Urban Art/Installation & City’s Crevices An Exploration on The Ability of Art to Rejuvinate Ignored Urban Spaces

Urban Art/Installation & City’s Crevices

An Exploration on The Ability of Art to Rejuvinate Ignored Urban Spaces

How can Urban Art/Installation help rejuvenate the otherwise ignored corners in a city?

Shriyak Singh (A/2447/2012)

Advisor- Ar. Vikas Kanaujia

St.Art Delhi, 2014, Lodhi Road Street Art by Niels Shoe Meulman

Abstract- A city, no matter how well planned, ends up with a large number of dead and ignored spaces (termed as crevices in this paper). Just like undesirable negative spaces are created in the design of a building, similar spaces are created in a city as well. This is by virtue of constant development and change in a city. A large amount of space is wasted as a byproduct of this growth. Spaces like areas under flyovers and metro bridges, traffic islands, dilapidated and disused buildings etc., cannot further be used as proper functioning spaces.

However, urban art has great potential to rejuvenate these parts of the city as landmarks and areas of public interest. This paper tries to explore those possibility in the city of Delhi, by studying various case examples existing across the world.

Introduction- According to Linda Slodki, Mt. Airy Art Garage, the arts are a highly cost-effective way of driving economic revitalization in urban areas. However, the arts not only spur economic development but also “shape our consciousness, create a collective attitude, inspire, remake behavior, and reduce stress.” (Green, 2011)

Art can be in any form or medium or scale. Some pieces of art are very specific, maybe a personal belonging, while some are relatable to certain section of the society. Urban Art plays a similar role for the city. It plays a very important role in creating a perception of the city (or at least the immediate locality) in the mind of a passerby. It can be recognized as a contributing element in defining the more contemporary 'image of the city’. Installation and art go long way in establishing a community's sense of place. (Taking Imagination Seriously, 2011) Above all, urban art has the potential to bring a heterogeneous society together and instill a feeling of belongingness to the place.  Urban Art in the form or street paintings or installations has major potential in altering the social behavior in the surrounding where it exists. It can bring a sense of respect towards the space amongst the people most closely linked to it. This is in ways like reduction in the misuse of the space, people avoiding to litter in the area and the public having a general sense of pride in that space.

Sadly, urban art has constantly been confused with vandalistic graffiti art. There are often mixed messages in the media about graffiti and urban art, but essentially the definition between both terms defines one as criminal damage (graffiti) and the other as permission based artwork. Urban Art, unlike graffiti vandalism, is legal artwork where permission to mark the surface has been granted by the owner of the property.   Urban Art is often known under many names such as street art or mural art. Urban Art projects on hotspot areas can be an effective

Urban art, however, is not limited to building walls and alleys or large public areas like parks etc. Inclusion of public art in small, forgotten places like traffic islands and stops, plazas and open areas outside buildings, waste spaces under bridges and flyovers etc., can largely contribute towards creating a flourishing urban landscape. Apart from its contributions towards a more comprehensive urban setting, urban art has great economic implications as well, which are largely positive.

Gary Steuer, Philadelphia’s chief cultural officer, said the arts industries are deeply connected with economic development in his city. However, there’s still a raging debate over whether art has more intrinsic or instrumental value. Intrinsic value relates to the aesthetic value of any work of art, its own value as a piece of individual expression. Instrumental value relates to the ability of art to educate, create jobs, increase real estate value, build citizens, increase tourism, and provide other benefits. (Green, 2011)

As an example, Steuer pointed to MASS MoCA, a 13-acre site in North Adams, Massachusetts. An unused building was turned into a space for “huge art installations.” MASS MoCa has had a “transformative effect on its community.” The building also houses creative design businesses like Web design firms. The museum itself has attracted 100,000 visitors, contributed $15 million to the local economy, and increased local property values by $14 million.

Fig 1. Exterior wall of the ‘MASS MoCA’ project, North Adams, Massachusetts (October 28, 2011)

(http://blog.ohny.org/field-trip-friday-mass-moca/)

In another example, Steuer explained how the Brooklyn Art Museum draws in half a million visitors a year and has helped preserve a multi-cultural neighborhood filled with old buildings.

Urban Art and People- Urban art in its purest sense, is very public in its essence. It’s free, there are no tickets required and people don’t need to dress up to watch it, or take time out of their schedule. One can watch it in groups or alone. It’s open to everyone. Sometimes, anonymity adds another charm to the piece. It frees the piece of any kind of obscure media interpretation based on the origins of the artist. It is open to public interpretation but is limited to only what is on the canvas. It is purely the expression of the artist’s thought, indifferent to his/her gender, religion, class or political belief. It allows artists to voice their social commentary and cultural criticisms on a public stage. It enables the people to have a voice and support an opinion. Urban art can be a medium for artists’ expression and the cityscape will be the canvas.

