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The archaeological site of Umm Qais is a popular tourist destination for both local and foreign tourists who come to appreciate the site’s archaeological history, scenic landscape, and panoramic perspective. The site was the focus of tourism planning, which included the construction of amenities and infrastructure, the creation of tourist circuits, and archaeological management. This development was linked to a rise in visitor numbers as well as the provision of a high level of service, such as parking, tickets, kiosks, restaurants, and cafés, to welcome visitors. The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of on-site tourist services and infrastructures, as well as those of visitors, and their geographical and temporal scope on the site. The study used a qualitative approach based on case study fieldwork as a research method to achieve this goal. Personal observation, interviews with site-related stakeholders, and a checklist were used to collect data during the fieldwork. Both tourism infrastructure and visitors were proven to have a detrimental influence on tourist attractions. The site’s aesthetic pollution and structural deterioration were caused by tourism services and infrastructure. Graffiti, vandalism, and trash left by visitors exerted strong negative impacts. Furthermore, spatial and temporal negative impacts were determined by the patterns of seasonal movement of visitors and the location of infrastructure. Thus, most of the impacts were concentrated in a small portion of the site, among the western theater, the panoramic view, and the traditional Ottoman village. This research sheds light on these challenges and makes recommendations in the areas of heritage management, tourism, and visitor impact management that may be of interest to on-the-ground decision makers as well as academics.

With the increase of graffiti since the beginning of the 1970s, the interest in proper removal and high-quality protection systems also have grown. To protect affected objects and buildings from damage caused by graffiti, anti-graffiti systems (AGS) can be used. In practice, it has already been shown that no AGS is suitable for all kind of surfaces. In this study, the effects of permanent anti-graffiti systems on various concrete surfaces are specifically investigated and evaluated with test series under natural weathering (over 3 years). The focus is put on functionality (visual influences) and durability (surface properties of the concrete).

World Heritage Sites (WHSs) face several problems, such as increased maintenance costs, difficulties in checking protection conditions, and graffiti destruction by tourists. Hence, constructing a new system that can effectively lighten the burden of maintenance expenditures is necessary. Presently, a new preservation system that leverages Information and Communication Technology, 3D Restoration Technology by photographic data collection, and artificial intelligence and that involves tourists’ participation has been developed. This paper aims to introduce the new preservation system, investigate the possibility of tourists cooperating with the system free of charge, and introduce the details and results of a choice experiment conducted on tourists at Bayon Temple in Cambodia. Analysis results showed that approximately 50% of respondents would be willing to cooperate free of charge, and statistical significance for certain attributes and interactions. The analysis indicated that providing appropriate incentives to tourists who have specific individual characteristics would help promote the use of the preservation system.

Graphic-rich texts are common in posters. In a movie poster, information, such as movie title, tag lines, and names of the actors, director, and production house, is available. Graphic-rich texts in movie titles represent not only sentiments but also their genre. Understanding the poster requires graphic-rich text recognition. Prior to that, one requires text localization, so background and foreground graffiti can be well segmented. In this paper, we propose a transfer learning-based approach for graphic-rich text localization, which was tuned by introducing reverse augmentation and rotated/inclined rectangle drawing technique. A convolution neural network-based model is then applied to identify their corresponding scripts. In our experiments, on a newly developed dataset (available upon request) that is composed of movie posters with multiple scripts of 1154 images, we achieved an average accuracy of 99.30%. Our results outperformed previously developed tools that are relying on handcrafted features.

En este artículo se lleva a cabo la revisión de un grafito ibérico sobre un vaso de plata procedente de la Bética, al que no se había prestado demasiada atención en la bibliografía previa. Idéntica secuencia se encuentra en otro grafito sobre otro vaso de plata, igualmente de la Bética, y en algún grafito del sitio de Azaila (Teruel). En la misma base del vaso donde se grabó el grafito hay también dos letras latinas acompañadas de indicaciones numerales que no habían sido mencionadas en estudios anteriores.

