Street Art: Graffiti, Art, Political Protest and the Street Pafsanias Karathanasis Social Anthropologist and PhD Candidate Department of Social Anthropology and History University of the AegeanIn the last few years, Athens has been in a process of transformation. Its increasingly metropolitan character on the one hand and, the new economic, political and social conditions, on the other, have been con- figuring the built environment and affecting human daily life in the city. During this period, marked by the crisis, many of the changes probably remain invisible to the wider public, yet others are blatantly present directly affecting our perception of the city and the social interaction within it. In this period of ‘crisis’ and social change, there has been a sharp rise and development of various forms of visual interventions in public space. For a few years now, the walls of the city centre are literally filled with various slogans, writings, different types of graffiti and street art. Athens can today boast many such works, appreciated by the public both for their aesthetic and artistic qualities. At the same time, however, a great number of interventions in public space, wheth- er artistically inclined or not, aim to articulate political discourse and express political and social criticism, This has led to the creation of some interesting contemporary urban landscapes full of interventions, which narrate, illustrate and record in words, drawings and pictures the social change that is taking place in the city. ‘The evolution of this practice and the growth in the number of works and interventions on the walls of Athens in ‘crisis’, have led to an i creased interest in both local and international print and electronic media’. Of course, we could argue, that many of these articles and re- ports that appear in print and digital form, limit the interpretation of the phenomenon of ‘street art’ development to the generalized expres- sion of discontent and financial difficulties faced by young people. An example of such an interpretation is a recent article by the New York ‘Times’ in which the reporter acknowledges the rise in the phenomenon, featuring Athens as the ‘Mecca of contemporary street art’. However she attributes it almost exclusively to youth's distress, presenting the creators (legal or illegal) as victims of the economic crisis, when un- employment or occasional work offers them plenty of free time to en- gage in the practice. This particular article does not fail (much like others in local and international media) to refer to the conflict between legal and illegal works, that extend to the relation of street art to the gentrification’ of the urban centre and the danger of assimilating the practice vis-a-vis its subversiveness in the era of the ‘crisis’. Still the piece seems to ignore the fact that both street art and graffiti are not just expressions of dissatisfaction but cultural practices within the urban space, that shape identities, attitudes and political stances. In an effort to better comprehend contemporary street art, as an urban cultural practice, we need to approach it in relation both to the urban context in which it is produced and reproduced, as well as the artistic and political traditions with which it is closely linked. The next para- graphs will refer to the relation specifically of street art to the tradition and urban culture of graffiti, the tradition of political protest and dis- obedience, the traditions and the various art genres and finally, the relation with the street and the urban context, These are all tied to the social, political and cultural characteristics of a phenomenon which, although much discussed nowadays, have yet to be adequately ad- dressed by social sciences, in the Greek context’. Street Art and Graffiti Urban Youth Cultures Street art is nowadays used as an ‘umbrella’ term to refer to several and different kinds of visual art, in addition to various forms of visual socio-political interventions in the urban public space. Street art is aesthetically varied, both from ‘classical’ graffiti as well as the posting of political or football fan wall slogans, mainly because of the use of many and different techniques for the production of the works. Some of the techniques at use are: stencil, paste-ups, free drawing and writ- ings which, apart from sprays, also require the use of paintbrushes, brushes, other tools and materials. Different techniques have resulted in new patterns and styles and the introduction of different aesthetics, while at the same time offering creators with new possibilities for inter- vention, Although the first works of street art emerged in the 1970s 107and 1980s, the explosion of the