THE PHENOMENON AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF GRAFFITI ART

V diplomski nalogi sem raziskoval fenomen »grafita« in položaj »umetniškega« grafita v okolju priznane umetnosti. Velja namreč splošno prepričanje, da je grafit nezaželen način izražanja posameznikov, ki se srečujejo s komunikacijskim deficitom. Leta 1991 so avtorji zagrebške knjige Grafiti i subkultura navedli pet determinantnih elementov, ki naj bi definirali grafit, med katere so uvrstili tudi neformalnost in neinstitucionalnost. Razbrati je torej, da formalni oz. institucionalni grafit ne obstaja. Kot cilj naloge bom poskušal dokazati, da grafit in street art že nekaj časa nista le izrazno sredstvo marginalnih skupin mladostnikov, ampak predstavljata pomemben del sodobne umetnosti. Besedo »institucionalno« v tem kontekstu ne bomo navezovali le na galerijsko ali muzejsko okolje, torej institucijo kot takšno, pač pa jo bomo razumeli kot splošno priznanje in sprejetje določenih oblik grafitnega izražanja v svetu t.i. visoke umetnosti. Poizkušali bomo ugotoviti, kaj zajema fenomen grafita, kdo so grafitarji, in kaj se zgodi, ko grafit preide iz neformalne v formalno obliko umetniškega izražanja. Za razumevanje fenomena grafita sem najprej pogledal v njegov zgodovinski razvoj. Tako sem spoznal položaj in dojemanje te vrste izražanja skozi različna časovna obdobja in to primerjal z današnjim stanjem. Zanimalo me je predvsem dogajanje v ZDA in Evropi, kjer sta grafit in street art najbolj razvita. Izpostavil sem nekaj najbolj legitimnih avtorjev, ki so s svojim grafitnim ustvarjanjem uspešno prodrli v svet »visoke« umetnosti. Ob koncu naloge sem se dotaknil še slovenske grafitske scene, ki se je pred nekaj leti znašla na prelomni točki v dojemanju umetniškega grafita v instituciji. Pod drobnogled sem vzel prvo slovensko razstavo grafitov imenovano Grafitarji, ki je leta 2004 potekala v Ljubljani. In my diploma paper I researched the “graffiti” phenomenon and the position of “artistic” graffiti within the environment of established arts. A widespread belief suggests that graffiti is an unfavourable means of expression, employed by individuals suffering from communicational deficit. In 1991, the authors of the Croatian book Grafiti i subkultura suggested five determinative elements that define graffiti, among which they included informality and non-institutionality. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that formal or institutional graffiti does not exist. The goal of my paper is to prove that graffiti and street art have surpassed their role as a means of expression of marginalized groups of adolescents, and have become an important part of modern arts. In the context of my paper, the word “institutional” will not be used only to apply to institutions such as galleries and museums, but will be understood as a general acknowledgment and acceptance of certain forms of graffiti in the world of so-called high art. I will try to establish what the phenomenon of graffiti includes, who graffiti artists are and what happens when graffiti transforms from an informal to a formal mode of artistic expression. To understand the phenomenon of graffiti, I first examined its historical development. I researched the position and perception of this mode of expression through various periods of time and compared it with the current situation. I was interested mostly in USA and Europe, where graffiti and street art are most developed. I pointed out some of the more legitimate authors who have been able to successfully enter the world of “high” art with their graffiti work. At the end of the paper I also touched upon the Slovenian graffiti scene, which had, a couple of years ago, experienced a drastic shift in the perception of artistic graffiti in institutions. I focused on the first Slovenian graffiti exhibition (Grafitarji), which took place in Ljubljana in 2004.