Defacing Banksy? Understanding “Street Art Vandalism” As Local Practice

In 2006, based on a public survey expressing overwhelming support, the Bristol (UK) City Council retroactively legalized a stencil-based artwork by Banksy and has since restored it several times after it was “defaced”. Considered just another form of vandalism in the 1990s, over the past 20 years, the cultural practice and social understanding of street art has fundamentally evolved. Today, (legal) street art, promoted in countless community arts programs and festivals around the world, is popular with most urban publics. On the other hand, street art’s profound transformation has led some to critically associate it with capitalism, touristification, gentrification, and other forms of urban exclusion. Some festivals vie for rankings and reputation by prioritizing the participation of big-name international artists over the inclusion of local artists and community actors. In this contested space, certain expressions on walls are seen as “street art vandalism”, a particular type of protest graffiti.

Why is it that in some cities, some legal murals painted within festivals are “crossed” by graffiti writers as soon as they go up, while similar works in other places and cities remain largely untouched? What are graffiti writers seeking to communicate and how do festival organizers and street artists respond? What does “street art vandalism” mean in a quickly transforming urban and cultural landscape? In this talk, I draw on (ongoing) ethnographic fieldwork of street art festivals and scenes conducted in several European and North American cities. I compare findings from Montreal (Canada), St. Petersburg (USA), Vienna (Austria), Bristol and Aberdeen (UK) to highlight expressive nuances and contextual differences in the ongoing visual “conversations” enacted by various creative actors across different urban settings. Generally speaking, the paper engages with interpretive and critical theoretical concepts to investigate cultural, urban productions of meaning while emphasizing the underlying politics of place-making.