phenomenon came about in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Apart from the term ‘street art, the term ‘post- graffiti’ was also used to express a shift witnessed in the works, from the aesthetics of (New York style) dominance until 2000, to different kinds, patterns and public space intervention rationales. However, this shift was not limited to the aesthetic, but also expressed a change in the social and cultural level, a change that translates into a differ- ence in the values and intentions of creators. Graffiti emerged in New York and other North American cities during the 1960s and 1970s. From there, it reached Europe and the rest of the world during the 1980s and 1990s and has today managed to become one of the most widespread urban cultures worldwide. Upon its emer- gence, graffiti, along with rap and break-dance, were the three ingre- dients that made up hip-hop. As an urban youth culture, hip-hop origi- nally rose from the streets, the sidewalks, the bridges and the tunnels of Western big cities. Consequently, graffiti and the various aspects of hip-hop (music and dance) also evolved as individual cultural prac- tices, assuming different social and cultural characteristics based on each city or country where they flourished. However, due to the illegal attack it mounts on walls and surfaces across cities and its emergence as an urban, alternative and subversive culture, graffiti has been ve- hemently targeted by city authorities, with prosecutions and fines to creators, monitoring of public spaces and the development of anti- graffiti materials. Although graffiti came from the working class and poor neighborhoods of big cities, during its global evolvement it infiltrated the middle and higher social strata. This diffusion was partly due to the development of the Internet, as well as cultural globalization, which entails the as- similation of graffiti elements to commercialized mass culture. None- theless, both in the U.S., where it all started and in Europe and the rest of the world, it maintains significant subversive characteristics strongly upheld by a number of graffiti writers and crews®. Graffiti is now a distinct urban culture with its own rules, values and ways of obtaining social status within the group (expressed through the concept of ‘respect). It carries a distinct code of communication, recognizable only by those who partake in this particular culture®. Many of the negative reactions that exist among viewers are down to this diversity ever present in graffiti culture. Its distinctive aesthetic drawings and writings, unintelligible to many, are often perceived by the general public as ‘noise’ and grime on the city fabric. In contrast to this, street art, although closely linked to the practice of graffiti, does not necessarily share the same cultural values, rules and codes of conduct. Aside from the aesthetic differences to ‘classical’ graffiti, which account for the deeper understanding and response of spectators, street art also exhibits a number of cultural differences. ‘These differences result in greater ‘openness’ in the practice, one that stems from the absence of a specific cultural context in which the cre- ators belong. This allows for greater deviations in terms of attitudes, intentions and the relationships and interactions between creators, spectators, works and the city. No wonder then that, while today many viewers and users of the city recognize and appreciate various works on the walls, they still do not understand and appreciate walls occu- pied by ‘tags’, ‘throw-ups’ and other, incomprehensible to them, inter- ventions. Finally, we could say that graffiti, even after its commercialization, largely remains an alternative, illegal and subversive practice. This does not solely derive by the message of each work, but stems from the aggressive logic and aesthetics of the interventions - from the characteristics of the culture, themselves. Instead, in street art, apart from the illegality, subversiveness tends to emanate from the message and theme of each work and the action of each creator rather than the existence of common cultural and aesthetic characteristics. Street Art and Art The Art World and Subversiveness If the term ‘post-graffiti’ attempts to describe the practice in relation 109,to graffiti, then the term ‘street art’ shifts our attention to the relation between the practice and what is widely regarded as art. The links to various traditions of art are evident in the many works we come across in the streets today. We could perhaps say that, if graffiti was born on the streets and then entered galleries and museums, street art seems - to have taken out to the streets styles and patterns once almost