Your search

What is the role of art in the reinforcement or rejection of current models of public space management in our cities? To answer this question, we must attend to the ties of all artwork with public institutions, and whether or not it questions the dominant order. In this article, I will focus on the works of the Ana Botella Crew, a group of artists from Madrid, as an example of “artivism” that challenges the City Council’s management of public spaces in Madrid. My aim is to explore how useful internet tools can be to articulate artistic interventions that challenge the hegemonic uses of public space, in what Sassen has called the global city.

The phenomenon of urban art is one of the forces shaping contemporary urban spaces. Historically fought as vandalism in its “writing” component (the “black sheep” of the urban actors performing in the contemporary city), urban art has recently become more appreciated as an artistic expression, especially when regarded as a stage in the historical evolution of muralism. As several examples worldwide have shown, in the context of urban renewal, urban art can set off positive dynamics. Focusing on the Italian scene, I recognize the importance of past Italian interventions realized both in big cities, such as Rome, Turin and Bologna, and in small cities, such as Grottaglie (Taranto), Gaeta (Latina), Catanzaro, and Dozza (Bologna). In addition, the growing number of urban art festivals and public interventions seems to voice the citizens’ will to take the streets back, particularly where institutions are unable to intervene effectively in the urban domain due to political short-sightedness or lack of financial resources. The first aim of this paper is to illustrate and analyze some collective projects and informal actions through which citizens, associations, and institutions have given added value to the urban space. I will focus particularly on Turin, which has become one of the most interesting and rich urban art territories, thanks to public projects such as Murarte, Picturin, Nizzart and B.Art: Arte in Barriera. This study offers insights on how, by way of artistic deeds and apparently “weak” transformation systems, urban art may take innovative action so as to regenerate the city’s architectural heritage. The second aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for architectural surveying techniques applied to urban art. isIn current critical analysis, as well as in the representation and documentation of this type of work, the fundamental importance of the physical, architectural and urban environment in which the work is placed is often overlooked, if not completely omitted. In acknowledgment of these limitations, this paper proposes a documentation methodology that respects both the values of the process and the work itself. In this regard, painted walls must be considered as inseparable from the space in which they are located, from the material substrate supporting them, and from the time conditions in which they were realized. The process of examination and documentation therefore requires observation in situ, new digital and traditional survey techniques, and a variety of representations at different scales; with a view to understanding the reasons that led to the selection of a particular place in the city, and the way in which artistic action arises in relation to the historical environment and the social and political system that influenced its creation.

When discussing the paradox of displacing the street art aesthetic, i.e. commissioning street artists to create work for art galleries, museums, or public murals, one inevitably has to address issues of co-opting, appropriation, and the institutionalization of a movement that began as a countercultural form of expression. Two commissioned pieces by OSGEMEOS are used as a case study. This paper parses through the discourse surrounding their production and removal. The goal therein is to break down these narratives and gain insight into the mechanisms at work and the inherent contradictions in the process of institutionalizing street art.

It is the goal of this paper to aesthetically rethink Street Art’s artistic process and question its narrative in urban and public space. We intend to highlight the anonymity, ephemeral, and transitory element as a key feature of its artistic creation. To this end, we will use as a starting point the relationship between the street artist and Baudelaire’s flanêur, to reach Foucault’s point of view, which somehow finds the key to the street artist’s aesthetic features, synthesized in the understanding of Baudelaire’s modernity, understood not as a mere historical period, but rather as an “attitude.”

What is the role of art in the reinforcement or rejection of current models of public space management in our cities? To answer this question, we must attend to the ties of all artwork with public institutions, and whether or not it questions the dominant order. In this article, I will focus on the works of the Ana Botella Crew, a group of artists from Madrid, as an example of “artivism” that challenges the City Council’s management of public spaces in Madrid. My aim is to explore how useful internet tools can be to articulate artistic interventions that challenge the hegemonic uses of public space, in what Sassen has called the global city.

Recently there has been a resurgence of murals in several European and American cities. Street art visual practices have privileged murals as one of the most suitable formats to address public spaces. Despite the increasing recognition and significance of murals for the visual culture of these cities, this contemporary urban art practice has not received much attention from recent literature. This paper provides a literature review on contemporary murals, giving an account of their popularity, their relation to location-specificity and global presence, as well as the means of dissemination of such art expression. The study will then focus on a set of case studies in Lisbon, regarding the paradigmatic shift from sculpture commissioning to mural commissioning within Portuguese Brazilian cultural relationships. The works of OSGEMEOS, Bicicleta sem Freio and Nunca will be discussed in this framework, questioning what the contributions of contemporary mural works might be for the public spaces of the city.

