già un aspetto del tutto originale e nuovo nel panorama scientifico degli studi riguardanti l'arte nel Seicento. Ma, appunto, qual è la connessione tra queste ricerche e la storia del pensiero politico? Il merito del saggio di Masone, studioso del pensiero politico classico, in particolare di Platone, è quello di tracciare un percorso narrativo che sia in grado di valorizzare queste connessioni, usando però ulteriori strumenti critici per corroborare le sue tesi. A partire da una descrizione semiotica dei disegni che hanno dato vita ai manuali, scandagliando linee, colori, posizione nello spazio dell'immagine (l'autore in due punti del saggio li definisce efficacemente artemi, ossia unità basilari della materia artistica), si avanza verso la dimostrazione di come, a seconda della predisposizione del disegno, si apparecchi un'opera che può essere guardata come oggetto estetico e allo stesso tempo fonte storica. E in tale veste comunica al fruitore del tempo taluni messaggi comprensibili e l'elemento simbolico della pittura obbedisce a tale missione. Pittore di fede, Guercino, infatti, realizza dipinti

On February 29, 2024 an interdisciplinary group of researchers gathered on a Zoom call to celebrate and activate in conversation Sabina Andron’s book "Urban Surfaces, Graffiti and the Right to the City," released with Routledge just weeks prior. Andron and participants Katelyn Kelly, Heather Shirey, and Julia Tulke were joined by a small audience drawn from a nascent network of global street art and graffiti researchers.

We called this encounter a book forum with the explicit intent to move beyond the limitations of the singular book review towards a more dynamic and relational form of engagement with the intellectual, methodological and creative contributions of Andron’s work to our shared field and individual research. Taking our cues from Urban Surfaces, we sought to emulate qualities central to the urban creative practices we study: polyphony, co-creation, reciprocity, and, perhaps more than anything, playfulness. After opening the floor with a brief reflection of the book as a contagious object in and of the city, our conversation oscillated between individual responses and open exchange, moving across and between matters of theory, politics, methodology, pedagogy, and public scholarship.

This model gave us a space to share ideas about and beyond the book in many directions, not simply from reviewer to author and back. We hope to inspire colleagues to engage in similar discussions, as we share an edited transcript of our conversation.

This paper aims to analyse the spatial effects generated within the metropolitan area of Naples due to the cataloguing process of Urban Creativity
Territorial Systems (STECU). The initiative was promoted by the Ministry
for Cultural Heritage and Activities, commencing in 2018.
This study examined the role played by the Ministry in producing new
rhetoric and practices in certain peripheral neighbourhoods. It is hypothesised that the Ministry, by promoting the cataloguing of street artworks,
initiated an unprecedented process of enhancement in four areas of the
city that were previously considered marginal in the public representation of the city.
It is also theorized that the cataloguing action served a dual spatial function rhetoric of decorum and urban regeneration and contributed to a
heritage process. The findings of this study suggest that the Ministry’s initiative has contributed to a significant improvement in the public image
of the city, with a particular focus on the previously marginalised areas.
Additionally, the study highlights the role played by the Ministry in promoting urban regeneration and creating new cultural heritage.

POLINIZA DOS
Trobada d'Art Urbà 2024
XIX Edición (13 al 17 de mayo de 2024).

Mi propuesta para el Accésit de Poliniza Dos 2024 se fundamentaba en dos palabras que dan soporte a mis intervenciones urbanas  furtivas durante los últimos 9 años y de ellas se desprende una doble acción:  "Estilo e insistencia"

Mi propuesta inicial presentándome como candidato para POLINIZA DOS Trobada d'Art Urbà 2024  tras pasar la primera selección, en la segunda y definitiva no fue seleccionada por lo que este proyecto no llegó a presentarse.

Días después fui invitado por la organización de la Trobada para dar una breve charla sobre La percepción del espacio público desde el arte urbano furtivo.

