This week BSA is in Mexico City in collaboration with Urban Nation Museum of Urban Contemporary Art (UN) to see what is steering the scene on the street, meet artists, visit artist compounds, museums, galleries, and studios – and of course to capture the wild and dynamic Street Art and graffiti scene here. Where Mexico City goes in art and culture makes big waves elsewhere in Latin America, and its Street Art scene has been quickly evolving in the last decade. Join us as we investigate the character and players in this modern/traditional city of more than 21 million people.
Mexico City this week was full of graffiti tags, large murals oozing with character, astral techno hippie dudes, strong women, slick talkers, traffic jams, street protests, stories about the 43, couples kissing on park benches, rooftop tours, men in suits, professional ladies in really high heels, smoothly running buses, sustainable community gardens, pick-pockets, indigenous people selling crafts, police with high pitched whistles, wannabe hipsters, live rock bands, tacos, craft beer, poinsettias, quesadillas, chille rellenos, pulled pork, nopales, avocados, tortas, Frida Kahlo, babies, Bohemia, marijuana smoke, and ultimately, Ricky Martin singing for hundreds of thousands of people free in the Zócalo.
We’ll catch you up on on the details soon.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Arty & Chickle, Blu, Curiot, DFace, El Mac, Erica Ilcane, Escif, Herakut, Interesni Kazki, Maria Guardado, Retna, ROA, Saner, and Sego.
Portrait of Maria Guardado, a social activist and poet from Guatemala. Ms. Guardado was tortured and killed by the Guatemalan army during the bloody civil war in 1980.
Brooklyn’s own FUTURA just visited Mexico City and here we have a few pics of him working on a new wall there. The graff master and abstract fine artist has reached such celebrity status that just showing up and being his humble charming self makes a lot of people in the graffiti and Street Art scene really happy. When he collaborates on a project with cans, as he did here with Mexican artist XGutetto 666 (from Da Flow Team) it’s even better.
As organizers of the collaboration, the peeps at All City Canvas asked FUTURA to create a piece for their new project called Global Series. They tell BSA, “We were stoked to have landed such a legend for this project.” We are most appreciative for these exclusive few pics for BSA readers.
VOLUNTEER TODAY AND THIS WEEKEND – RESOURCES AVAILABLE
Happy Friday Everyone!
This is not a typical Friday and not very fun in New York and for much of the east coast as we continue to grapple with the results of the storm called Sandy. New Yorkers always help each other get back on our feet and this time it is again heartening to see so many people volunteering and doing what they can to bring this city back. Our art listings this week take a 2nd place to our listings for places you can go to get help, and things you can do to volunteer.
LOOK FOR THE FULL LIST OF ART EVENTS AFTER THESE VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES.
Donate Storm Supplies: Donate extra food, water, and batteries to local shelters and food banks. Search here to find a food bank near you.
Volunteer in Local Shelters: Contact shelters directly for volunteer needs. Find your local emergency shelter location here: http://gis.nyc.gov/oem/he/index.html.
Volunteering The Mayor’s Office has stated that the best way to find out how to volunteer is to register with NYCService.org and you will get notified of opportunities. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook
Red Hook Initiative is seeking donations at 767 Hicks Street (at West 9th) “Please bring donations of food, flashlights, candles, water pumps, generators. Many buildings in the neighborhood will likely not have power for the next 4-5 days.” For more information call, (347) 770-1528 or email redhookrecovers@gmail.com
Clean up at BWAC / Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Red Hook on November 3rd & 4th: “This Saturday and Sunday we hope to clean out all the trash and debris. This includes much of the sheet rock as well as anything destroyed. If anyone has a portable generator, long extension cords, or work lights, we would like to borrow them. Anyone and everyone is needed for this effort. We will be starting at 10AM on Saturday. RSVP/questions: bwacinfo@aol.com”
The MoMA and PS1 curator Klaus Biesenbach is helping to organize relief efforts in the Rockaways Saturday: http://bit.ly/WcFgWD Biesenbach plans to meet volunteers outside the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research building at 4 West 54th Street at 10am on Saturday, and then will drive people and supplies out to the Rockaways.
