scholarly journals VISUAL STREET ART: MESSAGES OF RIGA STENCIL GRAFFITI

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 694
Author(s):  
Normunds Kozlovs ◽  
Ilva Skulte
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Street Art ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Illegal Activity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The City

The modern urban space is inevitably the site of different striking messages from advertisement to graffiti. The last are used as an alternative medium of subculture, even if majority of the public fails to notice it or else interprets it, contrary to culture’s ordered world of meanings, as chaotic “dirt” more closely related to nature than culture. The discourse of messages found in the public space - on the façades of surfaces forming urban space, can be interpreted in a countercultural code and is for the subculture of graffiti itself, a battle taking place for the aesthetization of the public space. This is the answer provided by the rebellious sons to the “fathers of the city”, who possess money and power with which to design urban public space using architectural means. The generation of sons, who are excluded from this real estate discourse due to a lack of means, put into play the only thing they own, i.e. their body, which they subject to the danger of imprisonment, because graffiti is an illegal activity, which in legal terms is interpreted as vandalism, a view that also prevails within the mass media. In this paper we analyze the meaning of visual messages of Riga stencil graffiti using social semiotics' methodology (Kress & Leewen, 1996; Jewitt & Oyama, 2004). We find that the utilization of the street as an alternative and independent medium in the form of civil disobedience manifested through the translation of radical political ideas, thus to a certain extent performing the work of propaganda, is an example of creative idealism. 

Analysis on Building Readable Image of Urban Public Spaces

2013 ◽  
Vol 409-410 ◽  
pp. 883-886
Author(s):  
Bo Xuan Zhao ◽  
Cong Ling Meng
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Space Images ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Good Image ◽  
The Public ◽  
The City

City, is consisting of a series continuous or intermittent public space images, and every image for each of our people living in the city is varied: may be as awesome as forbidden city Meridian Gate, like Piazza San Marco as a cordial and pleasant space and might also be like Manhattan district of New York, which makes people excited and enthusiastic. To see why, people have different feelings because the public urban space ultimately belongs to democratic public space, people live and have emotions in it. In such domain, people can not only be liberated, free to enjoy the pleasures of urban public space, but also enjoy urban life which is brought by the city's charm through highlighting the vitality of the city with humanism atmosphere. To a conclusion, no matter how ordinary the city is, a good image of urban space can also bring people pleasure.

Mocking Parades and the Place of Pagan Statuary in Late Antique Alexandria

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-288
Author(s):  
Jonathan Stutz
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Mob Violence ◽  
Visual Contact ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

AbstractWith the present paper I would like to discuss a particular form of procession which we may term mocking parades, a collective ritual aimed at ridiculing cultic objects from competing religious communities. The cases presented here are contextualized within incidents of pagan/Christian violence in Alexandria between the 4th and 5th centuries, entailing in one case the destruction of the Serapeum and in another the pillaging of the Isis shrine at Menouthis on the outskirts of Alexandria. As the literary accounts on these events suggest, such collective forms of mockery played an important role in the context of mob violence in general and of violence against sacred objects in particular. However, while historiographical and hagiographical sources from the period suggest that pagan statues underwent systematic destruction and mutilation, we can infer from the archaeological evidence a vast range of uses and re-adaptation of pagan statuary in the urban space, assuming among other functions that of decorating public spaces. I would like to build on the thesis that the parading of sacred images played a prominent role in the discourse on the value of pagan statuary in the public space. On the one hand, the statues carried through the streets became themselves objects of mockery and violence, involving the population of the city in a collective ritual of exorcism. On the other hand, the images paraded in the mocking parades could also become a means through which the urban space could become subject to new interpretations. Entering in visual contact with the still visible vestiges of the pagan past, with the temples and the statuary of the city, the “image of the city” became affected itself by the images paraded through the streets, as though to remind the inhabitants that the still-visible elements of Alexandria’s pagan topography now stood as defeated witnesses to Christianity’s victory.

scholarly journals Where the Sidewalk Ends: Automobility and Shame in Tbilisi, Georgia

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perry Maxfield Waldman Sherouse
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Physical Barriers ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City

