Graffiti the graffiti?

[DiscoStew]

If graffiti becomes heritage listed then perhaps we should go and paint over it and see if the graffiti artists can take a bit of their own medicine. They could hardly complain. :D

National Trust considers heritage listing for graffiti - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/23/2282814.htm)

[Landy110]

That can of worms is HUGE!!!!!!!

[Slunnie]

I agree, A big fat paint roller to paint straight over the top of it is about the only thing it is worthy of. There is never a reason to protect vandalism. Protecting it is a great way of condoning it.

[Xavie]

That Scott Hilditch is a bit of a loser. I don't think it venerates graffiti on a whole by giving a very very small proportion some historical significance.

I think as the spokesperson for the national trust says it marks a particular occasion be it government, religous or what. And frankly... it doesn't look bad and ads to the feel.

Xav

[moose]

Not sure it needs to be heritage listed just yet, but I agree that some graffiti is quite good artwork, wish I had a portion of the talent of some of those guys. tagging however is just rubbish.

[dobbo]

Talented, yes some of them are. Until they get electrocuted, fall from heights, crushed or dismembered whilst using there talents. Then if the do survive they sue because a duty of care was not in place to protect them and prevent them from using their talents.

Talented at costing people money, thats all.

Obviously you guys have not had the task of scrubbing walls with citric acid until the paint comes off.

[Lucus]

At the risk of opening a sizeable can of worms, if we are going spend money to protect an artform i would rather i was grafitti (or urban art call it what you will) than photographs of naked children.......;)

[Xavie]

Dobbo- I have had to scrub graffiti off many times when I lived in Sydney and your right, it ain't fun.

But that's not the point.

Upon reading some other news stories some of this work was done as a demonstration against government. Probably because if they tried to protest any where else they would of been gaoled or harmed for no good reason.
I don't know about heritage listing but sometimes the trees need to be seen through the forest.

[p38arover]

Dobbo- I have had to scrub graffiti off many times when I lived in Sydney and your right, it ain't fun.

But that's not the point.

Upon reading some other news stories some of this work was done as a demonstration against government. Probably because if they tried to protest any where else they would of been gaoled or harmed for no good reason.
I don't know about heritage listing but sometimes the trees need to be seen through the forest.

If it was my wall, I wouldn't care less about heritage listing, I'd paint over it.

[Landy110]

Now that the afore mentioned can of worms is open, consider this.
There is graffiti carved into a rock on Goat Island in Syd 'arb. It was done by convicts and is protected.
There are various places around the world where sailors have carved there names into coastal rocks over the centuries and we admire this.
There are names and dates going back to the 18 hundreds at Borenore Caves near Orange and the nicest I have seen is the names of the outlawed "Ribbon Gang" written on a stalagmite in Abbercrombie cave some of which were written in beautiful "copperplate" form, all are now glazed over by by the ongoing process of dripping calcite. These are beautiful and admired by all but will be lost for ever in the fullness of time.
That said, I don't like the stuff we see today but who am I to say??
Steve.

[Slunnie]

Which brings another issue...

Chambers Pillar is what comes to mind.

Here is what wiki has to say:



Chambers Pillar (Aboriginal name 'Idracowra' or 'Etikaura') is a sandstone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandstone) formation some 160 km south of Alice Springs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Springs%2C_Northern_Territory) in the Northern Territory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory) of Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia). Erosion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erosion) by wind and rain has left an isolated pillar of 350 million year old sandstone, rising 50 metres above the surrounding plain.
John McDouall Stuart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McDouall_Stuart) was the first European to see Chambers Pillar, reaching the site in April 1860, and naming it after James Chambers, one of his South Australian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australia) sponsors. During the subsequent 147 years numerous visitors have added graffiti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti) by carving names in the soft sandstone at the base of the pillar. This is proving a dilemma for the government body responsible for its conservation; at what age is graffiti of historical importance and not just graffiti?


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/07/521.jpg

and the NT Govt.




John MacDouall Stuart first
recorded the pillar in April 1860
whilst travelling north on his first
attempt to cross Australia. He
named it after James Chambers,
one of his South Australian
sponsors.
Until the coming of the railway in
the 1920s, the Pillar was a
landmark in the desert on the long
overland journey from Adelaide to
Alice Springs. Many of those
early travellers have left a record
of their visit in the soft, white
sandstone including John Ross
and Alfred Giles both in 1870.
More recently, visitors have
added their names or graffitied the
rock face. This is illegal and
lessens the historical significance
of the Reserve.


A good point by Steve. Perhaps when vandelism is a tool??? Perhaps the subjective value of its aesthetics? Is age a factor?

Such as around the Dig Tree perhaps?

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/07/522.jpg

[p38arover]

Now that the afore mentioned can of worms is open, consider this.
There is graffiti carved into a rock on Goat Island in Syd 'arb. It was done by convicts and is protected.
There are various places around the world where sailors have carved there names into coastal rocks over the centuries and we admire this.
There are names and dates going back to the 18 hundreds at Borenore Caves near Orange and the nicest I have seen is the names of the outlawed "Ribbon Gang" written on a stalagmite in Abbercrombie cave some of which were written in beautiful "copperplate" form, all are now glazed over by by the ongoing process of dripping calcite. These are beautiful and admired by all but will be lost for ever in the fullness of time.
That said, I don't like the stuff we see today but who am I to say??
Steve.

Maybe so - but I don't own those items. If it was mine and it was new, it's vandalism of my property so I'd remove or paint over it.

[DiscoStew]

Maybe so - but I don't own those items. If it was mine and it was new, it's vandalism of my property so I'd remove or paint over it.

But if you don't remove it straight away and it becomes part of the urban landscape, do you at some point lose the right to remove it??

[p38arover]

But if you don't remove it straight away and it becomes part of the urban landscape, do you at some point lose the right to remove it??

Not while it's my property.

[Slunnie]

What if its a heritage listed property? :(

[moose]

I wonder how many aboriginal artworks dating back many, many years were actually just kids buggerizing around. Or egyptian heiroglyphs for that matter:D