Donate to families in the Rockaways now-Sat. Nov.3rd 9:30-11am. El Puente is collecting donations of clothing/supplies/nonperishable food for affected families in the Rockaways, now through Saturday. Drop-off location: El Puente Headquarters, 211 South 4th St. (@Roebling) in Williamsburg BK 11211
Donate clothing and food items in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn today Nov. 2. The Arab American Association of NY is collecting clothing and food items for donation. “All clothing donations should be washed & all food items must be sealed. We will deliver items to three Brooklyn shelters – Brooklyn Armory, FDR High School, and the Caton School” Please drop off items to 7111 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 between 10am-6pm today until 2pm Friday, November 2ed. Contact: faiza.aaany@gmail.com
Help cleanup New York City Parkshttp://on.nyc.gov/Pp0v3n to volunteer in our parks this weekend. Help clean up Prospect Park Nov. 2ed, 3ed, 4th: Volunteer with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation to aid in the cleanup and recovery of Prospect Park this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (11/2 – 11/4), clickthis link to sign up.
The American Red Cross
Red Cross: The Red Cross is seeking volunteers over 16 and who are able to lift 50 pounds and comfortable working in stressful situations. Email them at staffing@nyredcross.org
Give Blood – Hurricane Sandy has caused the cancellation of 100 blood drives in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, a shortfall of 3,200 blood and platelet donations that would otherwise be available for those needing transfusions.
Volunteer at a Hurricane Sandy Shelter – The American Red Cross is specifically seeking individuals over 16 years of age that can carry 50 lbs to volunteer at local New York Red Cross Shelters.
Donate Money – You can choose to donate money to the Red Cross Disaster Relief by visiting their website or texting REDCROSS to 90999.
AmeriCares
Donate Money – AmeriCares delivers medicines and medical supplies to disaster areas, and as of yesterday was deploying a mobile medical unit to affected areas in Connecticut.
The Salvation Army
Donate Money – The Salvation Army is currently on the ground in New Jersey helping with relief efforts, according to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Food Bank for New York
Donate Money – The Food Bank for New York provides food and emergency meals to New Yorkers, and as of last night was planning to continue distribution on Tuesday. You can donate money by simply texting FBNYC to 50555. If you wish to volunteer, check with and contact your neighborhood pantry or kitchen via the Food Bank for New York’s website.
The ASPCA
Donate Money – The ASPCA will assist and rescue the thousands of animals affected by Hurricane Sandy.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) takes donations to rescue and shelter animals affected by the storm. According to spokesperson Emily Schneider, the group’s efforts are currently focused in the New York City area, where nearly 240 animals are staying with their owners in pet-friendly Red Cross shelters. The ASPCA is also setting up a distribution center in Syracuse, New York with 4,000 sheltering units, which contain pet food, crates, food bowls, toys, and anything else an animal may need. They’re also standing with water rescue units should they be called.
The Humane Society of the United States
Report – The HSUS has a 24-hour hotline for New York evacuees to report pets that were left behind. The number is 347-573-1561.
The Bowery Mission Has Current Needs
Financial donations — They are serving three times as many as normal, and will need to restock food and resources once we have power.
Help provide food for 200 people at a time (make and/or get and drop off at the Mission – 227 Bowery)
Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drop them off
Trays of cooked food, ready to be served
Large amounts of Gatorade and Iced Tea – Currently only serving water
Gasoline for generators that are providing emergency power — Please deliver to 227 Bowery (at Prince Street), 45-51 Avenue D (between 4th and 5th Streets), or our Administrative Headquarters at 132 Madison Ave. (Madison & 31 St).
Blankets at The Bowery Mission Transitional Center — Please deliver to 45-51 Avenue D (between 4th and 5th Streets) or our Administrative Headquarters at 132 Madison Ave. (Madison & 31 St).
Sweatshirts, Large and XL coats and hoodies, men’s jeans and boots, at The Bowery Mission — Please deliver to 227 Bowery (at Prince Street) or our Administrative Headquarters at 132 Madison Ave. (Madison & 31 St).
Pantry items such as sugar, oatmeal, coffee, rice, potatoes — Please deliver to 227 Bowery (at Prince Street) or our Administrative Headquarters at 132 Madison Ave. (Madison & 31 St).
For those who want to send other kinds of help, the American Red Cross collects funds and coordinates blood donations. The organization sheltered more than 3,000 people across nine states during the worst of the storm. You can donate $10 by phone by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999.
The United Way has created a regional fund for communities hit by Sandy. They’re asking for donations at uwsandyrecovery.org. Donors can also give $10 by texting RECOVERY to 52000.
Volunteers in New Jersey are being coordinated through an emergency response hotline, 1-800-JERSEY-7 (1-800-537-7397). Alternate numbers, for when the hotline isn’t staffed, include 609-775-5236 and 908-303-0471 or emails can be sent to Rowena.Madden@sos.state.nj.us.
