Curating the Subversive Illegal Graffiti in Urban Space on the Example of Berlin and how to Approach it Curatorially Helen-Sophie Mayr Curating the Subversive Illegal Graffiti in Urban Space on the Example of Berlin and how to Ap- proach it Curatorially Helen-Sophie Mayr Abstract Within curatorial practice, graffiti has come to little attention. On the occasion of the street art hype during the 2000s, graffiti appeared only as a minor component. Considering, that graffiti remains an undefined and mostly illegal and uninstitutionalized practice, the fact that it is not a common exhibi- tion topic seems self-evident. However, graffiti is a globally and publicly present form of visual output and communication which upon closer look reveals conceptual depth and complexity. Therefore, this thesis investigates illegal graffiti in urban space and the possibility of curatorial approaches. Using the theoretical framework of Henri Lefebvre’s writings on the city, graffiti in urban space is conceptual- ized and analyzed. Possible readings and understandings of graffiti are highlighted. On the basis of such, past curatorial practices with and research on graffiti are outlined and discussed. Finally, the the- sis aims to establish an understanding of graffiti as an institution of its own. For a productive curatorial approach to graffiti, an awareness of that division is considered crucial. Keywords Graffiti Curating Urban Space Henri Lefebvre Berlin Street Art Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Aim and Research Questions ............................................................................... 3 Preview ............................................................................................................ 4 Material ............................................................................................................ 5 Method ............................................................................................................. 7 Theory ........................................................................................................... 10 Previous Research ............................................................................................ 14 Delimitations ................................................................................................... 17 Graffiti in Urban Space .......................................................................... 19 Graffiti’s Practices in Urban Space ...................................................................... 19 Graffiti’s Subversiveness ................................................................................... 23 Subversiveness through the Illicit Appropriation of Urban Space .......................... 23 Subversiveness through the Appropriation of Knowledge on Urban Space ............. 24 Subversiveness through Independence and Anti-Institutionalization ..................... 25 Graffiti’s Audience: The Urban Dweller ................................................................ 28 Graffiti’s Scope in Urban Space. Examples around Four Symptoms of Neoliberal Urbanism ........................................................................................................ 33 Privatization of Urban Space ........................................................................... 33 Securitization of Urban Space ......................................................................... 37 Decentralization of Urban Space ..................................................................... 40 Isolation within Urban Space .......................................................................... 42 Graffiti’s Practitioners ....................................................................................... 46 Graffiti within the Art Institutional System ........................................... 52 Graffiti’s Entry into the Art Institution or from Urban Surfaces onto Canvases .......... 52 Graffiti and Street Art ....................................................................................... 56 Graffiti Disparate Street Art ............................................................................ 56 Street Art’s Bad Influence on Graffiti ............................................................... 61 Final Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................ 69 Practical Curatorial Approaches to Graffiti ............................................................ 69 Theoretical Curatorial Approaches to Graffiti or the Double Recognition of the Curator ..................................................................................................................... 76 Bibliography .......................................................................................... 78 Journal Articles, Theses, Books .......................................................................... 78 (Online) Newspaper and Magazine Articles .......................................................... 81 Videos ............................................................................................................ 83 Websites, Blogs, Feeds ..................................................................................... 84 List of Images ....................................................................................... 86 Introduction The motivation for this thesis grows out of my continual curiosity for graffiti, which has been present long before my studies. As a child I would during long car journeys on the Autobahn try to catch a glimpse of the flashing-by graffiti. They were spread over the inside of bridge piers, acoustic baffles or on the back of direction signs. Barely being able to read, I tried to generate some sense out of the few and cryptic letters – yet remaining clueless. I remember asking my parents what these colorful letters were. I do not remember the exact answer. It in- cluded something with “young people”. I do though remember my follow-up question: “And why?” Roughly summarized, graffiti as it is known today started at the end of the 1960s in Philadelphia and developed itself during the 1970s in New York. Children and teenagers gave themselves pseudonyms consisting of names and of numbers representing themselves and their neighborhood. They spread their code names illegally throughout the city, painting them onto any sufficient kind of surface, later particularly on and in subway trains. Fifty years later, the phenomenon has become a global one. Apart from that, not much has changed. The core of illegally spreading a personalized signature, has to a large extend been preserved. How- ever, a definition of what graffiti is, has not been established. And as general, as graffiti’s core might be outlined here, many perceptions of graffiti differ from it. For now, a careful proposi- tion shall be, that graffiti is, among other things, a practice and that it differs from street art. Coming back to my developing relation to graffiti: Later, but still before actively engaging with the topic and the study of it, a recurrent motive caught my attention in the streets of Ber- lin: At first, I casually started noticing all the visualized yellow fists along the rails while sit- ting on an S-Bahn (public railway train). After a while I was actively on the lookout for them whenever I was walking Berlin’s streets. It was a nice game to play and felt like finding a lit- tle note left by an invisible friend. Whether KRIPOE, the originator of the fists thought of them as a friendly note remains unknown. In fact, his intentions are secondary to me.1 KRIPOE took the freedom to place their fists within the city and I take the freedom to subject them to my perception. Berlin is a city covered in visual expressions alike KRIPOE’s fists. I only realized to which extend they influence my perception of the city, the moment I left it. After I had moved to 1 Where the gender of an anonymous graffiti practitioner is known to the author, according articles are used. 1 Stockholm in 2018, I perplexed by how little graffiti and street art I encountered. At the same time, I reacted to the density of advertisement I saw myself confronted with at every step I took. I did not know what to make of my observations. Yet, for me they were related some- how. I was certain, that the absence of graffiti and street art and the high presence of adver- tisement were not a result of coincidence. During my studies on curating contemporary art I came across graffiti only within the scope of a course on juridical aspects to curatorial work. We discussed the case of Swedish artist NUG who as his degree project had produced a short film showing probably himself wildly smudging at least one Stockholm underground train and the juridical consequences he faced afterwards.2 Otherwise, the only time, graffiti ap- peared in a broadly related topic, was the day after Banksy shredded their work upon its sale.3 Compared to my fellow students I probably had a bigger interest in graffiti and street art. However, honestly speaking, part of why I decided to write my thesis about graffiti and street art, was that I knew my mentor was an expert in that field and that I would walk on fairly vir- gin research ground. Yet, as soon as I dived into the material, I figured that it was connected to many of my personal concerns and interests, primarily to my impression of Stockholm as a city. In the beginning I was drawn towards street art more than towards graffiti.