En esta investigación se exploró cómo el graffiti influye en la percepción y creatividad de los estudiantes. ¿Qué ocurre cuando el arte urbano entra en el colegio?

El grafiti o como es conocido en pleno 2018 mural urbano realizado por artistas callejeros, Lo que se tiene pensado del grafiti es que es un movimiento moderno  urbano pero en realidad el grafiti ya existía inclusive en la época cavernaria y se usaba para plasmar los sucesos importantes para aquellos que vivieron en esta época, en la antigua Grecia ya se usaba como forma de protesta, a finales de los 60’s en los barrios marginales de New York los estudiantes iniciaron el grafiti moderno al dejar sus nombres en las paredes para revindicar su nombre el periódico New York Times logro la entrevista con uno de estos grafiteros el cual logro dejar su firma en toda la ciudad el grafitero encuestado (TAKI183) dijo ‘‘simplemente es algo que tengo que hacer, trabajo, pago mis impuestos y no le hago daño a nadie’’, (TAKI183) se hizo muy popular entre los jóvenes los cuales comenzaron a imitarle, el grafiti comienza a ganar terreno y complejidad ya que se comienza a hacer en los vagones de trenes los cuales se convierten en museos en movimiento, pero al haber personas que no ven el grafiti de una forma de expresión  generan protestas en las cuales la policía toma la medida de persecución hacia estos artistas incomprendidos haciendo que muchos grafiteros abandonen esta forma de expresión. En los 80´s nace la el hip hop y sostiene varias subculturas las cuales son EL GRAFFITI, EL RAP y el BREACKDANCE en base a esto se forman varios grupos más, las cuales fortalecen el grafiti.
La pintura y el rodillo son los materiales más usuales además de los aerosoles con diferentes tamaños de boquillas y la posca que se usan en distintos tamaños, los grafiteros se ponían retos acerca de cuál de ellos podía batir cada récord bombardeando lo cual podía ser propuesto por cualquiera de ellos.: “En general cuando conozco a alguien le pregunto: dijo: ¿Cómo firmas?, ¿Que rayas?, ¿Que pintas? O ¿Cuál es tu placa?  Yo pinto DROCK, esa es mi placa y ya tengo 2 años con ella´´. (DROCK140) Tu placa es lo que escribes, lo que dibujas con lo que te conocerán en la calle, en las pintas, en los eventos, a donde vayas te deben de conocer por tu placa. “Dos personas no pueden tener la misma placa, al menos no en el mismo lugar, si hay dos grafiteros con la misma placa, se la juegan, es decir pelean por ella, puede ser por estilos (la mejor pieza hecha gana) o por bombardeo (se da un lapso de semanas o meses y un lugar, al pasar el tiempo quien tenga más pintas en ese lugar gana).Bombardear, pintar, rayar, levantarnos son formas para decir vamos a grafitera, yo en lo personal digo bombardear, me gusta la idea de ir 2 o 3 veces al mismo lugar para dejarlo lleno de mis pintas que sepan que ese lugar es mío y empiecen a conocerme. Por lo general pinto con compañía para tener quien me tire paro por si llegan los puercos o cualquier otra persona. Debemos de llevar suficientes botes y válvulas, también se pueden llevar guantes y cubre bocas si no queremos salir grifos después de pintar y por último es bueno llevar algo para defenderse por si alguien te ve y te la hace de pedo.’’  (DROCK140):,
Las personas deberían tomarse la molestia de informarse un poco acerca del tema y no juzgar
Sin conocer esta cultura.

This thesis explores the identity performance of graffiti writers in European cities, focusing on the subcultures present in Rome and Amsterdam. Utilizing an ethnographic approach, the study combines participant observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews with twelve male graffiti writers to investigate how they construct and express their personal and group identities through illegal tagging and street art. The research situates graffiti within the broader framework of subcultural theory, emphasizing its role as a form of protest, territoriality, and identity affirmation.

