BSA Goes to Madrid

A week on the street – and 3 days on stage with Urvanity 2019

As refugees from institutionalized dogma we’ve never felt a need to align our thinking about art on the streets with any one perspective regarding the various sets of “rules” that are set forth about graffiti, street art, and fine art, and their various intersections with the Internet, the commercial art world, urban dialogues, anthropology, sociology, legality, illegality, institutional embrace, patronage… unless you can make an appealing argument that rings true.

BSA Talks intends to provide a forum for multiple voices wherever it appears, opening the conversation about where these grassroots art movements came from, how they developed and merged, how they have retained their individual character or became aligned with more established aspects of the culture on their route from being strictly part of a subculture.

At this year’s edition of Urvanity we are pleased to invite some scholars, artists, producers, cultural curators, free thinkers and disruptive rebels to the table, to the stage, to the discussion of ideas. We are calling this edition of BSA TALKS in Madrid “How Deep Is the Street”, and we invite you to come and see the presentations and discussions and ask your own questions about this exciting, vibrating, shape-shifting, and evolving people’s art movement at this moment; locally and globally.

Agnostic as ever, we may not become believers, but we won’t try to force you to become one either. Welcome!

How deep is the street?

“When you talk about Street Art, Urban Art, Graffiti, and Urban Contemporary, there is much more than what you can see on the surface. For this years edition of Urvanity we present the “BSA Talks”, a lively and opinionated series of talks that are curated and hosted by the founders of the influential art blog BrooklynStreetArt who created an entertaining program that reflects and investigates the complexity of a half century of artists working on the streets – and the hot topics that deeply affect the scene today.

Hacktivism, Intellectual Property, Place Making, Urban Planning, legal/illegal DIY escapades and large scale collaborative public projects – These are all within the scope of this massive movement and are shaping the future. Come join us, talk with and listen to artists, professionals, academics, and thinkers who are studying and pivotal in the formation of this global grassroots art scene. Let’s see how deep it goes!”

FRIDAY MARCH 1st.

4.30pm-5:25pm – Denis Hegic – The Intelligence of Many

“Street culture and digital technologies continue to flatten hierarchies in the art world. Art, Activism, and evolving models of Collaborative Creation are all converging toward a new way of working. Disciplines more easily melt together, why not collaborative works of exhibitions, performance, and engagement. The concept of The Intelligence of Many provides insight into opportunities (and possible dangers) for new truly D.I.Y. energy as applied to art and culture movements.”

6.00pm-6:55pm – Fernando Figueroa – How Graffiti Speaks to Society as a Humanity Barometer

Graffiti and Street Art can act as a social barometer; an emotional and ethical reflection of a neighborhood, a community, and a city. But how can you decode it? Urban art and its myriad expressions are intrinsically red to real or figurative space and time and can act as an alarm system, a stress valve, or a request to change. Come hear Dr. Fernando Figueroa as he shows us that graffiti is alive, insisting on opening awareness, taking action and ultimately giving voice to individual expression.

7.20pm-8:45pm – Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Okuda San Miguel, Oscar Sanz – BSA Film Friday Presents ‘Equilibri’

BSA Film Friday presents the Madrid premiere of “Equilibri”, the documentary directed by Batiste Miguel about Okuda San Miguel’s intervention at the Fallas in Valencia. The new film presents his piece as it re-interprets the historical celebration and illustrates a harmony between tradition, modernity and New Contemporary Art. Join Steve and Jaime as they welcome Oscar Sanz and the protagonist of this incredible event, artist Okuda San Miguel.

Saturday March 2nd.

1.00pm-2.15pm – Juan Bautista Peiró y Sergio Pardo – Planning Urban Art Manifestations to Dialogue with the City

The proliferation of so-called Street Art mural festivals in the last 10 years has certainly added color to our cities, but has it created a dialogue with them?
Can we thoughtfully program works that respond to the rhythm of a city, cognizant of its systems, in concert with its various populations? What is “creative placemaking” and how does one get permissions from all the parties affected by complex works. Why is it important to see Urban Art in a broader light beyond murals on walls? What should be the scope of public art nowadays in our communities and how to be able to achieve that? Join these two professionals in the fields of Urban Art / Public Art to hear about making art that steps outside the mural tradition and creates a dialogue within the city.

4.00pm-3.55pm – Jan Kaláb Urban Art and Inclusivity

Whether it’s illegal graffiti on trains and streets or studio-based artist collectives who create new events together, the creative process open thrives on collaboration. A multi-disciplinary artist, Jan Kaláb shows you why, working solo or collectively, his motto is the same: always get higher. Whether it is the inventive soul of graffiti or the organic lines of his geometric sculpture and painting; Urban Art is about nurturing inclusivity.

5.30pm – 6.25pm Alberto González Pulido – Art, Intellectual Property, and Censorship

The Gag Law reaches into areas many could not have imagined, including the practice of art as speech and its intersection with the public sphere. Join artist and arts professional Alberto González Pulido as he speaks about censorship and another important topic for artists, intellectual property.

7.00pm – 7.55pm – Sabina Chagina – How I Co-built an Urban Art Biennale in Moscow

A leading curator in the Street Art scene in Russia, Sabina Chagina talks about the stages of development she had to foster to launch ARTMOSSPHERE, the first Biennale of Street Art and urban culture in the country, now presented in its third edition in 2018. A rewarding and challenging series of programs built the road there and she’ll speak about how it is changing conversations about Street Art, murals, and Contemporary Art in Moscow..

Sunday March 3rd.

1.00pm – 2:15pm Susan Hansen & Bill Posters – Take Over : Urban Art and Creative Activism

From hacking public space to subvertising to collaborative interventions, the street practices of Creative Activism are anything but rote, especially when there is a message to convey or a story to tell. What role does activism play in a time of social-political-psychological upheaval and who gets to have the last word?

16.00-17.15 Pascal Feucher + Dan Witz – Urban Art and Residencies: The Importance of Nurturing Artists and the Creative Process

From traditions born in the age of the apprentice, art residencies have been a valuable step in the developing, broadening, and advancing of fine artists (and sometimes curators) for years. Graffiti writers and Street Artists open come with a different worldview entirely. Is there a model for nurturance of D.I.Y. outlaws?

For a complete schedule of events, dates and times click HERE

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