Comment 31450

By Meredith (registered) - website | Posted June 01, 2009 at 20:16:01

A few months back, I accidentally attended a meeting that also showed that same video ... but the promoter of that one went way off-topic ranting about the Alberta tar sands and capitalist swine... and then I left.

Regardless, the video itself is inspiring - I especially like how they worked with the design of the neighbourhoods as they were built - something we could learn from here.

As has already been mentioned, tagging and graffiti are in completely different spheres.

I doubt that providing more public space will do anything about tagging. At least tagging is fairly easy to get rid of.. if it's consistently cleaned up within a day, taggers will almost invariably move on to an easier location.

Would more public space for art help reduce tagging? I seriously doubt it. Most graffiti artists I know have painted in space without permission... but the better the quality of their art, the more venues they have found, created, networked with or obtained permission from to do it legitimately: from basements to warehouses to churches to walls to businesses to sheds in the suburbs. It's not uncommon for those artists to use other mediums or have art-related careers.

What frustrates me about projects like Gibson's in Montreal is that they're have great results for a very low investment - boosting image, creating interest, beautifying environment... and they're ridiculously hard to do going through the "proper" channels.

When one can get something like was done in Portland going, the impact can be enormous and work backward, but it's fundamentally different in its relative lack of anonymity, the gathering/affinity of various people, not painting done covertly in the night alone.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose... being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy." - G.B. Shaw

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