The landscape of the city contributes greatly to the importance of street art. Not only does it provide a canvas for visual expression, but also draws strength from its ability to directly communicate uncensored messages to the passersby. The accessibility of the art form contributes to its power, and, as stated by English street artist Banksy, it is “graffiti that ultimately wins out because it becomes part of your city, it's a tool. A wall is a very big weapon,” he says, “It’s one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.” (Gleaton, 2012). However, for most people, urban art is more than just a social commentary. It is a permanent mark on the cityscape around them. Drawing power from this permanency of the work, urban art/installation becomes a strong tool for driving change in the social and political setup.

Urban Art can make the place more relatable and likable for the people who are exposed to it. Art also has the potential to change the entire character of a space. It can bring in new lifestyles and economic opportunities to the place, like in the case of our trendy neighborhood, Hauz Khas Village. It is no longer an urban village, but a thriving urban center. Street art has a positive effect on how unique a cityscape looks.

However, urban art is still haunted by the tag of vandalism. "A huge amount of social science throws it into a camp of being a sign of crime and disorder," Douglas, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, says. "The truth is, at this point, some graffiti and street art are arguably contributing to gentrification and contributing to increases in the appeal of certain neighborhoods." "It’s a little surprising, in this day and age, in this city, that the property owner there didn’t recognize the cultural value—that kind of implies economic value—in something as famous and hip as 5Pointz," sociologist Gordon Douglas told Co.Design. (Ferro, 2014). This was on account of the famous street art hub called the ‘5 Pointz’ in Queens, New York, being whitewashed and years of art pieces, painted by hundreds of artists from around the world, being destroyed.

Economist Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, says there’s a strong relationship between the cultural activities of a city—which graffiti is a part of—and its economy. "When you see graffiti, it’s really a sign of many more interesting creative things going on," she told Co.Design. Cities that have more graffiti tend to be cultural and artistic hubs. Street art tends to give people who don’t have the resources to launch a more traditional art career a shot. "Historically, graffiti artists were kids from poor neighborhoods, working class families, who didn’t have resources, and the city became their canvas," Currid-Halkett explains. "I think that that’s an important part of the ecology of a city… It allows people who don’t have much to make it." (Currid-Halkett, n.d.). Now the question is whether we should consider street art/graffiti criminal if it’s a Banksy piece worth $100,000.

In fact, our home city of Delhi has very strong case examples, which strongly hint towards the economically uplifting aspect of street art through its thriving commercial hubs of Hauz-Khas, Shahpur Jat etc.

Brazil and its favelas are a fitting example of the success urban art can achieve. In 2005, Dutch artists Dre Urhahn and Jeroen Koolhaas embarked on a journey through Brazil’s favelas, leaving a community driven art intervention in their wake. They set-up a series of project in Rio's Vila Cruzeiro, which later spread to places such as Santa Marta. The duo’s

artistic venture offers local youth education and job opportunities, while beautifying their community and making it a more pleasant place to live. Together with these local youth, Koolhaas and Urhahn have created striking facades which have become iconic works of art within Rio's urban landscape. (Chin, 2011) (Brooks, 2016)

Fig 2. Section of ‘praça cantão, communidade da santa marta’

image © favela painting project, 15/11/2016 (http://www.designboom.com/art/favela-painting-by-haas-hahn/)

Urban Art & Delhi- Delhi has never been too far from art and culture, be it the old colorful streets of Shahjahanabad, to the street art hubs of Lodhi road & Connaught Place. Urban art revolution has finally touched down in Delhi and it has come with a bang. There are now arrays of street art and wall paintings to be found all over the city.

The DUAC (Delhi Urban Art Commission), headed by Prof. Dr. P.S.N. Rao (Chairman) has not been sleeping to this new art movement. There is an attempt by the organization to bring method to this madness. The new Art Master Plan (as the authorities call it) is to be released by the end of 2016. This masterplan will try to regularize and direct all the urban art commissions towards a collective goal of beautifying the city. The document will address urban design elements like heights of statues, type of material that can be used and placement of statues vis-a-vis buildings in vicinity. (Sharma, 2015)

 Prof. Dr. P.S.N. Rao in an interview with Economic Times said, “Delhi is a historic city. We need to have a broad policy on where can one have a statue, what kind of paintings should be there. There has to be some document guiding us, otherwise the whole city would become a bizarre place. This would be a broad policy framework which would enhance the aesthetics of the city.”

