Project 2

“Facsimile – an exact copy”. At a practical level this project aimed to reproduce graffiti techniques and craft work but out of place – not on the streets. A series of boards were graffiti’d by writers and then installed in a public space for one month. There was no promotion of it no person attributed to it, it was there and then gone. The graffiti was a facsimile of techniques.

Palimpsests of graffiti can be seen all over cities and towns. Occasionally one can see graffiti out of place perhaps in a rural space or on a surface not usually host to graffiti. [Some argue that advertising, promotional screens and media are graffiti (c.f. “Brandalism” and “subvertising”). These fill our vision and are unavoidable and some people object strongly to their presence.]

Mostly though graffiti is of and belongs to the streets. Thinking this idea over meant taking what makes graffiti graffiti (its illegality, as vandalism) and placing it somewhere these two aspects are redundant. Does it then remain as graffiti or is it now art.

Does it still have potential to offend when not in the streets. What can be gained or lost when graffiti is out of place. The question driving this project was whether ‘ugly’ and offensive messages or visuals could provoke the same response they have in the streets.