1. New York Kings at Pure Evil (London)
2.”Stikman 20.1″ Opens in Philadelphia Tonight
3. EVOK “Ordinary Things” in Detroit
4. “Four” Group Show at Loft F (Boston)
5. Dale Grimshaw’s”Moreish” Signal Gallery in London
6. ARD*POP-UP 2012 Festival in Oslo, Norway
7. Unruly Gallery in Amsterdam showing Finland’s Graffiti Artist EGS
8. JonOne solo show “Beautiful Madness” at Fabien Castanier in Studio City, CA
9. All City Canvas: The Short Film (VIDEO)
10. Chris Dyer in Montreal (VIDEO)
New York Kings at Pure Evil (London)
“New York Kings” is the title of the new group exhibition at the Pure Evil Gallery in London featuring COPE2, INDIE 184, BLADE, STAY HIGH 149, SEN2, FUZZ ONE, POEM, BOM5, RD 357, DECK, and EASY & JOZ . In London for the first time in over a decade, a unique exhibition of the godfathers of graffiti art using new york subway maps as their canvas to tell their 30 year story while remaining true to their roots. this is a rare opportunity to see examples of a genre that is often temporary by its very nature.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Stikman 20.1” Opens in Philadelphia Tonight
Enigmatic Street Artist STIKMAN has a solo show titled “Stikman 20.1” opening today at the Stupid Easy Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. You might not see him if you to the opening but you sure will see his vast artistic output on display. For 20 years Stikman has been putting his art on the streets based on this one character presented in so many different ways and situations, with humor, wit and poignancy – more recently they have appeared with a lot of Mondrian influences. Most people never tire of discovering these rigid little fellers as they turn a corner, look up a sign post, cross a street, admire an architectural detail on a building.
For further information regarding this show click here.
REVOK “Ordinary Things” in Detroit
REVOK is a son of Detroit and the Library Street Collective Gallery is welcoming him with a solo show titled “Ordinary Things” opening tonight. The things may be ordinary, but what he makes with them are not. Assembling and fashioning found objects and materials he shows a fastidious attention to detail and an acute sense of balance, harmony and color.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Four” Group Show at Loft F (Boston)
Unveiling his new portrait of a certain candidate in Tuesday’s race, Dave Tree is showing in a group show titled “Four” at the Loft F Gallery in Boston, MA. This show opens today.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Also Happening this weekend:
Dale Grimshaw‘s show “Moreish” is now open to the general public at the Signal Gallery in London, UK. Click here for more details on this show.
ARD*POP-UP 2012 Festival in Oslo, Norway is now underway until Sunday Nov. 04 with the participation of renowned Street Artists including: CODEROCK (NOR), M-CITY (POL), PHLEGM (UK), PEZ (SPA), KENOR (SPA), ZOSEN(SPA), CHANOIR (FRA), GALO (BRA), SUB LUNA (ISL), ACHOE (NOR), MARTIN WHATSON (NOR) and DOT DOT DOT (NOR). Click here for more details on this festival.
Unruly Gallery in Amsterdam, The Netherlands is showing Finland’s Graffiti Artist EGS in a solo show with works on paper and sculptures. This show is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.
JonOne solo show “Beautiful Madness” at the Fabien Castanier Gallery in Studio City, CA opens tomorrow. Click here for more details on this show.
Globetrotting the Man-Made World, Listening to the Natural One
It’s sort of unprecedented to see how far ROA has gone this year, and how much work he has done. When people say that well-worn phrase “catching up with _____”, in his case you’d be out of breath. Here is a Street Artist who has very effectively escaped the street, an introvert traveling quietly in the extroverted world, with open eyes and an acute talent for observation; decoding the universe through study of the natural, and unnatural.
Today we debut new images taken by ROA from his travels in 2012 to three continents, leaving his footprints in the soil in villages and towns, studying creatures and the humans around them. As soon as he arrives at his host country he shakes hands of the people and smiles and sets his mind to observe his surroundings, taking interest in what roams free on the ground. He asks about available walls and when possible he selects a perfect one – the more imperfect the wall somehow the more perfect for him. From there it’s a simpler matter of immortalizing the critters and creatures that are all around and usually overlooked.
ROA here gives BSA readers these exclusive images of his travels to Cambodia, The Gambia, and Mexico with some of his observations, and we thank him.
MEXICO
In his second trip to Mexico City, ROA powerfully depicted struggle that commands attention across a large wall. “The snake with rats in her tail strangled. And as Jaime knows, the snake is very important for the pre-hispanic culture in Mexico,” says ROA.
