Painting the City
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PAINTING THE CITY Tindra Thor Painting the City Performative Cosmopolitanism and the Politics of Space and Art Tindra Thor ©Tindra Thor, Stockholm University 2018 ISBN print 978-91-7797-314-0 ISBN PDF 978-91-7797-315-7 ISSN 1102-3015 Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2018 Distributor: Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University Cover photo: Tindra Thor For my children This dissertation is part of the project “Cosmopolitanism from the Margins: Mediations of Expressivity, Social Space and Cultural Citizenship.” The project is financed by The Swedish Research Council. The project manager is Miyase Christensen, and the project participants are André Jansson and Tindra Thor. Parts of the arguments and content appearing in this dis- sertation also appear in the following publications (over- laps and connections are referenced): Thor, T. (2018) “Anonymous Urban Disruptions – Ex- ploring Banksy as Artistic Activist and Social Critic.” In Ponzanesi, S. & Habed, A. (eds.) Postcolonial Intellectuals in Europe: Critics, Artists, Movements, and their Publics. Rowman and Littlefield International. Christensen, M. & Thor, T. (2017) “The Reciprocal City: Performing Solidarity—Mediating Space through Street Art and Graffiti.” International Communication Gazette. Vol. 79, Issue 6-7, pp. 584-612. Thor, T. (2017). ‘The Sounds of Silence’: Writing Urban Spaces. In: Fast, K, Jansson, A., Tesfahuney, M., Ryan Bengtsson, L., Lindell, J. (eds.) Geomedia Studies: Spaces and Mobilities in Mediatized Worlds, London: Routledge. Thor, T. (2015) “#banksyinstockholm: The Politics of Street Art and Spatiality.” Observatorio (OBS*), (5), pp. 23- 46. i ii Acknowledgements I want to express my deepest thanks to my main supervisor, Miyase Christen- sen. Aside from your insightful comments, inspirational conversations, and your overall academic guidance, you have inspired me to always do my best, believe in myself, my work, and to follow my passions. Thank you for all your support and kindness, for being both my supervisor and becoming my friend. Also, my most sincere thanks to my second supervisor, André Jansson, for giving me new ideas and pushing me onto paths I would not have found by myself. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to the participants. Your persistence, passions, ambitions, spunk and insubordination have inspired and helped me more than you ever could imagine. On a rainy day, I have always been able to read through a transcript and instantly feel better. Thank you! A huge thank you my colleagues who have read my text throughout the pro- cess. I am deeply thankful for the insightful readings and comments I received at my final seminar, in particular by my opponent, Gavan Titley, and the re- viewing committee, Patrick Vondereau and Kristina Riegert. You all helped me to want to go the extra mile. I also want to thank Kari Andén-Papadopoulos who was my reader at my first seminar, Alexa Robertson who helped me with revisions and moving ahead, and Karin Becker for reviewing the text as my midway seminar reader and who helped me greatly as my methods course in- structor. Also a big thanks to Lilie Chouliaraki who challenged and inspired me to push my aims and methodology further. Thank you also to Jacob Kimvall who, in several, ways helped me getting acquainted with the field. Another big thanks to Christian Christensen for his swift and constructive proofreading of these acknowledgements (aside from this particular sentence, which I added after his swift and constructive proofreading. I hope I did not mess it up.). There are many colleagues I want to mention since you all have helped me in different ways over different periods in time. But, no one mentioned, no one forgotten. Thanks to all of you! I do however want to give a special thank you to Ester Pollack for your support as deputy head of the department, and for taking care of me at my very first conference. Also a special thanks to John Sundholm, our head of the department, for keeping you door open and always iii being willing to answer all my questions about budgets, time lines, regulations, and so on. Thank you my wonderful Ph.D. colleagues! Without all this coffee I probably would have fallen asleep several years ago. Without all the wine, I suspect the years would have been far more boring. Thank you to my roomies, James and Mona. A special thanks to James for all the cardamom buns you have brought me when I needed them the most. Thank you Erika, Emma, Elitsa, Calle, Hel- ena, Martin, Kristina, Rebecca and Tom, for all the coffee and wine, and thank you Magnus, for making us all mind the quality of the coffee (cof- fee/cookie/wine emojis inserted). Also a big thanks to Torbjörn, Chafic, Jacob, Hlazo, Turid, Anette, and Katya who I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the years, even if only briefly. Speaking of coffee, I also want to thank the baristas at Espresso House in Fältöversten. I cannot even count the liters of latte made by especially Therese and Helga. Your awesome lattes has lit up many of my mornings and workdays over all. I am fortunate enough to sing in two quartets and direct a whole chorus of loving women who all have cheered for me over the years and provided me with unconditional support, understanding and just happy times in general. Thank you to very single one of you. A special thank you to Viveka, Kalle and Elin for your compassion, support and friendship. To my wonderful family, thank you for riding this out with me. Thank you to my mom and dad who have supported me in every thinkable way. My beautiful children, you have given me time, loving pats on my overheated head, and al- ways made me laugh. You have kept telling me I am awesome, that you can take care of me and each other, and that all will be OK. And you have always made me believe you. Embla, please always stay my funny friend. Your weird sense of humor always lights up my heart. Krut, I have no idea why you are the one taking care of me and not the other way around? Always stay your empa- thetic and caring self. Lo, my crazy little person. You once taught me, “If eve- ryone in the world died, there would only be Lego people”. Thank you for showing me the true meanings of thinking “out of the box” and how to imag- ine the world in different ways. Ville, for your openness, curiosity and patience, thank you. Last but certainly not least, Ketil, my partner, my rock, my love. You have un-tiredly read my text and helped me, academically yes, but first and foremost, emotionally, with your continuing support and love, even when I have gone all dramatic diva on life (which I do all the time). I cannot imagine any partner more generous and loving. You always inspire me to become a better person in every way and I love you with all my heart. iv v Contents Prologue ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 13 Examining Stockholm Graffiti and Street Art ........................................................................................... 17 Research Problem .................................................................................................................................... 17 Aim ............................................................................................................................................................ 19 Research Questions ................................................................................................................................. 20 The Field of Graffiti and Street Art ....................................................................................... 25 Painting and Writing as Urban Communication ....................................................................................... 25 The Collective Memory of Graffiti and Its Contemporary Mediatized Condition .............................. 27 “Graffiti is Art, Klotter is Klotter”: A Swedish Dilemma ............................................................................ 31 A History of Street Art .................................................................................................................................. 33 Graffiti and Street Art as Art ........................................................................................................................ 36 Graffiti and Street Art as Crime and Vandalism ....................................................................................... 42 The Dirty, the Threatening, and the War ................................................................................................... 44 Structure of the Dissertation ................................................................................................... 49 Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism, Mediatization, and Urban Interventions: A Theoretical Milieu for Graffiti and Street Art ............................................................................................ 51 The Mobilities and Mediatization of Graffiti and Street Art ................................................................... 52 The Challenges of Getting Along ................................................................................................................ 54 It Might Well Work Out: Solidarity and Hospitality ................................................................................