exelu- sively encountered in art spaces. This way, it has attracted people and groups associated neither with graffiti nor with political protest to the practice of visual intervention in public space, thus allowing more people to participate in the daily ‘curation’ of the urban landscape. ‘Street art, and particularly some of its kinds like ‘stencil” and ‘paste- up’, are closely linked to the applied arts, printing and sereen print- ing, as well as to most contemporary graphic design; tools and tradi- tions, firstly introduced by Pop Art that have since been established in the art world. The opening towards art is also evident by the fact that several Fine and Applied Arts graduates are involved in street art and choose the public space (illegally or legally) as their field of action and intervention, sometimes alongside other more formal art spaces. The global explosion of works labeled as street art during the last de- cade, has been followed by a greater number of exhibitions in interna- tional formal art venues, major museums and well known galleries*. ‘These have in turn contributed to the greater recognition of these forms of artistic intervention and production. Nevertheless, although graffiti had already ‘broken into’ galleries since the 1970s and 1980s, the relation of this basically illegal and subversively alternative cultur- al practice to formal art spaces, was never something that all creators and everyone involved saw eye to eye on. Reacting to bonds between graffiti and the official bodies of art has been based on the argument that it will result in its assimilation in mass culture that will in turn dilute its subversive characteristics. Those who react have always stood their ground and such reactions are still expressed today by indivi- duals and groups of graffiti artists. It is under this light that we can partly interpret ‘attacks’ by graffiti artists and others who intervene in public space, towards street artists who collaborate with institutions and individuals for the sole purpose of financial gain and personal reputation. These values are not seen as fitting to the subversive and bottom-up nature of free intervention on the street and public space. However, during this period of ‘crisis’, with unemployment running sky high especially among young people and the lack of resources to cover even everyday needs, many either street art or graffiti creators have resorted to undertaking paid commissions. At the same time, the surge in paid and licensed interventions in the city comes with voices that claim graffiti will either be illegal or it will not be graffiti, at all; voices particularly important for the conservation of the elements that spawned and developed graffiti as a subversive urban culture. Social and Cultural Movements in the Urban Context The street and urban public space, in general, constitute quintessential fields of political protest. This is particularly acute today in the cities of the various countries experiencing the ‘economic crisis’. In Athens, slogans on the walls, especially in the city center, have been a domi- nant feature of the urban landscape for many years. But what is dif ferent today is that apart from the political slogans and posters that continue to occupy city walls, there is a significant rise in artistically oriented works that criticize and express political and social messages. The creation of such works that balance between protest art, activist art and street art is closely connected to the emergence of contempo- rary social movements. In recent years, the emergence of dynami public square occupation movements in Europe and Turkey, the local ‘Occupy’ movement, as well as the so-called ‘Arab Spring”, were followed by the development of an intensely visual activist art. Itis responsible for the hanging of countless works on city walls as well as on digital social network ‘walls’, which express and visualize the political dis- course articulated by the movements, mark the urban spaces of con- frontation and bring together activists and protesters from different parts of the world. ao‘Then again street art links to political protest, activism and political propaganda are not recent, but display a historical continuity which ties it to political events of global importance, such as the Parisian May of 1968. The political processes that unfolded during the events in Paris, in 1968, produced, among others, the famous revolt posters", which in turn injected a new aesthetic to the public expression of political protest and have influenced artists who are now considered pioneers of street art". In addition, street art was also associated with political ~ artistic movements such as the Situationist International