Conversations and provocations: Graffiti

For my presentation in class I was given conversations and interaction in public art. I thought I’d go into more detail and give a few links for people to peruse, especially regarding the value of graffiti.

One of the main functions of public art is provocation. This can be a reaction from people who view it or by triggering an interactive response in the form of new art manifesting itself, it seems the purpose of public art is to create a dialogue between artist and audience. This is an article from the founder last year http://www.thefounder.co.uk/pdfs/The%20Founder%20Volume%202%20Issue%209.pdf. The article itself is on page 19 and is titled ‘the most cutting opinions in Royal Holloway are not in this paper’. The article discusses graffiti on the toilet walls of founders, in which the writer has found:-

” a true, frank and completely open exchange of opinions, jokes, thoughts and observations.”

There is an interesting split in this article in that the writer feels that they have to state that graffiti is not endorsed in the founder and that it is still a punishable offence but highlights that it is a sociological piece examining the merits nature of the expression and discussion involved, stating that the comments left on the wall are ‘charged with passion and rhetoric.’  The article goes on to talk about state and corporate oversight and the toilet cubicle shuning state control over freedom of speech. It’s a good one so check it out.

I also found that Wikipedia (god bless you) has some interesting things to say on public art. “The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that has been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public domain, usually outside and accessible to all.” In that respect cubicle graffiti is more than relevant to be termed as public art. Public art at it’s best encourages everyone to get involved, it is published in a public setting and isn’t really exclusive unlike other forms of art such as opera or ‘fine’ art galleries which are prohibited to the privileged financially or geographically. Here is the page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_art , i’m gonna research a bit more on this and specific examples and see what I can dig up. Peace and Love

Owen Johnson

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