“Cholula is legendary known for the 365 churches to celebrate every day another saint,” ROA says in reference to this city in Puebla. Legendary is the right word, as there are actually only about 160 chapels in the town and surrounding haciendas, but the powerful influence of the Catholic Church here may account for the impression that there is one for each day of the year.
“This was my second visit to the Makasutu Forest, The Gambia,” ROA explains as he describes getting his camera and computer stolen after his last trip – where many of the photos from that trip were lost. Thankfully he had retained some of his images from that trip, and here they are. “The choice of the animals was mostly inspired by the moment; I would walk there and see a beatle, toad, lizard, .. and just paint it. The mosquito is the insect that has the biggest impact on the people’s daily conditions and health,” he says.
Here on the invitation of TheSk8Room (Bruxelles) ROA also gave some workshops to local youth, and had the opportunity to create something special for the tower of a school in Phnom Peng called Pour un sourire d’enfant (PSE).
“Because we spent time in the jungle near Vietnam two days before, I chose to paint a firefly. After sunset we hiked up the hill and we got to see hundreds of them in the middle of the tropics. Magical!” , he exclaims. He says that the firefly is important because light pollution threatens her existence as that is the method fireflies use to communicate with one another. “They produce with their lower body a yellow/green luminescent light, and cancer researchers observing them have posited the possibility that they would could kill cancer cells. They are very magical bugs!”
“During our two days stay in the forest we visited Kep,” says ROA remembering his time in the small town near Vietnam. “It once functioned as the “French Riviera” of Cambodia, and you can see this in the villas they left behind, evidence of the former wealth of the area.” Unfortunately, many of the villas were destroyed during the time of the Khmer Rouge, he says. “Nowadays they are shelters for homeless people and for roaming animals.”
Capital Soars with Huge New International Street Art Murals
An Amazing Week in DF with Interesni Kazki, El Mac, Saner, Sego, Roa, Herakut, Vhils, and Escif
Gazing out at the sweep of metropolis that is modern Mexico City, you’ll have to catch your breath once in a while. A culture known for it’s historic public murals of the 20th Century, it looks like a resurgence is at hand, but this time the muralist are international Street Artists, and the scale is soaring.
The project “All City Canvas” invited nine artists from around the world and locally to use some of Distrito Federal’s prime real estate as just that – a canvas. With cranes and rollers instead of ladders and cans, these are some of the largest works we’ve seen by some of these artists. Here’s Portugals’ Vhils on the Dolores Building near La Alameda, there’s Germany’s Herakut on the side of the oldest newspaper in Mexico El Universal, and look way up to see LA’s El Mac signature portrait on the side of the Hotel Reforma Avenue. After eleven months of work getting permission from building owners, convincing city leaders, and securing major corporate sponsors, the capital of Mexico now has a few more major public art pieces that will blow you away and the resulting collection further secures this city of 21 million as one of the growing hubs of the Street Art scene.
We spoke with the three guys who organized the festival to get an understanding of the logistics and their aspirations for the project. As organizers and innovators with ties to their own arts organizations in Mexico City, each one of these guys hustled to make it happen; Victor Hugo Celaya of ARTO, Roberto Shimizu of MUJAM, and Gonzalo Alvarez of MAMUTT. Participating artists were Interesni Kazki (Ukraine), El Mac (USA), Saner (Mexico), Sego (Mexico), Roa (Belgium), Herakut (Germany), Vhils (Portugal) and Ecif (Spain).
Brooklyn Street Art:Often Street Artists are relegated to the buildings that are abandoned and in a state of decay. In this case, your program featured work on the sides of some of the most important buildings in Mexico City. How did you get permission to do this?
Victor Hugo Celaya: Since the beginning, we wanted to offer an unique experience to the city so we took urban art to everybody – youth, businessmen, doctors, moms… In order to make a huge impact, we worked to obtain the best spots in Mexico City. Each of these buildings is seen by thousands of people each day and are all located in the city center of Mexico City. It was a difficult job, but in the end we got everything set up. The impact would not have been the same if we had painted other walls.
Brooklyn Street Art:Mexican culture has a proud tradition of public murals. How does the style of Street Art in 2012 differ from that tradition? Roberto Shimizu: Obviously the Mexican history with mural painters and our cultural background, with artists like David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera – played a big part while we were conceptualizing the project. Mexico City has the perfect moral background to invite the best urban artists in the world to intervene its walls to create huge murals. We wanted to innovate and create a new link with the past with some of the renowned urban artists of our time.
