(De)Facing the Wall. The Traditions, Transactions and Transgressions of Street Art
Exploring the shifting ground of the relationship between street art and transgression, this article analyses the dislocation of street art from its traditional geographies of deviance and, in the era of advanced commodity culture, investigates the possibilities for understanding this
art form as a socially engaged spatial practice. Embedding contemporary street art in the artistic practices of Surrealism and Situationism, the article traces a lineage of graffiti's associations with protest and the street through to its current manifestations within some of the world's
most established 'white cube' gallery spaces. In attempting to avoid the inevitable melancholic readings of street art as commodified sign, the paper argues for the importance of considering the locatedness of the work in any evaluation, and thus moves to read street art in correspondence
with the urban spaces in which it performs.
Keywords: 28 MILLIMETRES; BANKSY; CULTURE INDUSTRIES; DISSENSUS; GRAFFITI; JR; STREET ART; ZEVS
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 31 December 2012
The Irish Journal of French Studies is an annual international refereed journal published by the Association des Études Françaises et Francophones d'Irlande. Articles in English, French or Irish are welcomed on any aspect of research in the area of French and Francophone culture, society, literature and thought. All articles are freely available online.
Please note that the Print ISSN listed for the journal on this website applies to volumes 1 to 10, and part of volume 16. All other volumes are published, in their entirety, on-line only.
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