The study reveals that graffiti writing functions as both a personal and collective expression of identity, shaped by factors such as masculinity, youth rebellion, and resistance to societal norms. Graffiti is not only an act of artistic expression but also a performance of belonging within a tight-knit community or “crew.” Writers negotiate their status through subcultural capital, where their tags and pieces serve as markers of reputation and territorial claims within the urban landscape. Additionally, the illegality of graffiti adds an element of thrill and defiance, reinforcing the writers’ sense of autonomy and subversive identity.

This research contributes to the understanding of contemporary European youth subcultures, offering insights into how marginalized groups use public spaces for identity construction and social communication. It also highlights the ongoing societal debate around graffiti, questioning its place between art and vandalism. By giving voice to the writers themselves, this study provides a nuanced perspective on the graffiti subculture in Europe and its significance in urban life.

This abstract captures the essence of the thesis and its main themes, focusing on identity performance, subcultural theory, and the societal implications of graffiti.

Graffiti, while adding vibrancy to spaces, often carries the stigma of illegality due to its unsanctioned nature. Recognizing this complex interplay and the varying public opinions about graffiti, this paper explores the visible and hidden expressions of Durban's graffiti artists on city walls. The research focuses on how these artists navigate ownership and spatial boundaries in public domains, guided by the central question: How do graffiti artists in Durban reconcile the conflicting dynamics of spatial boundaries and (il)legality in their practice? Using qualitative methods and snowball sampling, five active graffiti artists were interviewed, and their insights were analysed thematically. A key finding is the shifting perception of graffiti from an illegal activity to a more accepted form of public art, as space custodians increasingly allow their walls to be used for graffiti.

Public space is fundamental to democracy. It is a common arena that we all have the right to use. In Urban Creativity, nine European researchers from different disciplines describe how subcultures utilize public space. The essays are about graffiti and street art, the Occupy movement, the umbrella protests in Hong Kong and the Free-party movement. These are examples of interventions in the city that aim to temporarily or permanently change the meaning, function or accessibility of urban public space.

The book is the result of an interdisciplinary research collaboration initiated in 2018 at the Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies at Lund University on the theme of Urban Creativity.

I apologize for the lack of formality here, this is not supposed to be a finalized paper but rather a more concise easier to read format including all of my main points and main ideas in regards to the topic of Time and how to Define what Time is...or isn't.

Throughout the last years, vertical green walls are increasing their existence in modern buildings, providing numerous benefits to the buildings and to the surrounding area. Milano citizens are becoming increasingly sensitive to environmental issues. The excessive soil consumption and the improper exploitation of renewable resources such as water and air, have brought and daily bring microclimatic imbalances that make the metropolitan citizens more and more careful and respectful for the environment in which they live. The urban designer, in fulfilling his role, finds himself with a demand that varies according to the information of the mass media, promoters of healthy living, which involves paying attention to what we introduce into our organisms. This theme is becoming more and more relevant in cities like Milan, where the rhythms of life are marked by productivity, at the service of a city that represents the Italian business district. Today's citizen claims the quality of the reduced free time that remains between the daily commitments and, suffocated by rhythms and pollution, want to breathe fresh air and live in a healthy environment. Always more often public administrations are promoting the reconstitution of the city through the use of urban greenery which is fundamental for making people live and feel good, but often-especially in urban centers-there is no land available for the planting as all horizontal surfaces remained covered by asphalt or houses. However, there are many vertical surfaces that can be redeveloped and converted into green filters for the pollutants absorption and restoration of the native microclimate. Some experiments are being done in the metropolitan territory, but nowadays the maintenance of the green walls is still too high and, by performing a pro and cons evaluation, usually the owner doesn't find convenient to choose this wall type. Even if the technology has not been still suitably developed and spread, the creative beauty potential and efficacy of the filtering walls in air cleaning, especially in big cities, has not to be underestimated and set aside. The significance of the mitigation capabilities at urban scale could reveal magnificent potential that has not yet been investigated. The main examples constructed in Milan will be shown at the present condition.