The inspiration can be seen to have been drawn from historic cities like Washington DC, San Diego etc., where a thing like an ‘Art Master Plan’ have been implemented and executed efficiently and effectively.

Delhi, however has had its fair share of artists using its streets (both legally and otherwise) to express their opinions on a myriad of topics ranging, from a political commentary to religious propaganda to women empowerment and to of course just a spree of creative expression. Delhi as many other cities across the world has developed certain pockets where artists (of all sort) seem to seek sanctuary. These areas/zones hence become hotspot to artistic activities. This helps the society grow and prosper and foster an entirely new breed of citizens for the city. One such example is Shahpur Jat. Shahpur Jat was an urban village, with the urban fabric very similar to any other urban village found across Delhi. However, the narrow lanes of Shahpur Jat have now transformed into the epicenters of the city’s urban art festival.

Fig 3:  Urban Art at Delhi’s Lodhi Road, by international artists along with local artists from the St.ART Delhi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html) 

Fig 4:  Hendrik ECB Beikirch and ANPU take shots of their collaborative portrait of Mahatma Ghandi. (Delhi Police Headquarters)/ St.ART Delhi 2014 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html) 

 

Fig 5. Andy Yeng and Tofu. St.ART Delhi 2014, Shahpur Jat, Delhi (Delhi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html)

 The effect on the street after the introduction of the piece of art is very evident. The change in character of the street is distinctly visible. Most of us have walked in those narrow streets and lanes, majorly found in the old and deserted parts of our planned and organized cities or towns. To be honest, those really are not the best places you would want to be at. One feels like getting out of that narrow street as quickly as possible, maybe because of claustrophobia or an attack on your senses of sight and smell, or maybe just because of a basic sense of insecurity.

However, art has transformed many such streets and crevices in Shahpur Jat. Urban Art has devoid these streets of all kinds of insecurities or hesitations. It has breathed a new, modern life into the street. A one similar to what it might have had in the past.

Fig 6. General situation of spaces under flyovers, Delhi

The City’s Crevices- A city is filled with residual spaces. Residual spaces are referred to as spaces which are created as an after-effect of any kind of activity, mostly construction. These areas, like spaces beneath flyovers and metro bridges, traffic islands and stops, abandoned buildings etc. Such spaces might feel obnoxious to a few people, but are generally ignored by the masses. People wiz pass these areas as if they contribute nothing to the city’s urban landscape. But, as a matter of fact, such spaces contribute almost as much in defining the image and perceptions of a city, as some of the more famous, prominent and looked after landmarks.

While walking down a street or crossing an intersection, such areas come across our vision many times a day. But they go ignored. They, however have a potential to be transformed into an experience. One way of doing so is through urban art/ installations. Urban art can change how we view and use these spaces. It can attach a sense of place to these otherwise bland and anonymous spaces. Such spaces can also become great agents to spread awareness about social issues, as these areas are unavoidable for the daily commuter.

Fig 7 & 8. Comparing an ordinary flyover situation to 

one with urban art. (Source: Author)

 The above comparison highlights what actually is a part of general understanding. It simply says “Empty spaces look better with Art”. This, however is a strong statement and this simple piece of photo editing has easily brought the point to light. We invariably come across such left over spaces. If one is observant enough, he will find himself overwhelmed by them. Such areas are everywhere on the roads across Delhi. Some have been given at least some attention, like installation along the AIIMS flyover

  Run down, dilapidated and disused buildings and structures provide exceptional exhibition spaces where artists can leave a permanent mark on the cityscape. Their expression on display for the city to see. Undertaking such projects on these structures can add another leaf to the distinct history of these buildings. Such endeavors can arguably be compared to an adaptive reuse of that building. This claim can be made on grounds of the building still serving a strong social purpose of rejuvenating that building and the locality around it. These structures hence cease to exist as a blotch on the beautiful painting which is the city, but in fact add to the character of the urban setting,

This also helps in eliminating the connotation of crime and lack of safety which gets attached to these abandoned buildings over time. It is similar to breathing new life into the building. A use beyond its functional requirements and after it has served its primary purpose.

Fig 9. Harsh Raman. St.ART Delhi 2014, Shahpur Jat, Delhi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html)

Fig 10 Street Art by the Crono Project on buildings on Av. Fontes Perreira de Melo Lisbon Portugal(http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-street-art-by-the-crono-project-on-buildings-on-av-fontes-perreira-124596482.html)

An example is urban art project in Lisbon, Portugal, where a row of abandoned building facades have been converted into large canvases for local and international street artists to showcase their works

Fig 11 Graffitti on a building on the Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo in Lisbon Portugal (http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-graffitti-on-a-building-on-the-avenida-fontes-pereira-de-melo-in-lisbon-58636142.html)

Fig 12. From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes by Alex Chinneck, Margate, England (https://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/01/from-the-knees-of-my-nose-to-the-belly-of-my-toes-by-alex-chinneck/)

Conclusion- The contribution and importance of art cannot be ignored in a society. Especially in the case of India, where the society is comprised of people from an array of different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. Art gives everyone a unique sense of belonging. Art is relatable for everyone who can perceive it. Hence, urban art should be given its due share of importance too.