La polémica que reviste actualmente al tema del graffiti incide en no percibir con plenitud y detalle la complejidad social y cultural que contiene. Su consideración como un subproducto y una tara urbana no ha impedido que se hable sobre él, pero con frecuencia ha influido en que se plantee de un modo inadecuado. Incluso, los intentos por reconsiderar su valía cultural incurren también en generar una imagen excesivamente romántica y situar el debate entre la falacia del graffiti como arte o como vandalismo. No obstante, primero conviene, para comprender lo que representa, observar su dinámica histórica y su estrecha relación con la evolución de la ciudad como ente social.

Resumo A presente dissertação se desenvolve acerca de uma das formas de arte característica da paisagem urbana contemporânea, o graffiti1. O fenômeno analisado remete tanto ao registro do cotidiano urbano na Antiguidade, como à ação subversiva de grupos marginais na década de 1970, em Nova Iorque. Além de apresentar uma breve abordagem histórica, caracterizando o graffiti como uma arte da rua, que vem ocupando espaços oficiais de exposição, este estudo, baseado em pesquisa desenvolvida na cidade de Vitória, capital do Estado brasileiro do Espírito Santo, analisa a inserção do graffiti na paisagem do lugar, como um fenômeno urbano insurgente. O estudo reconhece, então, a amplitude crescente da difusão da estética inerente ao graffiti em ambientes e mídias diversos, optando, porém, por abordá-lo em seu meio original: o espaço urbano, com destaque para seu aspecto transgressor. A pesquisa envolve identificação, classificação e análise das manifestações de graffiti estampadas no espaço urbano de Vitória a partir de percurso marcado por intensos fluxos cotidianos. O registro do graffiti por meio de levantamento cartográfico e fotográfico foi adotado como o principal suporte para analisar a inserção do fenômeno na cidade. Em caráter complementar, contribuíram para a compreensão da atividade artística em questão entrevistas realizadas com seus praticantes. O resultado do estudo reconhece no graffiti, entre outros aspectos, uma outra urbanidade que insurge a partir de um dos modos de vivenciar a cidade, deslocado das práticas oficiais urbanas, embora gradativamente cooptadas. Abstract This dissertation takes as its subject one of the most characteristic art forms on the contemporary urban landscape: graffiti. The topic in question deals as much with the depiction of daily urban life in the age of antiquity as the subversive actions of marginal groups in 1970s New York. Beyond presenting a brief historical overview, portraying graffiti as an art of the street which has come to occupy established exhibition spaces, this study, based on research carried out in Vitória, the capital city of the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo, analyses the placement of graffiti in the landscape of its locale, as an insurgent urban phenomenon. The study thus acknowledges the growing amplitude of the dissemination of the aesthetic inherent within graffiti in diverse platforms and mediums, opting however to explore it in its original environment: the urban space, with focus on its transgressive aspect. The research involves identification, classification and analysis of the manifestations of graffiti stamped upon the urban space of Vitória via a route marked by intense daily activity. The registering of graffiti by means of cartographic and photographical study was adopted as the principal support to analyse the presence of the phenomenon in the city. Complementing this, interviews carried out with graffiti artists further contribute to the comprehension of the artistic endeavour. The outcome of the study recognises in graffiti, amid other aspects, another urbanity which comes from one of the ways to experience the city, displaced from yet gradually integrated into official urban practices.

El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar un análisis comparativo de la semiosis del espacio urbano en cinco poemarios publicados recientemente en la ciudad de Buenos Aires: Aquel corazón descamisado (2002) de Luis Tedesco, El carrito de Eneas (2003) de Daniel Samoilovich, La rebelión del instante (2005) de Diana Bellessi, Solos y solas (2005) de Tamara Kamenszain y Poemas del sin trabajo (2007) de Eduardo Mileo. En todos ellos se textualizan voces, miradas e itinerarios que atraviesan la ciudad contemporánea, apelando a una gran diversidad de imágenes, tópicos y estrategias discursivas. La tríada conceptual crisis-deconstrucción-empatía permitirá leer en conjunto diferentes modalidades en que los textos poéticos traducen y reenvían a las complejidades del imaginario social.

Questo libro indaga i significati, gli usi e le implicazioni del termine "multimedialità" e gli scenari che si stanno definendo nelle trasformazioni linguistiche alla base dell'idea stessa di tale termine. Dunque storia, documentazione, analisi e un quadro completo delle possibilità applicative della multimedialità. L'autore analizza i mutamenti che il passaggio al digitale produce: le ibridazioni linguistiche e gli eclettismi di codici come l'immagine filmica e i linguaggi visivi in generale che utilizzano in modi crescenti i media digitali. Il dvd allegato contiene immagini audiovisive documentarie di installazioni multimediali nonché informazioni complementari al testo.