FRI 7 KL1000-1700. NUART PLUS SEMINAR - DAY 1 TOU SCENE

Eminent geographer Yi-Fu Tuan in his seminal Space and Place (1977) defined place as ‘security’ and space as ‘freedom.’ We are attached to one and long for the other, and perhaps this is what makes Nuart a ‘festival’, providing the security of place whilst offering the freedom of space. It was with this in mind that earlier in the year we decided – in spite of the funding cuts and ongoing campaigns to regulate access to public space – to invite more artists than ever before – twice as many in fact – to organise the disorganisation of the festival and offer the opportunity of greater freedom, of greater space, for artists to move through and work in.

Day 1 of the Nuart Plus symposium explores the theme of Space: from the slippage and synergy between material and virtual spaces, as critical spaces of resistance and creativity, to the curatorial strategies and ways of organising that can help provide the conditions for exploring points of resistance within sanctioned and unsanctioned street art practice.

10·00–10·10 Welcome and introduction
by Nuart Plus host Dr. Susan Hansen, Middlesex University

10·10–10·40 Keeping On: There is no alternative, let’s look for one
Keynote speech by Professor Mike Watson, John Cabot University 

It will be here argued that the abstraction of the social whole, led by the fragmented, disorienting and breakneck nature of digital media needs to be engaged in head-on such that a new order may emerge from the conflicting messages generated by memes, live streaming, video gaming, social media and IM. To some extent this seems to already be happening, as one can see in the output of Indie games such as ‘There is a Genie in my Szechuan sauce’, or in the YouTube series ‘Don’t Hug me I’m Scared’, which engage with the nihilistic uncertainty of our times. In this sense the millennial generation might be described as Adornian, in that rather than seek sense, they hope that the abstraction of creative endeavor, might throw into question the abstraction of the social whole. Adorno taught us that in a society without meaning or scruples, art had become almost impossible, but that we should carry on making it regardless. Adorno likely would have been highly critical of millennial culture, yet such a path may be the only antidote to the intensely held feeling that ‘there is no alternative’.

10·40–11·00 Snitches, Glitches and Untold Riches: graffiti and street art on Instagram
Presentation by Dr Lachlan MacDowell, University of Melbourne

This talk presents some findings from a research project that uses more than 23 million pieces of public data from the digital platform Instagram to map the global institutionalisation of graffiti and street art. The result is the most comprehensive empirical study yet of the intertwined global fields of graffiti and street art, making visible its key players, institutions and patterns of taste. However, the clash of spray paint and data raises as many questions as it answers. This talk addresses the anomalies and curiosities that arose through the research, particularly the bad behavior (snitches), censorship (glitches) and economic reality (untold riches) that also form part of the story. Who are streets art’s aristocrats?  What happens when Subway Art meets Moneyball? From Banksy and Os Gemeos, to Sainer and Sofles, what can this data tell us about the trajectories of graffiti and street art in the Instagram Era?

11·00–11·20 Comfort break

11·20–11·40 Navigating the “Post-Street Art" Milieu
Presentation by the artist Vlady (IT)

Vlady is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work ranges from huge outdoor interventions to minimal installations and street performance to conceptual texts, most of which take place (illegally) on the streets. His spontaneous, humorous and critical approach towards society and situations places him alongside the likes of Biancoshock as one of the leading Italian names active in this particular branch of public art. Over the years his style and the nature of his interventions have changed and having initially circumnavigated the world of Street Art Vlady finds himself having landed on its edge, or the “Post-Street Art” milieu as he puts it.

11·40–12·20 Panel debate: Art Memes
Discussion led by: Evan Pricco (Managing Editor of Juxtapoz Magazine)
Panel: Professor Mike Watson, Dr Lachlan MacDowell and Vlady

This panel explores the synergy between material and virtual spaces. Has the internet ‘institutionalised’ street art? How is street art being shaped by social media? Has it been infiltrated by codes and images from troll and meme cultures? As Lachlan MacDowall recently asked, How, under the new conditions of heavily mediatised streets, do we understand street art’s alignment with the right or alt-right, for example in controversies about the anti-semitism of a mural by Mear One, Lush’s embroilment in troll and meme cultures or LA artist Sabo, dubbed ‘the rightwing Banksy’?