In recent years, cars have steadily colonized the sidewalks in downtown Tbilisi. By driving and parking on sidewalks, vehicles have reshaped public space and placed pedestrian life at risk. A variety of social actors coordinate sidewalk affairs in the city, including the local government, a private company called CT Park, and a fleet of self-appointed st’aianshik’ebi (parking attendants) who direct drivers into parking spots for spare change. Pedestrian activists have challenged the automotive conquest of footpaths in innovative ways, including art installations, social media protests, and the fashioning of ad hoc physical barriers. By safeguarding sidewalks against cars, activists assert ideals for public space that are predicated on sharp boundaries between sidewalk and street, pedestrian and machine, citizen and commodity. Politicians and activists alike connect the sharpness of such boundaries to an imagined Europe. Georgia’s parking culture thus reflects not only local configurations of power among the many interests clamoring for the space of the sidewalk, but also global hierarchies of value that form meaningful distinctions and aspirational horizons in debates over urban public space. Against the dismal frictions of an expanding car system, social actors mobilize the idioms of freedom and shame to reinterpret and repartition the public/private distinction.

Rearranging Urban Space

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Francesca Menichelli
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Surveillance Cameras ◽  
Public Character ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The City

This article investigates what happens to urban space once an open-street CCTV system is implemented, framing the analysis in terms of the wider struggle that unfolds between different urban stakeholders for the definition of acceptability in public space. It is argued that, while the use of surveillance cameras was initially seen as functional to the enforcement of tighter control and to the de-complexification of urban space so as to make policing easier, a shift has now taken place in the articulation of this goal. As a result, it has slowly progressed to affect the wider field of sociability, with troubling consequences for the public character of public space. In light of this development, the article concludes by making the case for a normative stance to be taken in order to increase fairness and diversity in the city.

SPACE AND ITS USE FOR PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC IN CENTER AREAS OF SELECTED POLISH CITIES

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (0) ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Nosal ◽  
Łukasz Franek ◽  
Sylwia Rogala
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
City Center ◽  
Technical Parameters ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pedestrian Traffic ◽  
Street Furniture ◽  
Pedestrian Infrastructure ◽  
The City

The quality of urban space in terms of walkability can be assessed taking many parameters into account, such as the presence of sidewalks, their density and continuity, appropriate technical parameters as well as the presence of greenery, squares, parks, which create the environment for pedestrian traffic. The lack of travel barriers, the possibility to shorten the route, travel safety and security, the presence of street furniture, shops and services are also significant. This article concerns some of the above described factors and presents selected research results on the use of space in city centers of several Polish cities – Kraków, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Warsaw, Gdynia, Wrocław and Poznań as well as the results of an analysis on the friendliness of this space for pedestrian traffic. The first phase of this study was to determine the share of public space within the analyzed city center areas, and then define areas used as roads, infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, squares, green areas, parks and public courtyards. The balance of the used space was created for each researched area, and the space dedicated to pedestrian traffic was additionally analyzed in terms of the presence of obstacles as well as sidewalk location. The analysis results prove that that greatest amount of the public space is located in the city center of Poznań, and the smallest in Kraków. Warsaw is characterized by the greatest and Szczecin by the smallest percentage of the pedestrian infrastructure. Szczecin dominates in terms of the share of roads in the downtown area, Wrocław in terms of squares and Gdańsk – public courtyards.

scholarly journals An attempt of creating new museum narratives by the example of the exhibition project «Shevchenko by the urban tongue»

2021 ◽  
pp. 112-123
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Zubar ◽  
◽  
Oleh Mahdych ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The City ◽  
Ukrainian Society

Taras Shevchenko is one of the most researched and discussed figures in Ukrainian society. In each historical period receptions and assessments around Shevchenko` personality differentiates, depending on the public circumstances or prevailing trends in humanitarian discourse. These perceptions swayed between positive and critical judgment. Authors identified several key perceptions of Shevchenko in Ukrainian public space, for instance, «national hero», «father of the nation», «poet», «revolutionary democrat». In their opinion, modern Ukraine still faces the search for Shevchenko` new image. New forms of public honour (commemoration) are being developed, including through museum exhibition projects. Authors also analyze the significance of the museum narrative expositions and exhibitions for the creation of new public images, giving the example of the exhibition project «Shevchenko by the urban tongue», which took place in the Taras Shevchenko national museum from November 4th to January 31th in 2021. Curators attempted to explore how personal experience in the city changed due to the process of urbanization from the XIX-th century and how the urban space influenced the shaping of the Taras Shevchenko figure. Specifically, in the XIX-th century, cities ultimately transformed into an environment, which created trends, emphases of the global public development that influenced Shevchenko, since exactly in the city he gained domestic freedom, profession and widened his social circle. The city gave him a sense of understanding of the culture, its influence and importance not only for consumer purposes or acceptance but also for the creation of new meanings. According to the authors, this approach allows us to better understand the significance of Taras Shevchenko, his connection to modern Ukrainian realities and world context.

