I'll be discussing as part of the homework task, the graffiti of Sydney, Australia.
There is currently an unrelenting media concentration of graffiti in Sydney, as the New South Wales government recently introduced new anti-graffiti laws. As expected, the articles that discuss this pose more questions than answers, and focus upon the juxtapositions between the 'culture' and visual history of street art and that of a criminal act.
A few websites of particular interest:
-- Sydney City Council
Notice the format of the webpage. The first sub-heading under the title of 'Graffiti', is 'graffiti management'. The council webpage does not immediately define what 'graffiti' is within this framework. Instead, the first message that the reader is given is that the city council can control, 'manage', and remove graffiti. The only image we are given of graffiti is that being removed by a council worker. Only after the reader/viewer of this webpage has been given this information, are they made aware that they are 'legally' allowed to place posters within a public space. But does the council state where graffiti can be 'legally' placed? It appears to be absent. In an interesting turn, we are then told that there is a Public Art Policy, and taken to an entirely different webpage. The act of going to a new webpage, removed from the original site signifies that the notion of 'city art' is detached from the council-designated 'graffiti'. In this virtual act, we see how the city council has 'managed' the presence of graffiti- creating spaces and policies that enclose 'public art' within an approval system, and distance it from the 'graffiti' that should be removed.
Here is the link to the City of Sydney's City Art Policies: http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/cityart/index.aspx
For more images, here is another article: http://www.cnngo.com/sydney/life/legal-street-art-sydney-859212
I'll be bringing further discussion points in to class, but these are a starting point for my introduction to the graffiti of Sydney.
A supplementary video here also:
ReplyDeletehttp://media.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-about/heritage-graffiti-3515534.html
I find it interesting that the Sydney Morning Herald, one of Australia's foremost selling newspapers has interviewed a lecturer from Sydney College of the Arts for this segment. It shows their attempt to balance the 'dilemma' between criminality and graffiti - with this dichotomy being something we should try and move past, as Ella discusses in her paper.
I particularly liked the idea of a 'compromised place' as raised by Justin Trendall.
http://googlesightseeing.com/2011/07/the-street-art-of-newtown-sydney/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6OtA4-w2-8
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