Brooklyn Street Art:Did you have difficulty persuading building owners to allow this work on their property?
Gonzalo Alvarez: It was difficult to get to the owners, since these people are important business people that don’t have “a lot of time”. Nevertheless, after a lot of work and perseverance we got to show them the project. Once we got to them, we realized they are great people who were interested in getting involved in new innovative projects for the city. At the end, all of them were very happy with the outcome of the festival.
Brooklyn Street Art:Is there a graffiti/Street Art “scene” in certain areas of D.F.? Victor Hugo Celaya: DF is one of the biggest cities in the world – the 2nd biggest, so it is a natural hub for the urban art scene. The movement is very alive at the moment and it is giving Mexican artists an opportunity to show themselves to the world. With this project we wanted to make a statement to the world, that urban art is not only for young people that live in and around big cities – it’s for everybody – doctors, politicians, business people, Moms, merchants… For example, the intervention of the W Hotel, which is located in one of the most “posh” neighborhoods in the country, was very disruptive because nobody could have imagined an urban artists painting a huge mural on the same terrace where they usually eat their lunch or have their business meetings.
Brooklyn Street Art:In the last few years we have been seeing many international Street Artists traveling to large cities around the world doing commissioned work for local festival organizers. How do these traveling artists affect the art scene in the local Mexican context?
Gonzalo Alvarez: This was also very important to us when we were conceiving “All City Canvas”. First we wanted to show young artists that if you do a good job doing what you like, you can actually earn money and travel around the world. You can take your art to other cultures and if you are good enough, you could influence someone else.
Secondly, many artists in Mexico have no money to travel to other countries, and many of their influences come from the pictures they see on the Internet. To have this world-known urban artist in Mexico City was an unique opportunity for these young artists to watch, compare and learn their techniques.
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you talk about the vibrant youth culture in Mexico City and how it responds to this kind of work? Roberto Shimizu: Yes, Mexico is a young country, and more than half of the population is under 30 years of age. We noticed how important cultural events like this are for the young people. Each day thousands of young Mexicans congregated outside of the buildings the artists were painting – they wanted to watch the work and to understand the artistic process of the artwork. Also we offered a series of conferences called WORDS and a gallery exposition called WORKS to offer different points of view of the urban art scene. What we found is that young people in Mexico are very keen to learn and participate in these kinds of projects.
Also on the other hand, the feedback from the Mexican youth is very honest and direct. If you are doing something wrong they will let you know – also they’ll let you know if you are doing something right.
ALL CITY CANVAS es un festival de arte urbano, a nivel internacional, que busca unir esfuerzos del movimiento alrededor del mundo, en un solo lugar durante una semana.
La ciudad sede, en este caso, la Ciudad de México, ofrecerá sus mejores espacios para que nueve de los artistas más reconocidos del movimiento de arte urbano intervengan espacios únicos e históricos de la ciudad.
Además, durante la semana del festival, se llevará a cabo una serie de conferencias impartidas por expertos en el tema, que ayudarán a contextualizar el trabajo que se realiza en las calles.
Finalmente, una reconocida galería de la ciudad expondrá obras de los artistas invitados y algunos otros talentos locales.
En esta primera edición de ALL CITY CANVAS, México fue seleccionado como sede del festival por ser, históricamente, un referente artístico y cultural. Este contexto histórico convierte a México en un importante punto de interés para la nueva generación de artistas que llevan años tomando las calles y los muros de las principales capitales del mundo para plasmar sus obras.
A finales de abril, los ojos del mundo estarán puestos en el corazón de la ciudad más grande del mundo y México se convertirá en uno de los focos principales de la escena del arte urbano.
El festival ALLC ITY CANVAS presentará del 30 de abril al 5 de mayo a 9 de los mejores artistas internacionales y nacionales, con amplias muestras de arte urbano, usando como lienzos algunos edificios icónicos de la Ciudad de México, creando una sinergia entre nuestras tradiciones y una nueva visión global. Es un festival inclusivo, que busca llevar el arte a superficies emblemáticas para crear murales de gran escala dentro del espacio urbano único que ofrece una de las ciudades más grandes del mundo. Así, la ciudad participará activamente, dejando un gran antecedente en la calle de lo que es el Arte Urbano en la actualidad.