In order to create secured urban spaces, public safety need to be considered as the duty of citizens as well as official authorities. Therefore, this research focuses on the social environment of public spaces and how to encourage citizens to take prompt actions to detect, report and deter any illegal activities. Moreover, graffiti is considered as the most common type of vandalism worldwide that threatens not only our public and private properties, but also our social environment. In order to resolve the problem of graffiti, this research examines current citizen participation model applied by different stakeholders in Fukuoka City in Japan. Current model has been illustrated based on several in-depth interviews conducted with different stakeholders and citizens in Fukuoka City. Then, a new model has been proposed based on urban gamification to encourage more citizens to act as passive observers in public spaces. Proposed model has been evaluated by local communities and city hall to understand its potentials. This research found out that proposed model has the potentials to encourage more citizens to be part of the solution by being more active in public spaces. However, few obstacles regarding budget and administration might stand in the way of achieving such a concept.

This article deals with the problem of the functioning of urban space as a communicative platform for the expression of public opinion. The aim of the work is to analyze the culture of graffiti, which draws attention to modern social processes, and the main task is to assess the semantic and sociocultural content of graffiti and their influence on the formation of public consciousness. Based on the concept of the French researcher Roland Barthes, the authors analyzed the location “Bukashkin’s Yard” in Yekaterinburg. The article summarizes the ideas about social processes in cultural, sociological and philosophical terms.

The article cites new literary parallels to a graffiti inscription of the 12th century about the death of Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel, found on the wall of the Church of the Annunciation on the Settlement in Veliky Novgorod as a result of archeological and work by Vladimir Sedov in the summer of 2016–2017. This inscription is a traditional genre of annalistic news of the death of the Old Russian princes. They usually use the expression “weeping and sobbing”, “weeping and longing / sorrow”, in different versions, to refer to the crying and tears of the prince’s squad and relatives. In the inscription under consideration, it refers to the weeping of the squad for the deceased Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich. The author of the article adds a number of other literary parallels to the literary sources noted by the publishers and interpreters of the Annunciation inscription. Especially important for expanding the literary context is the old Russian apocryphal “Homilia for the Resurrection of Lazarus” at the end of the 12th — beginning of the 13th centuries”. An important episode in it is the weeping — the prayer of Adam in Hell, where he turns to Christ. The theme of weeping in the inscription on the wall of the Church of the Annunciation and in the “Homilia on the Resurrection of Lazarus” is expressed in similar words and phrases. The examples of similar expressions and formulas presented here allow us to expand the literary context of the Annunciation inscription about the death of Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich.

This essay offers a new perspective on the creative origins, aesthetic qualities, and socio-cultural significance of Tom Wilson’s newspaper comic, Ziggy. More specifically, I point out the ways in ...

A presente pesquisa tem como orientação principal a arte urbana no centro histórico das cidades médias, especificamente, analisando o grafite e as nuances de suas manifestações no corpo urbano da cidade de Araraquara. Este artigo apresentará o trabalho desenvolvido pelos pesquisadores durante um ano de pesquisa acadêmica. A arte urbana é, notavelmente, matéria de inúmeros estudos no campo das Ciências Humanas de forma geral, entretanto, há certa hesitação, por parte dos pesquisadores brasileiros, em analisar as dinâmicas sociais impostas às cidades médias, que representam boa parcela dos municípios brasileiros, neste rol, estão incluídos também os estudos sobre arte urbana no espaço dessas cidades. Deste modo, tivemos como fio condutor e instigador a necessidade de compreender algumas das dinâmicas impostas a estes espaços, que, sobretudo, são espaços em disputa, disputa pelos mercados locais, pela população, mercado imobiliário, setor público, e a própria arte. Nesta dinâmica é fundamental analisar como a arte urbana sobrevive, como é capaz de alterar significados e imprimir marcas nos indivíduos num urbano em disputa.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the dominant attitudes of Russian urban youth to street art. The period of growing up of representatives of modern urban youth in Russia came at a time when street art began to gradually turn into a familiar element of cultural life and even a kind of brand of many cities. And the basic hypothesis of the work is that growing up in the conditions of the development of street art could form interest and loyalty to this creative genre among the current representatives of Russian urban youth. To test this hypothesis, the author refers to the data of his own sociological research conducted among the youth of a particular city – Yekaterinburg. The key subject of this research is the peculiarities of street art ideas characteristic of the city's youth. As a result of the analysis of the collected data, the author comes to the conclusion that the hypothesis about the formation of a loyal and interested attitude to street art among urban youth turns out to be fair. Street art is perceived by young people as a full-fledged creative genre that makes the city brighter and more attractive. There is practically no attitude to street art as vandalism and abuse of urban space among young people. And young people expect the authorities not to fight street art, but to create conditions for its development. The key result of this work is the conclusion: the youth of the city are accustomed to treat street art as something natural and organic for the social reality of the city. The novelty of the conducted research and the conclusions obtained lies in the use of sociological methodology to analyze the role of street art in the life of a modern city: referring to the survey techniques, the author shows what attitude to street art has been established among the youth of the city and analyzes the reasons that led to this.

