![](/img/a_5393_5404_713.jpg)
SITE OF EXPLORATION
By Peter Bengtsen
In recent years, street art has increasingly become part of mainstream culture. In 2006, the press began reporting on celebrities buying up the work first of Banksy and then other street artists, some of which in turn eventually became a sort of celebrities themselves. Since then, a steady flow of articles and news reports on the topic of street art and the inclusion of studio work from artists who were known for their work in the street in high-end auctions and museum shows have served to further fuel public interest and debate.
With this popularisation have come great opportunities for a number of artists who were previously creating unsanctioned works in the street to work on big, sanctioned projects that are often realised as part of so-called street art festivals. Such festivals have become abundant, in part due to the increasingly acceptable profile of certain types of street art which by all accounts has made getting funding and permissions for festivals easier. Among street art enthusiasts, this development has generally been received well. People seem to be happy to attend festivals and discuss large murals as street art, thereby perhaps gradually changing the way the term street art is being used.
I have no problem with street art festivals and the – often wonderful – large-scale artworks they facilitate the production of. For me, however, a big part of enjoying street art has always been the way that unsanctioned artworks on the street encourage me to pay attention to my surroundings. In my academic writing I discuss this in terms of street art’s potential to open up public space and turn it into a site of exploration.
Unlike art in a gallery or a museum, where artworks are usually served up for a set amount of time (the duration of the exhibition) for the audience to more or less effortlessly take in, discovering unsanctioned street art entails actually being on the ground, physically walking around and exploring a constantly changing cityscape. The uncertainty about how long an artwork will last also adds a sense of urgency to the experience if you happen to find it. The effort (or luck) involved in discovering unsanctioned art in the street comes with great rewards as it puts into focus the here-and-now existence of the individual in a particular space. As with public art, the experience of exploration created by unsanctioned street art is much harder to achieve with large-scale, semi-permanent murals, even if they are being described and discussed as street art.
NUART PLUS 2014
This year’s Nuart Plus program will tackle the two ends of the street art-continuum, namely “safe murals” on the one hand and street art and activism on the other.
THE TORN OFF HEAD ...
By Carlo McCormick. The Torn-Off Head Stuck in the Hatch of a Sewer Drain, or the Occupation and Negation of Public Space
SITE OF EXPLORATION
By Peter Bengtsen. Street art, murals and public space as a site of exploration
MURALS, ACTIVISM and CENSORSHIP
By Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo. MURALS, ACTIVISM and CENSORSHIP
ART IGNITES CHANGE
By RJ Rushmore. Art Ignites Change: Infiltrating the system to promote social change
TILT INTERVIEWED
French Graffiti Writer Tilt discussing this years themes.
FRA BIANCOSHOCK INTERVIEW
Italian Urban Interventionist discussing his practice and this years themes
±MAISMENOS± INTERVIEW
Portuguese artist Miguel Januário under his ±MAISMENOS± guise
MATHIEU TREMBLIN INTERVIEW
French Urban Interventionist discussing his Situationist art practice, graffiti and more.
FIGHT CLUB
The legendary fight club returns with a lively Activism V's Muralism debate going on down the local pub.
THURS 04.09: FIGHT CLUB
Muralism or Activism: Academics meet pop cultural critics and the public in an environment of heated debate lubricated by alcohol.
FRI 05.09: BEAUTY IS IN THE STREETS. MURALISM
First day of our international Street Art symposium focuses on the rise and rise of Muralism.
FRI 05.09: CIDADE CINZA
Marcelo Mesquita and Guilherme Valiengo meet Os Gemeos and other Sao Paulo graffiti artists who are celebrated everywhere except in their home town.
FRI 05.09: BSA FILM FRIDAY LIVE
Brooklyn Street Art's Steve and Jaime introduce us to a "live" version of their renowned Film Friday series.
SAT 06.09: STREET ART AND ACTIVISM
Day 2 takes a more revolutionary twist and looks at protest and activism's place in Street Arts future.
SAT 06.09: WORKSHOP WITH ICY & SOT
Join Icy and Sot in this in-depth and practical look at creating Stencil Art.
SAT 06.09: CIDADE CINZA
Marcelo Mesquita and Guilherme Valiengo meet Os Gemeos and other Sao Paulo graffiti artists who are celebrated everywhere except in their home town.
SUN 07.09: STREETART TOUR
Join Nuart's first annual street art tour and be amongst the first to experience this years fresh street works.
CARLO MCCORMICK (US)
World renowned pop cultural critic and author
JAIME AND STEVE FROM BSA (US)
Authors, Bloggers and Founders of Brooklyn Street Art
EIRIK SJÅHOLM KNUDSEN (NO)
Respected scholar and champion of Street Art