which developed significant action in the urban public space through- out the 1960s. Coming back to today, another factor linking street art to political protest and activism is the ‘openness’, promoted by the practice itself. ‘The different logics of intervention and techniques that characterize street art are currently used by a significant number of activists and political groups to express and promote their political ideas, push their social and political critique and for anti-propaganda purposes. In the current socio - political reality, the use of different techniques in conjunction with the use of digital media, offer new possibilities for intervention in public space by those political groups and activists, who criticize the various issues that rise as a result of austerity mea- sures and of the increased social and political polarization of societies in ‘crisis’ Street Art and the Street Urban Geographies, Visual Sphere and Public Space Street art belongs on the street, it is not just mounted there", but it is directly related to the complex elements of public space and every- day life in the city. In the public urban space, viewers do not relate independently to a work or an intervention they come across, like they do in a museum. Rather, the meaning derived from these works depends on factors that operate within a network of interactions, both with other visual elements (other interventions, advertisements, signs, etc.) that make up the visual sphere of cities as well as with the social reality defined by the rhythms and characteristics of each urban area. So, the ultimate meaning i.e. wliat the viewers understand when they come in contact with works and interventions in the street is produced through the relations that develop with the rest of the materials and visual elements of the urban environment, within the randomness of public space. If we wanted to use an art term, we could say that works and interventions in the street and public places can only be site-specific. Since street art is a spatial phenomenon, it does not just directly affect the appearance of urban spaces, but also participates in their social production'’, The social production of the urban public space results from everyday negotiation between the different social groups and depends on the cultural meanings attributed to it, during the daily experience of its various users. Street art and the general practice of visual intervention as part of the elements that make up the meaning in public spaces express the involvement of a group in this ongoing negotiation towards the social production of public urban space. In today’s big city life reality, the dominant social groups and urban authorities control the visual public sphere within the urban land- scape, by defining and enforcing the legal operations and interven- tions through increased checks and the intensification of public space surveillance. At the same time, these same groups define what is con- sidered as permissible and acceptable behavior and practice in public space; they provide a hierarchy among the various readings and mea- nings of public space defining the dominant once. By doing so, they create a ‘spatialized citizenship’ while at the same time composing the ‘moral geographies" of the city. In this context, free bottom-up interventions, whether artistic or other- wise, provide alternate meaning to public spaces, while challenging the dominant notions that authorities and the various institutions of power and those who work with them try to impose on the city. Thus, the various creators, artists and activists who ‘curate’ the walls and other city surfaces on a daily basis, create through their actions their 13own alternative or ‘heretical’ geographies, highlighting the way in which the ‘transgressions’ of dominant rules can act as forms of resistance on the part of weaker groups". Street art cannot but be on the street. The public nature of the street transforms available walls and surfaces into an open forum of dialogue and communication, accessible to everyone either as viewer or as cre- ator. That is where street art acquires its meaning, as it influences and is influenced by the urban environment. On the street, every work and every intervention is freely accessible to the public and so is inevita- bly open to criticism, modification, dialogue or even destruction and removal. This open and ephemeral nature of the street with its free access to all, that puts an end to artistic vanity while multiplying audi- ences for the creators, is a key component of street art. ‘Translation: Anna Zarifi "In recent years, a number of print media, free press or others, as well as online Greek and international magazines and newspapers have dealt with the works on the walls of Athens. Examples from the Greek media include: Tlanné, M,, (2013) Ava - Hpwrevovow rev Pypdipin [Athens — the Graffiti Capital] Lifo Free Press, (hitp:/wwwlifo.gr/mag/features/3971: viewed 20.04.2014). Pxpeiyrat: IT Tévy tov Apdyow Béeyer tqy AO‘fve [Graffit: Street Art Paints Athens), I Kathimerini, electronic ed.