Taking the dispute between East Timor and Australia over their maritime boundary as an illustrative context, this article discusses the role of semiotic resources in constructing chronotopes of protest. Reflecting first on language choice in urban protests during East Timor’s struggle for independence, the paper goes on to analyse the deployment of material and virtual resources in East Timorese-led demonstrations against the Australian government’s stance in the dispute. Using ‘entanglement’ as a structuring metaphor, and looking at language choice, social and grammatical indexicality, imagery, embodied cultural capital, and the choreography of assembly, the paper explores how protesters constructed a set of chronotopes that drew on the injuries of the colonial past, and re-emplaced and re-framed them in the post-colonial present. The paper looks at the linguistic landscape of protest as a semiotic aggregate in which the periphery claims a voice and ‘talks back’ to the centre.

Environmental Education as an educative practice is committed to the formation of environmentally aware citizens. This paper aims to report the practical experiences of Environmental Education obtained through outreach actions developed by students in the Environmental Sciences Master’s Program of the Federal University of Pelotas, in partnership with the Center for Education, Research and Outreach on Waste and Sustainability. The project was developed in two schools of the public network in the municipality of Pelotas/RS, with the participation of approximately fifty children from elementary school, who were between six and fourteen years old. Through awareness raising, puppet theater pedagogical workshops, drawings, graffiti workshop, storytelling and ludic games and activities focusing on the environment, we sought to approach topics such as: solid waste, tree planting, and the crimes that occurred in Mariana and Brumadinho. The results of the workshops were positive, contributing to a better understanding of the human interaction with the environment and the consequences from human actions.

portuguesAo deixar Nova York e adotar o Rio de Janeiro em 2001, Tito na Rua decidiu utilizar-se do grafite para imprimir sua marca como novo morador do lugar. Criou a street comics Ze Ninguem, uma historia em quadrinhos (HQ) cuja narrativa se desenvolve em paredes grafitadas pela cidade. O personagem-titulo vive suas aventuras enquanto percorre paredes e vielas do Rio de Janeiro, suscitando debates em torno das possibilidades de interlocucao entre os procedimentos tecnicos e visuais proprios de duas artes graficas e urbanas como as HQs e o grafite. As relacoes entre arte urbana e apreensao do espaco publico, leitura de arte como leitura da cidade e as solucoes criativas a partir do dialogo intermidias serao pontos desenvolvidos ao longo deste texto, tendo por base um olhar que historiciza as praticas de olhar e se interroga sobre o papel das artes na experiencia de cidade. EnglishAfter leaving New York in 2001to adopt the city of Rio de Janeiro, Tito na Rua started to work with graffiti to print its brand as a new resident of the city. He created a street comics called Ze Ninguem, a comics narrative whose title character lives his adventures as he wanders through the walls and alleys of Rio de Janeiro. Through Ze Ninguem we intend to discuss the possibilities of interlocution between the technical and visual procedures typical of two graphic and urban arts such as comics and graffiti. The connections between urban art and apprehension of public space, reading of art in terms of reading the city and the creative solutions suggested by intermediality are main topics developed throughout the text, starting from a perspective that historicizes the practices of looking and questions the role of the arts in the city experience.

While big spatial data is certainly useful as a means of getting to know a place, to get closer to actually understanding a place, the rigorous and sometimes slow process of conducting on‐the‐groun...

The goal of this article is to analyse the distribution of American movies in Italy in the central part of the twentieth century (1930–1996), using methods derived from both social sciences and qua...

