PERM UNIVERSITY HERALD. SERIES “PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. SOCIOLOGY”

VESTNIK PERMSKOGO UNIVERSITETA. SERIYA FILOSOFIA PSIKHOLOGIYA SOTSIOLOGIYA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2021-4-592-603

Between art and vandalism: discourse representation of graffiti and street art

Yuliya. А. Kuzovenkova
Candidate of Culturology, Associate Professor,
Analyst of the Laboratory of Socio-Environmental ResearchUral State Pedagogical University,
26, Kosmonavtov av., Ekaterinburg, 620017, Russia;
e-mail: mirta-80@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0085-6103
ResearcherID: ABG-6686-2021

Today we are witnessing significant cultural changes. The new model of culture can no longer be hierarchical and base on binary structures. The tree model is changing to the rhizome model. Rizome offers a high level of freedom in making new connections that generate cultural reality. Big narrative as a normative instance is being replaced by separate discourses that dictate norms only within themselves. In this article, we explore how the specificity of different discourses (legislative discourse, discourses of the art world and public opinion) affects the representation in them of such cultural phenomena as graffiti and street art works. From a legal point of view, graffiti and illegal street art are acts of vandalism and deserve punishment. The legislative branch operates in the field of two concepts — «permitted»/«prohibited». The semantic space of the legislative discourse has retained a binary structure and hierarchical organization. The discourse generated by the institutions of the art world is very mobile, the binary structure and hierarchical organization of its semantic space have disappeared. There obviously takes place the rhizome principle of organizing the normative space of the art world and the increasing role of the individual principle in the formation of a discursive statement. These features of the discourse created an opportunity for street artists to enter the world of art. The study of the discourse of public opinion was carried out through sociological research. Most young people not only distinguish graffiti from vandalism but are also ready to see it as a form of contemporary art. We explain the clear correlation in the responses of young people in different cities by a single media space. The results of the study confirm the disintegration of a single normative space and its replacement by local (specific) discourses.

Keywords: graffiti, street art, discourse, rhizome, vandalism, art, youth, legislation, public opinion.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Russian Science Foundation under grant № 17-18-01278.

References

Allakhverdieva, N. (2015). [Transit zone]. Tranzitnaya zona: katalog vystavki khudozhnikov strit-arta [Transit zone: Catalog of the exhibition of street art artists]. Perm: Museum of Modern Art PERMM Publ., рр. 21–25. 

[Article 20.1. Hooliganism]. Kodeks Rossiyskoy Federatsii ob administrativnykh pravonarusheniyakh ot 30.12.2001 N 195-FZ(red. ot 09.03.2021) [Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation No. 195-FZ of December 30, 2001 (ed. of 09.03.2021)]. Available at: https://koapru.ru/statja-20.1/ (accessed 21.03.2021). 

[Article 214. Vandalism]. Ugolovnyy kodeks Rossiyskoy Federatsii оt 13.06.1996 N 63-FZ (red. ot 24.02.2021) [Criminal Code of the Russian Federation No. 63-FZ of June 13, 1996 (ed. of 24.02.2021)]. Available at: https://ukrfkod.ru/statja-214/ (accessed 21.03.2021).

[Article 7.17. Destruction of, or damage to, another’s property]. Kodeks Rossiyskoy Federatsii ob administrativnykh pravonarusheniyah ot 30.12.2001 N 195-FZ (red. ot 09.03.2021) [Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation No. 195-FZ of December 30, 2001 (ed. of 09.03.2021)]. Available at: https://koapru.ru/statja-7.17/ (accessed 21.03.2021). 

Bauman, Z. (2008). Tekuchaya sovremennost’ [Liquid modernity]. Saint Petersburg: Piter Publ., 240 p.

Becker, H.S. (1982). Art worlds. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 392 р. 

Berlin, I. (2000). Tolstoy and enlightenmentRussian thinkers. London: Penguin Books Publ., pp. 238–260. 

Chalfant, H. and Prigoff, J. (1999). Spraycan Art. London: Thames and Hudson Publ., 96 р. 

Cоhen, Т. (1997). [The possibility of art: Remarks on Dickey’s proposals]. Amerikanskaya filosofiya iskusstva. Osnovnye kontseptsii vtoroy poloviny XX veka — antiessentsializm, pertseptualizm, institutsionalizm. Antologiya, pod red. B. Dzemidoka, B. Orlova [American philosophy of art. The main concepts of the second half of the 20th century are anti-essentialism, perceptualism, institutionalism. Anthology, ed. by B. Dzemidok, B. Orlov]. Yekaterinburg: Delovaya Kniga Publ., Bishkek: Odissey Publ., pp. 253–270. 