- photograph, 09.04.2014 (http:/;www-kathimerini.gr/761889/gallery /multimedia/fwtografia/gkrafiti-h-texnh-toy-dromoy-vafei-thn-a8hna : viewed 20.04.2014). Avbpe6uoukos, H. Tart vo Prpdynr dev Evan Avtxgro [Why graffiti is not invincible}, 1 Kathimerini, printed edition, 08.03.2014 (http:/www.kathimerini.gr/757068/article/ politismos/polh/giati-to-gherafiti-den-einai-anikhto : viewed 20.04.2014). Acyéens, Xp. & Nujuag, B. (eds.) H Téyvy wo0 Apdpov Biipa ~ Biipa + Hide Biman va Xcondc Hapdvono Tapdepee (Street art step by step: What its like to ‘hit’ an egal Graffiti] www.news247.r, 10.04.2014 (hitp:/inews247.grieidiseis/reportax/h_texnh_toy_dromoy_vhma_-_vhma_ ws_cinai_na_xtypas_paranomo_gkraliti.2727373.html : viewed 20.04.2014). And some articles from the foreign press: Graffiti Spreads in Athens as the Economie Crisis Deepent, The Telegraph (httpi/www. telegraph.co.uknews/picturegalleriesworldnews/8888513/Graffiti-spreads-in-Athens- as-the-economic-crisis-deepens.htmlZimage=I : viewed 29.04.2014), Gacl Michaud, Street Artin Athons, DEMOTIX, 26.05.2014 (http/fwww.demotix.com) news/1497262/srectart-athens#fmedia-1497299 : viewed 29.04.2014). Protest Graffiti in Athent: Works on the Streets ofthe Greek Capital Reflect Anger Over ‘the Beonomic Crisis, TIME (htp:(/content.sime.com/timeiphotogallery/029807,20095, 42,00.himl: viewed 29.04.2014). 4 Athones, Un Stret Art de Crise, Le Monde, 04.12.2018, (htpiwww-lemonde.fe/ew- rope/portfolio/2015/12/04/mathenes-un-streetart-devcrise_8525260_8214 2m swed 29.04.2014). * Alderman Liz: Acrost Athens, Graffiti Worth a Thousand Words of Malaise, The New York Times, April 15, 2014 (hup/www.nytimes.com/2014/04/l6iworld/europelacross- athens. graffit-worth-a-thousand.words-of-malsisehtml?_r=I : viewed 25.04.2014), *-The term ‘gentrification’ refers to ‘the conversion of socially marginal and working class areas of the central city to middle-class residential use, reflects a movement, that began in the 1960s, of private-market investment capital into downtown districts ‘of major urban centers (..) gentrification was seen more immediately in architecturt restoration of deteriorating housing and the clustering of new cultural amenities the urban core’: Zukin,S. (1987) ‘Gentrification: Culture and Capital inthe Urban Core’, Annual Review of Sociology, 13:129-147. “ Although there are several articles in magazines and newspapers, as well as some book editions, mainly by groups and individuals involved in the practice, the cultural phenomenon of graffiti, of street art and political protest in the Greck context, has yet to become the subject of rigorous social research. Apart from few exceptions (listed below), there is insufficient academic literature either in English or in Greek that researches or addvesses the theory behind the subject in the Greek cities Zeaiipéexys, F- 2012) “H exepoyhooota cov yepaepree orgy nororea} épeoy Meoboloyents Siouavpdocrs o¢ avotxerous Kowownods Kéapons [The heteroglossia of graffiti in qualitative research: methodological crossings at inapproachable social ‘worlds}, in Troupe M. (ed) Prospects and Limits of the Mis of Methodologies in Social, Psychological and Educational Research: Epistemological and Methodological Isues ofthe Prospective Expansion of Research Design. Athens: Yon. Kapadavéone TI. 2010) ‘Or Tosyorxys HéIys «0s “Aprofytospevor Xeipar” Ato x04 Aowxs Tonto oy Adria’, in Tuavvanduovhos K. & Travereousens As) Aqeproposuevor Xiipor ory TS: Xupunés Tpooeyyioers ov Tokniopos (Con "5tested Landscapes: Spatial Approaches to culture]. Athens: Alexandreia & University of the Aegean. Leventis, P. (2015) ‘Walls of Crisis: Street Art and Urban Fabric in Gentral Athens, 2000-2012". Architectural Histories, 1(1): 19, pp. 1-10, DOL: hitp:/dx.doi.org/10.5334) ahr. Avramidis, Konstantinos (2012) Live your Greece in Myths: Reading the Crisis on Athens Walls. Professional Dreamers (1) working paper no. 8: hitp:/iwwwprofessionaldreamers -neU/_prowp/wp-contentuploads/Avramides-Reading-the-Crisis-on-Athens-walls-fld.paf The term ‘graffiti writer’ refers to the ereators of ‘throw-ups’ and ‘pieces’, ‘master- pieces’ and ‘tags’, which often include letters done in the characteristi style that is the most widespread kind of graffiti. The term ‘crew’ refers to groups of artists who offen act together and sign as a group. In Greek, the term ‘writer’ is not used because it does not translate well so as to adequately describe the practice, so the creator is often called simply as ‘graffitas’. More generally, the Greek graffiti scene uses various terms in English because the Greck translations are often not as representative. “A typical concept in graffiti isthe notion of bombing’. The ‘bombardment’ (unlicensed) ‘of paint on walls and other surfaces in public space, such as signs, bins and trains, buses, ‘tc, is central concept inthe practice of graffiti that largely determines both the aetion of the creators and the public response to the interventions and works in the public space of the city. * Stencil refers to the technique used to produce and reproduce designs and patterns in public space with the use of a matrix that results in more iconic works. Since its ‘emergence in France during the 1980s, it has spread internationally and has given birth to its own tradition, associated both with street art and political demand. Another reason why stencil has grown strongly in our time is that today, with the widespread use of computers and the development of digital media, one can easily manipulate famous (or not) images from an international iconography, which ean then be used for the pro- duction of stencils on walls and surfaces inthe city. For more on stencil, see: Manco, Tristan (2002) Stencil Graffiti. London: Thames & Hudson. OcoBéong A. 8 Kapaavéone Tl (2008) Stencil in Athens: Toxyodpopicc vol.2. Athens: Oxy * On the rise of street art and graffiti exhibitions, see an article by the New York Times from 2009: Barbieri Claudia, Graffiti Gains New Respect, New York Times, June 9, 2009: hutp:/www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/arts/1Oiht-reartgrafT.html (viewed 25/04/20- 14), Fora special insight into the ‘explosion’ of street art and its relationship with exhi- bitions and art spaces at the end of the 2000s, see the film Banksy: Exit through the gift shop: the world’s first street art disaster movie, (2010). ©The term ‘Arab Spring’ refers to the political events that took place in 2010-2011 in Arab countries such as Tunisia and Egypt and led to the fall of the local regimes. Mainly in Egypt and specifically in Cairo during the January 25 2011 revolution, which led to the fall of Mubarak, but also in the unstable post- revolutionary period, fone cannot fail to witness the strong emergence of public political and social expres- sion in the walls ofthe city in the form of street art and protest and Arab graffiti. For more, see: Basma Hamdy, Mona Eltahawy & Don Karl aka Stone (2013) Walls of Freedom: Street Art of the Egyptian Revolution. Berlin: From Here to Fame Publi Gréndahl, Mia (2013) Revolution Graffiti: Street Art of the New Egypt. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. Zoghbi, Pascal & Don Karl aka Stone (2011) Arabic Graffiti. Berlin; From Here to Fame Publishing. 1 For an extensive presentation of May 1968 posters see: Gasguet, Vasco (2008 [1978)) Les 500 Affishes de Mai 68. “French street artist Blek le Rat is typical example. He participated in the events of 1968 as a student in Paris and in the production of protest posters by the revolted students, Blek le Rat (hitp:/blekleratfree.fr) started ‘hitting’ stencils on the walls of Paris in the early 1980s and introduced the stencil as a kind of publie-visual- iconic intervention. Today, after decades of action in various cities, he is considered one of the pioneers of stencil who has influenced its global evolution. = Kenan, Hagi (2011) ‘Street Art and the Sovereign's Imagination’ in Street Art in Israel. Tel Aviv Museum of Art: p.p, 101 (available at the author's personal webpage: ‘hutp:/wwww.tau.ae.il ~ kenaan/street_art.pdf). 9 Lefebvre, Henri (1991) The Production of Space (Vol. 80). Oxford: Blackwell. ‘The terms ‘moral’ and ‘heretical’ geographies have been used mainly by geographers David Matless and Tim Cresswell, to describe the proclamations of those socially dominant for ‘proper’ behavior that highlight public space as a performative field for the notions of ‘good citizen’ and ideology, and to refer to the creative actions of soci ‘groups, who resist or axe simply not interested in the imposed readings and prae- tices of the public space. Matless, David (1995) ‘The art of right living: landscape and citizenship’ in §. Pile & N. Thrift (eds.) Mapping the Subject: Geographies of Cultural ‘Transformation, Routledge: pp. 98-122. Cresswell Tim (1996) In Place-Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, and Transgression. Univ. of Minnesota Press. Kewreve@6yhov P. (2001) 1 Zid 100 Tepos Bpéyoo (In the Shadow of the Holy ‘Rock: Place and Memory in the Anaphiotika). Athens: Ed, Eltinika Grammata: p. 49.