Browsing by Subject "luova kaupunki"

This thesis combines anthropology and urban studies theories to discuss and analyse the ambivalent position of urban art in London. The thesis focuses especially on the social elements of street art and graffiti and the various relationships the artworks create and enable in the urban environment. It is also discussed how dominant cultural policies have affected urban art practises and how this all reflects the contemporary urban trends and issues in London. The questions asked in this thesis is what kind of social relationships do street art and graffiti create and how do these relationships connect to the increasingly privatised and controlled public space and place in urban environment? In relation to that, it is also asked whether the current cultural policies in the city are changing street art and graffiti practises from a free expression to the public to a tool that is used for economic profit? The data for the thesis was gathered during two months of ethnographic fieldwork in London. The main methods were semi-structured interviews and observation, and the fieldwork also included participation observation and walk and talk ethnography. The thesis focuses primarily on the views of people practising street art or graffiti, which is why majority of the interviewees were artists. The first analysis chapter of the thesis employs Alfred Gell’s anthropological theory of art and the focus is on specific urban street art and graffiti works and the relationships in their proximity. The second analysis chapter discusses the social relationships on a slightly broader scale while going deeper on the unique aspects of London street art and graffiti scene. The last analysis chapter discusses the topic on the widest scale and elucidates urban art’s position in relation to major urban trends in London, such as dominant cultural policies and the use and potential of public spaces in the city. The aim of this thesis is to present and analyse urban art as a social phenomenon and analyse the various social relationships street art and graffiti enable and create in the increasingly privatised urban environment. The other main point is to discuss the increasing popularity of urban art and concurrent cultural policies and whether it is changing the phenomenon in a way that the original rebellious nature of urban art would disappear and turn into a commercial practise. Based on the fieldwork and earlier research done on the subject, the concurrent cultural policies have not affected street art and graffiti in a way that they would be shifting into a realm of commercialism. The reason behind this is that the policies employed by actors that are using street art for economic benefits conflict with the major ideological aspects of the urban art practises. Rather, the urban art scene has both extended and divided in a way that different urban artworks can have contradictory motivations and agendas behind them.