scholarly journals The Contested Gallery: street art, ethnography and the search for urban understandings

AmeriQuests ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Street Art ◽  
Cultural Characteristics ◽  
The Road ◽  
The City

This is a paper on street art and its role as a form of artistic insurrection that challenges popular understandings of public space and urban visual culture. I would like to think of it as a field guide to urban seeing, a means of revising the way in which we view the cityscape and its imagery. It is a way of imagining the city as a canvas onto which ideas may be inscribed and reinterpreted, where resistance percolates up to those who look for it. It is here, in what Kathleen Stewart has called a “place by the side of the road” that the work of the street artist exists, slowly gurgling up through the cracks in the sidewalk and briefly illuminated by the yellow-white glow of the street lights. Street art most often takes the form of adhesive stickers, spray-painted stencils, and wheat-pasted posters, and while it shares many similar aesthetic and cultural characteristics with graffiti, street art embodies a unique ideology. Graffiti represents a territorialization of space (‘tagging’, or reclaiming urban spaces through the use of pseudonyms as territorial markings); street art represents a reterritorialization of space. Rather than taking space, street art attempts to re-purpose the existing urban environment. This paper seeks to reflect the changing dynamic of urban space through an analysis of the practice of street art. By examining the roles that street artists play in disrupting the flow of visual noise in the city, I will illuminate the cultural value and significance of this form of urban artistic resistance.

scholarly journals The Transformation of Urban Public Space of Post-Soviet Yerevan

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1 (31)) ◽  
pp. 3-15
Author(s):  
Harutyun Vermishyan ◽  
Srbuhi Michikyan
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
Space Production ◽  
Depth Interviews

The aim of this study is to diagnose the transformation of the structure of the public space of the Northern Avenue of Yerevan. The theoretical basis of this research is A. Lefebvre's theory of space production. The spatial triad (representations of space, representative space and spatial practice) by A. Lefebvre was used to identify the codes of social transformation of the public space of the Northern Avenue. The study was carried out using a tool developed within the framework of the methodology of narrative semiotics, which made it possible to identify the structural elements of the Northern Avenue, reflected in public experience. Methods used include observation, content analysis and traditional analysis of archival / administrative records and in-depth interviews with key informants. Diagnostics of the structure of the public space of Northern Avenue demonstrates the peculiarities of the formation of public space and the ideological transformations of the urban space of post-Soviet Yerevan.

scholarly journals Successful Attractions of Public Space through Users Perception

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 188
Author(s):  
Maimunah Ramlee ◽  
Dasimah Omar ◽  
Rozyah Mohd Yunus ◽  
Zalina Samadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Site Survey ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
International Publishing ◽  
The City ◽  
Main Attraction

The success of the revitalization program of urban public space is viewed through attractions that have been identified. This study aims to investigate the perception of users in public space through the on-site survey. In summary, the motivations, behavioural patterns, impressions on the public space as an attraction and the perceived importance of urban public spaces in the development of the city are important attraction for successful public space. The findings of this study will show main attraction in successful revitalization of urban public space based on users perception and can be used in a meaningful way to the users.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Public space; successful attraction; users perception; revitalization

An Analysis of a Park 's Thermal Environment Survey and Optimization Research Based on Scape Scale

2012 ◽  
Vol 209-211 ◽  
pp. 235-239
Author(s):  
Xue Chen Bai ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
Zhu Hui Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Ecological Design ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The City

Good landscape design has an important role for improving the public space thermal environment quality of the city and increasing the person's thermal comfort. This article chooses the typical park of xi’an city---QuJiangChi site park as the research object , we used the in-situ test and questionnaire survey , investigated and analyzed the thermal comfortableness and influencing factors. In order to get comfortable thermal environment of urban public space, we put forward some key points of ecological design from different aspects .

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document