A digital photo file contains the image pixel values along with associated photo metadata. Storing those metadata is enabled by various standards. For instance, the Exif standard enables the recording of technical photo metadata like the camera's serial number and focal length, while the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard is the widely accepted norm for storing copyright and descriptive information in images (from unedited photos to AI-generated pictures). Since its 2019.1 version, the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard has facilitated the creation of image regions: groupings of image pixels-defined by a circle, rectangle, or any other polygonal shape-which can be annotated with region-specific metadata. Given the potential of image regions for graffiti photo annotation, the open-source and freely available software GRAPHIS was developed within the academic graffiti project INDIGO. GRAPHIS (Generate Regions and Annotations for PHotos using the IPTC Standard) allows users to generate and visualise image regions, annotate them with graffiti descriptions or transcriptions, and save them as metadata within the image. To adhere to the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard at every stage, project INDIGO also created a dedicated controlled vocabulary to contain all relevant concepts that can be used to define each image region's role and content type. This paper starts with a general overview of metadata concepts, followed by a more in-depth look at Exif and IPTC photo metadata. After describing the IPTC Image Region property, the text details the workings of GRAPHIS and the controlled vocabulary development. An overview of use cases and potential software improvements conclude the text.

In the year of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary and the 40th birthday of Wild Style, goINDIGO 2023 managed to bring various disciplines together to discuss the various ways of dissipating and understanding bits of graffiti bytes. The proceedings of this symposium pick up and reiterate where the previous proceedings left off: with the contemporary ways of disseminating old or new graffiti. Afterwards, several papers discuss practical and theoretical ways to unravel graffiti-scapes and develop new insights. In summation, tackling graffiti as sociocultural artefacts demands multidisciplinary frameworks. The editors hope the interconnected graffiti themes covered here and in the goINDIGO 2022 proceedings provide inspiration and an up-to-date overview of various framework components to deal with ancient and contemporary graffiti-scapes.

Time has remained one of the hardest-to-grasp properties of nature despite humans talking about time… all the time. However, even academic fields that are indifferent to the exact physical or philosophical characteristics of time must find ways to engage with the temporal dimension of their data. This applies to all of the Digital Humanities and maybe most to archaeology, a discipline focused on examining space- and time-bound anthropogenic activities. Like archaeological sites and landscapes, graffiti-scapes are spatially and temporally stratified. That is why the academic graffiti project INDIGO uses an archaeological lens to document, disseminate and investigate an urban graffiti-scape in space and time. However, since archaeologists still lack effective practical approaches to manage and visualise the temporal data dimension (besides a handful of data modelling standards and tools, both mainly created by geographers), INDIGO is currently developing graffiti-specific approaches to manage, visualise and analyse the uncertain spatio-temporal boundaries characterising these contemporary artefacts. After a general introduction to time and its relevance for archaeology and the study of graffiti, this paper explains why and how INDIGO uses polygons as digital representations for each real-world graffito. These polygons, stored in a human- and machine-readable file format and annotated with detailed temporal data, aim to provide a nuanced documentation of a graffiti-scape’s spatio-temporal dimensions.

This paper presents Urban Chameleon, an online platform currently developed within INDIGO, an academic project that aims to inventory, disseminate, and analyse contemporary graffiti along the Donaukanal (Eng. Danube Canal) in Vienna, Austria. Urban Chameleon serves as a digital space to visually and analytically explore these graffiti. The paper provides an in-depth overview of the platform's development process, including data modelling underpinnings and Web development technologies. The text further discusses the platform's potential applications for researchers, heritage professionals, graffitists and the wider public interested in engaging with the vibrant and dynamic graffiti-scape along the Danube Canal. In that way, the article contributes to the ongoing discourse on graffiti as a multi-faceted, modern cultural practice with heritage value.