12·20–13·10 Lunch

13·10–13·40 Disrupting Space, From The Artist´s Perspective
Artist presentations by Alice Pasquini (IT) and Carrie Reichardt (UK)

13·40–14·00 Curating Space
Q&A with Evan Pricco

Evan Pricco, Editor-in-Chief of the world’s leading international contemporary art magazine, Juxtapoz, discusses his role in making art accessible and challenging. Juztapoz is a radical space, where contemporary art meets alternative culture. In an era where print-based publications are fading, Juxtapoz continues to attract and provoke both virtual and print-based audiences, and to combine urban and alternative forms of art with more conventional expressions.

14·00–14·30 Panel debate: From The Margins To The Mainstream
Discussion led by: Dr. Susan Hansen
Panel: Alice Pasquini, Carrie Reichardt and Evan Pricco

This panel explores the challenges inherent in working at the margins of the alternative and the popular. Can aesthetically pleasing work retain a critical edge? How can we carve out spaces of resistance and creativity?

14·30–14·45 Comfort break

14·45–15·30 Norwegian Street Art Practice
Presentations by Viktor Gjengaar (Director of Urban Samtidskunst in Oslo), Arne Vilhelm Tellefsen (Curator of KRS Gadekunstlaug in Kristiansand) and Eric Ness Christiansen (Graffiti artist, curator of UGANGprosjektet in Drammen)

Graffiti and street art have become significant artistic movements in Norway and around the world. Practices such as graffiti and street art disrupt the traditional processes of art curation that have dominated how art is displayed, enjoyed, and consumed. 

Curatorial aspects of street art are complex and involve not just artists and galleries but a far more diverse network of interests than is typically seen with other contemporary art movements. Because street art exists in public space, curation also includes urban planners, policy-makers, law enforcement, and cultural institutions and may be undertaken by artists themselves working in the city or enacted through urban policies, street art galleries, festivals, and through cultural heritage and preservation mechanisms by municipalities or other institutions. 

Street art curatorial practices are well developed in different Norwegian cities, from Stavanger’s Nuart Festival to Bergen’s self-organised street art practitioners to Oslo’s new Street Art Action Plan. Norway is thus an interesting case to explore the different modes of street art curation that have not been fully explored or discussed elsewhere.

15·30–16·15 Panel debate: Public/Private
Discussion led by: Dr. Susan Hansen
Panel: Viktor Gjengaar, Arne Villhelmsen and Eric Ness Christiansen

The aim of this panel is to facilitate a discussion on the challenges and opportunities faced by street art curators and artist-practitioners in Norway, and different modes of working with an art form that is, by its nature, resistant to order. The panel hopes to address a number of issues, asking how street art can be curated, how it is being done in Norway, and exploring the points of resistance.

16·30–17·00 Nuart Journal Launch. Issue 1

Nuart Journal is a forum for critical discourse and commentary on urban art cultures and street art practice. This inaugural issue marks a pivot point in the development of what could be termed a ‘critical street art’.

Nuart Journal publishes traditional academic articles as well as making space for experimental and visual essays. The journal is divided into three sections. In Section I, our academic articles deal with some of the most pressing practical and conceptual issues facing those working with urban art cultures and street art practice. In Section II, our experimental and visual essays provide a powerful aesthetic break from the more traditional papers of section I. Articles in this section are designed to unsettle, delight, and provoke – and to provide a space for less conventional modes of thought. Section III contains interviews and talks from leading artists, curators, and thinkers.

• PROGRAM 2019
• PROGRAM 2018
• PROGRAM 2017
• PROGRAM 2016
• PROGRAM 2015
• PROGRAM 2014
• PROGRAM 2013
• PROGRAM 2012