The paper focuses on the architectural study of the so called Sarno Bath complex at its final phase, a six-storey building located at the edge of the city (Regio VIII, Insula 2, nos. 17–21). The complete 3D survey of the complex, obtained from the surveys already carried out by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and by new surveys of the University of Padua (MACH Project), was the fundamental work tool. The research has several aims: (i) to provide a proposal of reconstruction of the partially collapsed southern facade and of the upper levels; (ii) to define the numerous passages within the building complex, useful for understanding how it was used; (iii) to propose a preliminary hypothesis on the function of the different levels and areas, based on the planimetric analysis and on the materials found (the study is ongoing) as well as on the graffiti still in situ; (iv) to provide a “quantitative” architectural evaluation of the complex, facilitated by the digital survey. The understanding of this extraordinary architectural and multifunctional complex, where public functions, residential areas, a public–private bath and storage areas – all interconnected – might coexist, is only at the beginning.

In order to create more attractive graffiti works, the Internet of Things technology is used to collect people’s preference information data, and then cloud computing and big data analysis are applied to calculate and analyze the data, so as to get more design elements in line with people’s preferences, providing more material for the creators of graffiti art and facilitating their further creation of graffiti. In recent years, graffiti art, as a kind of postmodern marginal cultural art, has great expressiveness and creativity, which makes graffiti art widely used. Particularly in visual communication design, graffiti art has more characteristics and is deeply loved by the people. With the continuous development of science and technology, Internet of Things technology and cloud computing have acquired more information for many fields, thus assisting the field to complete deeper analysis and research. However, there are few applications in the field of graffiti art. Therefore, this paper combines cloud computing and Internet of Things to obtain more visual communication design elements to provide material for the creator, which is conductive for their continuing creation.

Any visitor who walked the streets of Paris in the days or weeks following the attacks of January 2015 would definitely have witnessed a particular form of graphic irruption: the dissemination of messages of solidarity and mourning, and the repetition, within this mass of writing, of the formula ‘I am Charlie’. Although the situation was different, the responses to terrorist attacks in January 2015 and the 9/11 aftermath are comparable by the ‘writing event’ (Fraenkel, 2002, 2018) they produced: temporary and atypical dispositifs of writing turned to the public space in order to be read or at least seen by passers-by. This article, structured along chronological lines, traces the evolution of the viral formula over the long term from Twitter to the urban public space. Firstly, the author focuses on the origin and meanings of the statement and formulates several hypotheses that may explain its wide circulation on social networks. Secondly, she analyses the post-attack graffiti based on databases of several private graffiti-cleaning companies in order to highlight the temporary sacralization of illegal writings. The ‘ Je suis Charlie’ phenomenon is interesting in many ways: its staggering, massive diffusion; the apparent unanimity with which it was greeted in the world of politics and the media; and the way it was managed by local authorities.

Graffiti is an element of graphic expression that manifests different states of the human being. However, for many governments worldwide, it has been an element of discord between them and the communities that express themselves through graffitis. This article proposes identifying graffiti and concentration zones through Computer Vision and object detection and localization to support public policy management in smart cities. ASUM-DM methodology is used to achieve the aim. Initially, the current problems faced by municipal governments in the management of public graffiti policy are identified. Then available datasets of images from Google Street View (GSV) and other acquired datasets are identified for the case study carried out in the city of Medellin (Colombia) and border municipalities. A training dataset of 1,395 images and a production dataset of 71,100 panoramas is placed on strictly using the experimental method of the division of training data, validation, and a production sample, to make a correct estimation of the generalization error. As a result of the training process, we obtained an Average Precision of 69,14%, which presented a high precision Tag of 89.23%, and low precision of 59.13% in Mural. Finally, it is possible to build heat maps of graffiti concentration areas that could guide rulers to create or improve public policies related to graffiti expression.

Graffiti and street art have become a universal, intercultural and multidisciplinary urban phenomenon. The contribution of scientific research has greatly increased knowledge about this peculiar culture that has transformed the way we view and experience the city. The general objective of this chapter is the description of a framework for community development, focused on young people, using graffiti and street art culture as an aggregating resource for social inclusion, cultural entrepreneurship and empowerment. The identification of a set of tangible and intangible assets linked to the creation of cultural synergies for the benefit of young citizens provides a model that may be employed for the social and economic progress of local communities. This chapter also provides a macro and micro environmental analysis intended to establish guidelines for the implementation of entrepreneurial projects for the cultural development of diverse social settings. In this sense, the examples of distinct cities, such as Lisbon, Heerlen and Toronto, demonstrate that their dynamics around street art culture are a challenge for engagement in effective socio-economic constructions. Similarly, the academic research project StreetArtCEI provides not only the scientific knowledge but also resources for the community to use in entrepreneurial actions.

