Negotiating spatial politics: Site-responsive urban art images in mainland China

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, growing urbanization has led to the rise of new forms, needs and sites for visual self-expression in urban public space in mainland China. Drawing on periods of intensive fieldwork in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong since 2006, this article suggests a new approach for examining the spatial politics of urban art images in China based on the concept of ‘site responsiveness’. Inspired by discussions on site-specific and site-oriented art and street art, this article aims to clarify the importance of both aesthetic analysis and comparative contextualization of urban art images in relation to (1) the reciprocal relationship between the urban art images and the site, and (2) international developments in the discourses on ‘graffiti’ and ‘street art’. This dual approach provides a starting point for a comprehensive sociospatial interpretation of the visual phenomenon in China while challenging the unproblematized use of the concept of graffiti in existing studies and offering two umbrella concepts – urban art images and creator of urban art images – to facilitate more nuanced research. By examining actions of visual self-expression at the grass-roots level, this article brings attention to an often neglected but crucial perspective to discussions of the city as a living organism and to the interrelations between art and urbanization.

Writing on the Wall: Street Art in Graffiti‐free Singapore

“…Since a Greek‐American teenager named Demetrius first tagged his code‐name ‘TAKI 183’ on streets, trains and subway stations in the late‐1960s (Castleman, ), graffiti has been criticized as a ‘public nuisance’ and ‘urban epidemic’ in cities like New York and Philadelphia, and increasingly throughout the Western world (Ley and Cybriwsky, : 491). As an umbrella term, graffiti refers to any unsolicited urban inscription in the form of ‘tags’ (signatures), ‘throw ups’ (tags with bubble‐shaped letters) and ‘pieces’ (‘masterpieces’; larger and more complex works) most often using markers and aerosol sprays, with the earliest to be found on trains (Ferrell, 1998; Dickens, ; Valjakka, ). Done by individual writers or ‘crews’ (groups), graffiti has been described as rebellious vandalism, an outlet for creative expression, a claim on space and, for some, a way to assert their autonomy from dominant social groups particularly the state (Kramer, ).…”

“…The Chongqing example raises questions over what is graffiti and what is street art, and who decides. Valjakka (: 258) contends that what we see in Chongqing is not true graffiti because it involves mostly art students, has no connection to local writers/artists, and the works were vetted by city officials. Instead the whole exercise is about ‘keeping up appearances of the city officials’, and testimony of a state's ability to mobilize the masses.…”

Street Graffiti and Residents’ Attitude: Izmir City

“…Graffiti is a guerrilla movement that targets to communicate directly with the community about some themes and it has its own social rules, jargon and ethical rules like one shall not paint on others' work (Atione, 2016;Claes & Vande Moere, 2017). It is known that street artists can express their art and sign with their tags in their streets or regions to develop their career and publicise solo (one), in groups (crew) or in gangs (Atione, 2016;Ley & Cybriwsky, 1974;Valjakka, 2015).…”

Urban revolution and Chinese contemporary art: A total revolution of the senses

“… 68. Cf. Minna Valjakka, Negotiating spatial politics: Site-responsive urban art images in mainland China, China Information 29(2), 2015: 253–81. …”