Urban Art has an identified potential in changing the character of an area and the course of how people use and inhabit the space. Also, how they feel about it and how they relate to it.

This potential can be affectively harnessed if we could promote urban art for the left-over areas across the city. These would transform mundane-waste spaces into attractive and strong expressions of art, which could be used for more than just aesthetic purposes. An active socio-political commentary will get the maximum eyes. Maximum people will be aware about a pressing social issue. The benefits are many.

Urban art can and should be used as a tool to reignite artistic and cultural thought in a city, like it did for many western cities like New York and Barcelona. It can effectively rejuvenate the space and the city it exists in, along with getting rid of the obnoxious character of certain kinds of residual spaces (or crevices) in the city actually transforming or eliminating the space. Harnessing this power of urban art can prove to be of great help for city planners and designers.

References

·         Brooks, K., 2016. Favela Painting Foundation Is Using Art To Rejuvenate Brazil's Slums. [Online]

Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/favela-painting-foundation-is-using-art-to-rejuvenate-brazils-slums_us_57b70004e4b00d9c3a16f179

[Accessed 20 11 2016].

·         Chin, A., 2011. Designboom. [Online]

Available at: http://www.designboom.com/art/favela-painting-by-haas-hahn/

[Accessed 15 11 2016].

·         Currid-Halkett, E., n.d. The Warhol Economy: How Art Works, California: University of Southern California.

·         Ferro, S., 2014. Can Graffiti be Good for a City. [Online]
Available at: https://www.fastcodesign.com/3022524/can-graffiti-be-good-for-cities
[Accessed 8 11 2016].

·         Gleaton, K. M., 2012. Power to the People: Street Art as an Agency for Change, s.l.: University of Minnesota.

·         Green, J., 2011. Many Benefits of Puclic Art. [Online]
Available at: https://dirt.asla.org/2011/04/20/the-many-benefits-of-public-art/
[Accessed 12 09 2016].

• ·         Malhotra, A., 2016. Delhi’s Street Art Festival in Pictures. [Online] Available at: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/02/15/delhis-street-art-festival-in-pictures/[Accessed 19 November 2016].

·         Sharma, N., 2015. Street art to be guided by Art Master Plan in Delhi. Ecomomic Times, 22 December.

·         Taking Imagination Seriously. 2011. [Film] Directed by Janet Echelman. s.l.: Ted Ed.

List of Figures

Figure 1. Exterior wall of the ‘MASS MoCA’ project, North Adams, Massachusetts (October 28, 2011)

(http://blog.ohny.org/field-trip-friday-mass-moca/)

Figure 2.  Section of ‘praça cantão, communidade da santa marta’

image © favela painting project, 15/11/2016 (http://www.designboom.com/art/favela-painting-by-haas-hahn/)

Figure 3:  Urban Art at Delhi’s Lodhi Road, by international artists along with local artists from the St.ART Delhi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html)

Figure 4:  Hendrik ECB Beikirch and ANPU take shots of their collaborative portrait of Mahatma Ghandi. (Delhi Police Headquarters)/ St.ART Delhi 2014 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html)

Figure 5. Andy Yeng and Tofu. St.ART Delhi 2014, Shahpur Jat, Delhi (Delhi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html)

Figure 6. General situation of spaces under flyovers, Delhi

Figure 7 & 8. Comparing an ordinary flyover situation to one with urban art. (Source: Author)

  

Figure 9. Harsh Raman. St.ART Delhi 2014, Shahpur Jat, Delhi (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/start-dehli-2014_b_5441294.html)

Figure 10. Street Art by the Crono Project on buildings on Av. Fontes Perreira de Melo Lisbon Portugal(http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-street-art-by-the-crono-project-on-buildings-on-av-fontes-perreira-124596482.html)

Figure 11.  Graffitti on a building on the Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo in Lisbon Portugal (http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-graffitti-on-a-building-on-the-avenida-fontes-pereira-de-melo-in-lisbon-58636142.html) 

Figure 12. From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly of my Toes by Alex Chinneck, Margate, England (https://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/01/from-the-knees-of-my-nose-to-the-belly-of-my-toes-by-alex-chinneck/)