Este proyecto ha sido la visión y trabajo de jóvenes mexicanos que asumieron la misión de voltear los ojos del mundo hacia México, insertándose en la historia, en un momento en el que es esencial mostrar de manera creativa y comunitaria la vitalidad, energía, magia, mezcla de razas y amor por la identidad mexicana en el espacio público. La Ciudad de México ofrece el escenario perfecto de una urbe con raíces históricas, arquitectura de gran visibilidad, ciudadanos abiertos a experiencias estéticas y una tradición artística de gran influencia.
ALL CITY CANVAS es un festival que desde su concepción ha sido inclusivo, trabajando con la autoridad, la iniciativa privada, la comunidad, con los estudiantes y los medios. Ha buscado impulsarse mostrando una cara positiva, apostando en el talento y energía del país. Es una apuesta por el arte en el espacio público, lo cual es y ha sido un concepto muy presente en la historiografía del arte en este país; en principio con tono revolucionario pero desde diferentes movimientos y con variantes en la manera de abordarlo, ha sido siempre una constante. Desde los muralistas, se tenía clara esta postura frente al arte; José Clemente Orozco se refirió así del muralismo: “La forma más desinteresada, ya que no puede ser escondida para beneficio de unos cuantos privilegiados. Es para la gente. Es para todos”.
Después del muralismo, el movimiento estudiantil de los años 60’s, en el que se manifestaba el descontento político, recurriendo a imágenes que se plasmaban en carteles, grafiti y fotografía llena de simbolismo. Movimientos artísticos conocidos como el Grupo, que a principios de los 70’s diseñaban pancartas y murales con variaciones de iconografía militante clásica para transmitir mensajes de disidencia o el No Grupo, que con imágenes populares y juegos de lenguaje criticaban el elitismo de las instituciones de arte, entre otras cosas. En el mundo, durante estos años, se gestionaba el manifesto de los Situacionistas, que se basaba en crear acontecimientos con significado que revirtiera el pre establecido por el sistema capitalista y de gobierno. En México surgió la neográfica y diversas técnicas de reproducción y transferencia de imágenes. Se organizaban happenings y trabajos muralísticos en comunidades campesinas e indígenas por el Taller de Investigación Plástica; se hacían exposiciones callejeras por parte de fotógrafos independientes como las del grupo Peyote y el de Narrativa Visual, del cual se desprendería el grupo Março con Alejandro Olmedo, Mauricio Guerrero y Sebastián, originadores de un manifesto Marxista inspirado en el Dadaísta. Todos coincidían en una postura clara ante el espacio público, ubicándolo como símbolo de democracia que planteaba cambiar el entorno diario a través del arte para poder dar un mensaje.
En los años 80’s crece el grafiti junto con algunas acciones de intervención que funcionaban como testimonios de eventualidades e inconformidades, como por ejemplo la toma del Balmori en la colonia Roma, en dónde, ante una campaña de demolición posterior al terremoto del 85, el edificio fue “tomado” al ser pintados los cristales y así evitando que fuera demolido. Esta acción marcó un momento muy importante en la regeneración urbana.
La postura del reclamo y la apropiación del espacio público con un mensaje, es algo que ha estado muy presente en la historia de la ciudad y sigue siendo actual. El festival apuesta y celebra el actuar en espacios estratégicos para establecer un diálogo entre la arquitectura, la imagen, el espacio y el observador, para así transmitir un mensaje que lleve a algún tipo de reflexión.
Con disciplina de trabajo, experimentación de técnicas y herramientas innovadoras, los artistas y sus murales nos harán dialogar y revalorar el espacio, nos mostrarán cómo un edificio se activa y transforma. Nos presentarán ideas de temas actuales a partir de lo que la ciudad les provoque e inspire, a través de su talentoso lenguaje plástico para experimentar con la estética que llevan años trabajando y perfeccionando.
Esta experiencia la podremos tener in situ, al pie de los edificios intervenidos o a través del otro espacio público que ofrece Internet, ya que se podrá interactuar durante los días del festival a través de diversas redes sociales, con el contenido que se generará durante esa semana.
ALL CITY CANVAS creará una comunidad sólida en un espacio público: físico cerca de las PAREDES intervenidas por los artistas y virtual en el mundo online. Se presentará en espacio de galería PIEZAS, de la obra a pequeña escala que estos artistas producen, disponible para venta. Y se hablará al respecto en PALABRAS, desde el punto de vista de expertos que han dedicado su vida a registrar, teorizar, publicar y/o experimentar este arte espectacular.
Se presentará a la Ciudad de México como un museo al aire libre, con arte monumental y público, que de manera visual e interactiva, será un Festival para todos.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