Crane, D. (1989). The transformation of the avant-garde: The New York art world, 1940–1985. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 204 p. 

Deleuze, G. (2016). Maya 68-go ne bylo [May 68 did not take place]. Moscow: Ad Marginem Publ., 96 p. 

Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (2010). Tysyacha plato: Kapitalizm i shizofreniya [A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia]. Yekaterinburg: U-Faktoria Publ.; Moscow: Astrel Publ., 896 p.

Dickie, G. (1997). [Defining art]. Amerikanskaya filosofiya iskusstva. Osnovnye kontseptsii vtoroy poloviny XX veka — antiessentsializm, pertseptualizm, institutsionalizm. Antologiya, pod red. B. Dzemidoka, B. Orlova [American philosophy of art. The main concepts of the second half of the 20th century are anti-essentialism, perceptualism, institutionalism. Anthology, ed. by B. Dzemidok, B. Orlov]. Yekaterinburg: Delovaya Kniga Publ., Bishkek: Odissey Publ., рp. 243–252. 

Foster, H., Krauss, R., Bois, Y.-A., Buchloh, B.H.D. and Joselit, D. (2015). Iskusstvo s 1900 goda. Modernizm. Antimodernizm. Postmodernizm [Art since 1900. Modernism. Antimodernism. Postmodernism]. Moscow: AdMarginem Publ., 816 p.

Granovskaya, О.L. (2015). [Isaiah Berlin’s value pluralism]. Tsennosti i smysly [Values and Meanings]. No. 4(38), pp. 15–24. 

Groys, B. (2012). Politika poetiki [The politics of poetics]. Moscow: AdMarginem Publ., 400 p.

Huizinga, J. (2010). V teni zavtrashnego dnya. Chelovek i kul’tura. Zatemnennyy mir [In the shadow of tomorrow. Man and culture. The darkened world: An essay]. Saint Petersburg: Ivan Limbakh Publ., 456 p. 

Konev, V.А. (2014). [The modes of subjectivity in culture]. Vestnik Samarskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Vestnik of Samara State University]. No. 1(112), pp. 9–14. 

Konev, V.А. (2017). [About the meaning of modern culture]. Kantovskiy sbornik [Kant’s collection]. Vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 104–109. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5922/0207-6918-2017-1-8

Konev, V.А. (2020). [Pedestal person and podium person]. Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal issledovaniy kul’tury [International Journal of Cultural Research]. No. 2(39), pp. 6–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24411/2079-1100-2020-00018

Kulikov, V. (2020). [Someone will be punished for the arts]. Rossiyskaya gazeta. Aug 3. Available at: https://rg.ru/2020/08/03/v-proekte-novogo-koap-vvodiatsia-znachitelnye-shtrafy-za-graffiti.html (accessed 21.03.2021). 

Lachmann, R. (1988). Graffiti as career and ideology. American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 94, no. 2, pp. 229–250. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/228990

Lipovetsky, G. (2001). Era pustoty. Esse o sovremennom individualizme [The era of emptiness. Essays on contemporary individualism]. Saint Petersburg: Vladimir Dal’ Publ., 336 p. 

Lotman, U. (2019). Kul’tura i vzryv [Culture and explosion]. Moscow: АSТ Publ., 256 p. 

Lyotard, J.-F. (1998). Sostoyanie postmoderna [The postmodern condition]. Moscow: IES Publ.; Saint Petersburg: Aleteyya Publ., 160 p.

Mannheim, К. (2000). [Problem of generations]. Ocherki sotsiologii znaniya: Problema pokoleniy. Sostyazatel’nost’. Ekonomicheskie ambitsii [Essays on the sociology of knowledge: The problem of generations. Competitiveness. Economic ambitions]. Moscow: INION RAS Publ., pp. 8–63. 

Mailer, N. (2009). The faith of graffiti. New York: Praeger Publ., 128 р. 

Muzey AZ uchrezhdaet mezhdunarodnuyu premiyu Zverev Art Prize [AZ Museum launches international Zverev Art Prize]. 2021. Feb. 26. Available at: https://artguide.com/news/7702 (accessed 21.03.2021). 

Naegeli, H. (2021) Wolkepost [Cloud mail]. Zurich: Diogenes Publ., 144 p.

Rappaport, А. (2008). Graffiti i High Art [Graffiti and High Art]. NCCA. Nov. 9. Available at: http://www.ncca.ru/publications.text?filial=2&id=101 (accessed 26.03.2021). 

Received: 09.04.2021. Accepted: 04.07.2021

 

For citation:

Kuzovenkova Yu.А. [Between art and vandalism: discourse representation of graffiti and street art]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Filosofia. Psihologia. Sociologia [Perm University Herald. Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology], 2021, issue 4, pp. 592–603 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2021-4-592-603