Nowadays, images are generated on a large scale and in a decentralized way. Such modality of data carries valuable information but extracting this information is not always trivial. In this thesis, we tackle computer vision challenges when using ground-level images. The first challenge is the high-cost annotation for evaluating object detection methods. In the context of image degradation imposed by weather, the second issue is the lack of analysis that evaluates the impact of de-raining methods to the object detection algorithms on rainy images. The third challenge is the evaluation of the reliability of the density estimation results from a real sensor network. The emergence of sensor network data motivates the last problem, of estimating the urban degradation in the city using city images. These challenges define the scope of this thesis. For the first problem, we proposed an approach with cheap annotation cost for object detectors comparison and we applied it in a semi-supervised learning approach using surveillance images. To address challenge two, we established a protocol and performed an extensive benchmark of object detection preceded by de-raining methods. We find strong indicators that no current de-raining method can robustly improve the posterior object detection accuracy when applied in this naive way. The third issue was tackled by creating a probabilistic sensing model to establish theoretical bounds for the errors of the sensed distributions. The approach has been validated using simulation and applied to compute the pedestrian density map in Manhattan. To attack the last problem, we systematically collected public images of São Paulo and segmented the regions affected by tagging, as an indicator of the urban degradation of the region. The source code is fully released. Atualmente, as imagens são geradas em larga escala e de forma descentralizada. Essa modalidade de dados carrega informações valiosas, mas extrair essas informações nem sempre é trivial. Nesta tese, definimos e propomos soluções a desafios de visão computacional ao utilizar imagens no nível do solo. O primeiro desafio é a anotação de alto custo para avaliar métodos de detecção de objetos. No contexto da degradação da imagem imposta pelo clima, a segunda questão é a falta de análise que avalie o impacto dos métodos de chuvas nos algoritmos de detecção de objetos em imagens chuvosas. O terceiro desafio é a confiabilidade dos resultados da estimativa de densidade de uma rede real de sensores. O surgimento de dados da rede de sensores motiva o último problema, de estimar a degradação urbana na cidade usando imagens em nível de solo. Esses desafios definem o escopo desta tese. Para o primeiro problema, propusemos uma abordagem com menor custo de anotação para comparação de detectores de objetos e a aplicamos em uma abordagem de aprendizado semi-supervisionada usando imagens de vigilância. Para enfrentar o desafio dois, estabelecemos um protocolo e realizamos uma extensa referência de detecção de objetos quando precedidas por métodos de remoção de chuva. Encontramos fortes indicadores de que métodos atuais de remoção de chuva não podem melhorar de maneira robusta a precisão da posterior detecção de objetos quando aplicado dessa maneira direta. A terceira questão foi abordada através da criação de um modelo de detecção probabilística para estabelecer limites teóricos para os erros das distribuições detectadas. A abordagem foi validada usando simulação e aplicada para calcular o mapa de densidade de pedestres em Manhattan. Para atacar o último problema, coletamos sistematicamente imagens públicas de São Paulo e segmentamos as regiões afetadas, como indicadores da degradação urbana da região. O código fonte foi integralmente publicado.

There are many warning signs of youth gang involvement. Youth may wear certain colors to show unity with their gang, or may shy away from wearing certain colors. They may wear a certain type of clothing or accessories to show their affiliation. Gangs use hand signs to communicate and show unity. Tattoos may show gang affiliation and there may be evidence of symbols on their personal items. Graffiti can be used by gangs to mark their territory or disrespect other gangs. Other signs include social media usage to communicate with gang members, being interested in music and movies that depict the gang lifestyle, and a sudden negative change in behavior. Youth may suddenly have money and a new friend group. They may be worried about their safety, engage in drug abuse, carry weapons, and engage in fighting. Contributed from: National Gang Center (National Gang Center, n.d.-a; National Gang Center, n.d.-c; National Gang Center and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, n.d.) and New Jersey’s Online Gang-Free Community. (New Jersey’s Online Gang-Free Community, n.d.)

