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Bodies and protest, Part II

This week we will look at street art, parkour and the relationship between art and society as manifested on the everyday streets.

This is a photo of a white wall with a stenciled black and white graffity of a boy using an old sawing machine to saw some British flags. The flags are real and hanging from the wall. The picture shows a woman in grey trousers and black jacket walking by.

"I painted this on the side of Poundland in North London. A shop which sells cheap jubilee merchandise, is located on the route of the Olympic torch relay and was caught using sweatshop labour two years ago. But I only discovered any of this afterwards - I just thought it was a nice coloured wall." (Banksy, 2012)

Task 9

Reading

Read this article and answer the following questions.

Ortuzar, J (2009). "Parkour or l'art du déplacement: A Kinetic Urban Utopia". TDR: The Drama Review, Volume 53, Number 3, Fall 2009, pp.54-66.

1

What impact do bodies have on city spaces?

They can inscribe their subjectivity onto it and create tactical forms of shifts and changes.Check your answer

2

How is the city an example of ideology and capitalism?

The structures of the city and the capital invested in the order and structure exemplify late capitalist ideology.Check your answer

3

What do street art and parkour do to question the capitalist ideological structures of the city?

They comment on the constructed nature of these restrictions and insert commentary through the body or the graffiti onto these structures.Check your answer

Viewing

Watch the excerpt from the 2010 documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop (05:15 mins) (opens in a new window) by the street artist Banksy and answer the following questions.

4

How does the beginning of the documentary present the director?

He is presented as a curious fan, adventurous and a "real filmmaker'. Check your answer

5

Why do you think they maintain the anonymity of the street artists?

One way to look at it is that this may add to the mystique of the artist, the practice and it also prevents them from possible arrest for damaging public property.Check your answer

6

What is street art?

Street art is a form of art that uses graffiti, tagging, postering (to name a few) to decorate city walls, buildings. It started as a subcultural art form but has been commodified considerably (as you will see by the rise and commercial success of Mr Brainwash in the Banksy film). Check your answer

7

How does street art function as a type of protest? What is it protesting?

Street art functions as a type of protest because it comments on the way the city can be used as a canvas. The city and its buildings and wall act as background to the art which often makes fun or engages in an ironic distancing from the role capitalism plays in shaping our realities. Street art also protests the commercialization or commodification of art. For example, Bansky states that he never makes his art for the money. It has never been about that and he raises concerns about the success of Mr Brainwash in the documentary. Check your answer

Wall

Search the internet for information on the street artist Banksy and take a look at his work. Choose one of his works and post it on this wall. Make a note on what commentary the piece might be making. Be prepared to discuss and qualify in class the work you chose.