O presente texto, passa por uma conceitualização da Nova História Cultural e também uma análise da sociedade contemporânea à luz da Teoria Crítica Frankfurtiana, destacando como os meios de comunicação frequentemente distorcem o significado da cultura, utilizando estratégias ambíguas que acabam transformando a sociedade em uma massa de manobra a serviço de interesses econômicos.

A discussion about the role of urban surfaces in developing public cultures and equitable cities. Participants in these Surface Conversations were asked to address three prompts, which you will find in the following pages:
1. Share a definition of urban surfaces pertinent to their discipline and field of research or practice.
2. Propose three concepts for advancing urban surfaces knowledge.
3. Introduce an example or case study of their surface-related work.
This publication is intended to inform research, practice, and public discussions on the role of surfaces in urban environments. We hope you enjoy your journey through these incredibly wide-ranging responses and share our enthusiasm for the traction of surface knowledges in the series.
Sabina Andron, University of Melbourne
Konstantinos Avramidis, University of Cyprus
Tom Ward, Uppsala University

In 2015 INWARD-the National Observatory on Urban Creativity started the project called "Parco dei Murales", a process of artistic requalification and social regeneration in the Ponticelli district, itself in the Eastern part of the great city of Naples. Four years after the completion of the pictorial works, questions regarding the influence of the creative program on the urban area arise: how did these interventions generate a change in the neighborhood? What impact did they have on the community? Many inhabitants perceive the eastern outskirts of Naples as a marginal space of this metropolis in Southern Italy, a "liminal" area, not only geographically but also socially, if we were to think about the exposure of some segments of the population to uncertain social and economic conditions. It is known that this area manifests an evident lack of services that can allow a change towards more certain conditions. The artistic and social experience in the "Parco dei Murales", was born to subvert all this and allow the external public to enter an inhabited space previously considered repulsive. Concerning the three macro-categories, such as the Art Field, Social Field, and Empowerment Field, we will try to answer the initial questions to investigate the positive and negative aspects of a collective program. Through data related to the work experience collected from 2015 to 2021, to the elaboration of surveys, outputs submitted to the community, and comparisons with similar realities in Italy, we reached a liminal moment of the work which lies on the threshold between what has been achieved and the changes currently underway. What may its future evolutions be? How to envisage the extension of an urban creativity program for the social in a creative territorial system?

The capitalist economic system ensures its own continuity and existence by encouraging individuals to consume non-stop. In this lifestyle, called the consumer society, individuals are in a state of alienation. The research focuses on examining and discussing the quality of street art in the context of urban praxis, based on Hegel's emphasis on artistic production as a tool for externalization and Lefebvre's pointing to the city and space in line with the concept of praxis as a state of action presented by Marx as a method.
The research aims to examine the concept of praxis through its artistic traces in the urban space by placing production practices against the consumption practices of the capitalist economic system from the perspective of the philosophy of space, and mainly seeks to answer the question: Can the externalization of urban praxis be evaluated through street art produced in urban space?
Against the alienation caused by the atmosphere of consumption created by capitalism, production practices are discussed in the context of praxis and this state of production is evaluated through artistic production on the plane of urban space. Artistic production is carried out by focusing on the graffiti (wall painting and/or writing) dimension of street art as it is the traces of social reflection in the city with its individual discourses.
In search of the role of art and the artist in the context of urban praxis, this research is approached with dialectics as a method. Accordingly, the research is designed to evaluate four different anti-capitalist and socially engaged graffiti works produced in urban space with four different conflicts from different geographies of the Global North and Global South (Chile, Israel - Palestine, France, Türkiye) in the context of urban praxis based on the four basic laws of dialectics (integrity, movement, contradiction, revolution).