Some microorganisms can be used as bioremediation agents, in biocleaning treatments, to remove undesired sulphates, nitrates and organic matter from cultural heritage surfaces. Graffiti materials (mainly spray paints) are now included in the list of materials that can be biocleaned, with studies on this topic being initiated just over 5 years ago. Research on the bioremoval of graffiti is continuing and on a promising track. This chapter reports a critical analysis of studies of the bioremoval of graffiti carried out in recent years, which are compared with similar studies of the removal of salts (mainly nitrates and sulphates) and organic matter conducted in the last thirty years. Likewise, the present challenges and ways of overcoming them are addressed towards developing a complete protocol for the use of bioremediation to remove graffiti, with particular emphasis on the use of the method for cleaning facades and buildings.

The City of Angels Graffiti Jacket & Tee is an artistic outcome combining street art, namely graffiti found in Los Angeles, photography, digital printing technology, and the 1980s influences in women’s apparel. The artistic reference for design, along with digitally printed fabric resulted in the finished piece which exhibits a combination of urban graffiti art, influences of 1980s punk and moto styling and feminine details. The opening of “Art in the Streets”, on April 17th, 2011 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles marked the largest American museum exhibition of graffiti and street art to date. Curator Roger Gastman says, “Bringing graffiti from the street into the museum venue isn’t easy” (“The History of American Graffiti:”2011). But Gastman had developed a skill for doing just that, with the Los Angeles exhibit showcasing 50 graffiti and street artist installations. Attending this show became the primary inspiration for the pieces in City of Angels Graffiti Jacket & Tee.

General practice is in the throes of a public relations storm.1 We have come a long way from the Thursday evening clapping in the spring to the anti-GP graffiti in recent weeks. Without swift action on our part we risk widening the gap between patients and GPs in understanding access and the changed services we provide. Broadcast media has played a role in shaping the …

I’m proud to be a GP. It’s one of the hardest and most worthwhile medical specialties. I’ve seen a rapid surge in GPs attending my practitioner health service (http://www.practitionerhealth.nhs.uk), making up nearly 60% of all new registrations. It’s not hard to find a reason for this. In recent weeks we’ve been accused by patients, politicians, and NHS England of not being open and available for patients. This recently culminated in a London practice having graffiti daubed on its walls, accusing it (in very abusive language) of not working. I’m sure I speak for others when I say that I find this extremely distressing and unfair. The idea that GPs are not working is completely …

Despite the great differences among cities, they face similar challenges regarding social inequality, politics and criminality. Urban art express these feelings from the citizen point-of-view. In particular, the drawing and painting of public surfaces may carry rich information about the time and region it was made. Existing studies have explored the spatial distribution of graffiti, but most of them considered graffiti as a whole, with no separation among the types. Also, the analyses rarely take into account the city topology. In this work, we propose to categorize the graffiti into three types: simple scribbles, complex scribbles, canvases. We analyze the spatial distribution and identify the spatial bias of each type. To further analyze the spatial distribution of the types, we apply concepts from complex networks. First, regions (communities) defined by the connectivity profiles of the city network are obtained and the prevalence of each type of graffiti over these regions are analyzed. Next, a measure based on the dynamics of the network (accessibility) is calculated and compared to the distribution of the graffiti types. A case study is performed in the analysis of three different categories of graffiti in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The results showed that the categories present characteristic spatial distributions. The ratio of each type per community of the network, though, does not pose significant deviations. Finally, a small positive correlation was observed between the locations of each graffiti type and the accessibility., To be submitted to EPL

Visual art has been tied to hip-hop culture since its emergence in the 1970s. Commentary on these initial connections often emphasizes the importance of graffiti and fashion during hip-hop’s earliest days. Forty years later, hip-hop music has grown into a billion-dollar global industry, and its influence on visual art and society has also expanded. This book-length printed edition of Arts collects essays by scholars who explore this evolving influence through their work in art education, cultural theory, and visual culture studies. The topics covered by these authors include discussions on identity and cultural appropriation, equity and access as represented in select works of art, creativity and copyright in digital media, and the use of fine art tropes within the sociocultural history of hip-hop. As a collected volume, these essays make potentially important contributions to broadening the narrative on art education and hip-hop beyond the topics of graffiti, fashion, and the use of cyphers in educational contexts.

