Acceptable Public Art vs. Unacceptable – Geographies of Resistance

 After really enjoying “Bomb It!” during class, I’ve decided to write a little bit on acceptable vs. unacceptable public art.

What we consider and promote as public art is organized and carefully orchestrated by those who hold power in cities. Public art is normally commissioned and created in a designated city space. In both social geography and urban (re)development, the value of public art is increasingly recognized. The same is not true for street art in general (or we wouldn’t have pieces of media like Bomb It!). The value of graffiti as being art has long been speculated. Of course, this is challenged. Merriam Webster defines art as being, “something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings”. Of course, this definition is not static – beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but definitions of beauty are euro-centric, imperialistic, racist, etc. They’re socially produced and reproduced. Art is up to the viewer’s interpretation, which is why we can see a discernible lack of acceptance of street art due to dominant narratives. This is not only evident in commonly accepted definitions of art, but also graffiti being heavily influenced by the hip-hop movement – a counterculture that is marked by a lack of conformity. This isn’t to say that graffiti doesn’t foster its own conformity as a culture. Graffiti resists contemporary concepts of art and epistemologies both mold those definitions and their antonyms. Despite being both public and art, graffiti is widely considered street art instead of public art. This art has more potential to represent marginalized folks than commodified, commissioned, and designated public art.

Much like the definition of art, cities are constantly being made and re-made around the world. This is inherent both physically and socially. To truly understand the powers at play behind the construction of the urban environment it’s essential that we look at manifestations of urban culture – both conformist and non-conformist.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/03/living/ireport-street-art-public-art/index.html

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art

 

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