Knitting and crochet, as well as other fiber arts, have traditionally not been studied beyond their use for dating archaeological finds and sites, their artistic value and skill, and historical evidence of the movement of people. These crafts are relegated to ‘women’s work,’ part of women’s home lives that are not considered important to most historians and researchers. However, like many parts of women’s hidden history, this assumption is being challenged and proven false. While not fully in the lens of academia, many women have been writing about the role fiber arts play in women’s social lives, activism, mental health, and spiritual experiences. In this paper, I offer an introduction to the research and writing on the history and benefits of fiber arts done by women from ancient Greece to contemporary Detroit. I believe this topic deserves further study by multiple disciplines, including women’s spirituality, urban studies, psychology, alternative medicine, and feminist history.

Located on Dakota and Ojibwe land, St. Paul Minnesota is a unique hub of arts, enterprise, and history. The city’s landscape has been shaped by racial covenants, economic hardships, and migration to surrounding suburbs. Today, community members, developers, and government officials are involved in ongoing discussions about how to best enhance infrastructure and businesses throughout the city, especially in urban areas, while protecting residents and each neighborhood’s identity and culture. One way of doing this is through Creative Placemaking. For my research, Creative Placemaking refers to the use of art-based solutions to enhance public spaces in order to support sustainable communities. My research is a comparative study of community mural projects in St. Paul’s Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) and in the Frogtown neighborhood, with the goal of understanding how both areas deploy Creative Placemaking to shape identities, support economic growth, and strengthen communities.

The article discusses the politics of contemporary street art. The analysis
builds on the characteristic contradiction in the core of street art: it is both illegal and popular. It can be considered both vandalism and institutionally celebrated art. In the popular media, the legitimacy of street art is often reduced to the question: ‘Is it art?’ I argue that such a question is of secondary importance and limits the discussion. To delve deeper into
the public stance of street art, I offer the theoretical framework of deliberative democracy, supplemented by the legal philosopher Daniel Markovits’s notion of democratic disobedience and the social historian Eric Hobsbawm’s concept of social banditry. For more precise
analysis, I distinguish between street art and graffiti. By graffiti I refer to the subculturally coded visual practice that emerged from the 1970s hip-hop scene; by street art, I am referring to unsanctioned public art that emerged a couple of decades later and is characterised by wider popular appeal, accessible visual language and inclusive humour.

This research paper seeks to explore the potential of graffiti street art to foster community engagement and participation in sustainable development initiatives in Delhi, India. The unique ability of graffiti street art to transform public spaces and act as a platform for dialogue and collaboration makes it an ideal medium for encouraging community involvement in decision-making processes. Additionally, graffiti street art can be used as a tool to promote environmental initiatives, social inclusivity and cultural heritage preservation. To gain a better understanding of how graffiti street art can be used to further sustainable development goals, this study utilizes Qualitative methodology where case study,Interviews and hash tag "Lodhi Art District" analysis has been done extensively. These methods provide insight into successful examples of community-driven graffiti street art projects in Delhi and their impact on sustainable goals. Based on the findings of this research, recommendations are provided for utilizing graffiti street art to foster sustainable community engagement in Delhi. it provides recommendations for leveraging graffiti street art to engage local communities and spur progress towards achieving sustainable goals. The popularity of this art is a testament to the notion of power of art in stimulating meaningful dialogue and encouraging community development.

In this article I analyze urban interventions as communicative practices that can become visual "scenes of dissensus", i.e. political disruptions made by emerging voices. In three of the cases I present, activists use a variety of tactics and techniques to make their claims be seen on the surfaces of the city. These actions can generate diverse meanings and have different impacts. One of the cases confirms that corporate discourses can appropriate urban interventions, showing that important contemporary urban expressions such as graffiti and street art might turn into consensus, as part of the increasing phenomenon of the commodification of urban space. I will conclude by stressing the importance of approaching urban interventions as creative practices that reflect and (re)produce the movement, the complexity, the ambivalence, and the contradictions that are inherent to everyday life in global cities.