Graffiti removal from monuments, such as statues or architecture, is becoming a priority for conservators and restorers. This operation is further complicated when the vandalism is carried out on surfaces that should be preserved, as in the case of writings or tags on historical wall paintings, or even on modern or contemporary pieces of street art. Several methods exist for graffiti removal, which include chemical, physical or biological approaches. However, traditional methodologies, such as the use of neat organic solvents, are often unsuitable. Moreover, due to the great variability of brands and formulation of commercial paints, a thorough study of materials used for graffiti and a deep knowledge of their behavior when exposed to cleaning media is currently lacking. In this contribution, we report a systematic laboratory survey on 17 different spray-can paints available on the market and commonly used for graffiti and vandalism in the Mexican area. These paints were analyzed by means of ATR FT–IR spectroscopy to characterize their composition. Several solvents, having different nature and polarity, were then used to remove the paints from glass slides. On the basis of these results, two different amphiphile-based nanostructured fluids, which present several advantages with respect to traditional cleaning methodologies, were formulated and tested on the same paint samples. Finally, the two nanostructured cleaning systems were used for the removal of vandalistic graffiti from stones decorated with red pre-Hispanic paintings in the archeological site of Ba’ Cuana, Asuncion Ixtalpetec, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Los fanzines, sustentados principalmente por la fotografía documental, encarnaron el espíritu de colaboración en el graffiti de la década de los noventa a través de un proceso de intercambio de información específica e inexistente hasta ese momento. Analizamos todo esto en una época en la que el sistema de comunicación a distancia entre escritores de grafiti se basaba exclusivamente en el correo postal. Nuestro caso de estudio se centra en un contexto muy concreto, la escena del graffiti en la ciudad de Granada, desde su gestación como movimiento (1992-1993) hasta la llegada de internet (1997-1998), abarcando un período dinámico de producción de material gráfico y visual. De esta forma, consideraremos el paralelismo existente entre los modos de hacer en el graffiti y las formas de edición y difusión, analizando los conceptos de viajar, explorar y compartir información.

Dhaka has been, of late, the subject and setting of a number of graphic narratives, comic books, and street art. This essay examines how these visual texts engage with the larger networks of the ci...

This article is a meditation on a field text that explores the concept of the sentient street. The graffiti walls of Chapeltown, a multi-cultural area of Leeds, a Northern English city, talk to an artist embedded within its community and these street texts give rise to drawings that embody that experience. Nancy’s concept that a drawing does not become information, but a sense, is used as a guide to the way textual information becomes embedded into the feeling tone of a drawing.

Latrinalia consists of pictures and messages written on bathroom stalls (Dundes, 1966). Much of the research on latrinalia has focused on how people using men’s and women’s restrooms constructed th...

Graffiti art is one of the most important of the colloquial visual arts found since ancient times in the inscriptions of caves and hieroglyphic paintings on the pyramids until today in the streets and train stations. It reflects the human experience, awakens memories and enhances human activity, and has exceeded its original context as a form of Local production and limited diversity to become an important global media of contemporary experience, cultural identity and diversity of events, where it has incorporated itself in all popular and artistic cultures and is now seen in television, cinema, video games, books, magazines and fashions, that has motivated the researcher To find out a mutual relationship between it and the designing on the dress form, it is a fertile source of inspiration of its aesthetics in all arts. The problem of research and its objectives is to: Identify the characteristics and Attributes of the graffiti art, and analyze and devise aesthetic values ​​in it, in addition to recognizing its role as a source of inspiration for international fashion designers, in order to draw inspiration from its aesthetics in the designing on dress form.The importance of the study is to contribute to linking art worlds to each other, which contributes to the production of new artistic models, enriching national and Arab libraries, centers and institutes specialized in the knowledge and information documented on graffiti as a form of art, as well as trying to open new horizons for inspiration in many arts Especially the art of fashion designing.The research followed the analytical descriptive approach along with the applied study through the analysis and characterization of the aesthetic values ​​of the graffiti art, and making use of its aesthetics in the presentation of design proposals implemented by the method of designing on the dress form. The results of the study showed that there were statistically significant differences at the level of the function (0.001) between the 12 designs proposed according to the opinions of the specialists. There were statistically significant differences at the level of function (0.00) among the twelve designs proposed according to the opinions of girls and ladies. In addition to statistically significant differences at the level of function (0.00) among the 12 designs proposed according to the opinions of the two research samples (specialists - girls and ladies). The research has submitted a number of recommendations, including: Supporting Saudi graffiti artists and allocating artistic spaces for them to enhance their talent as an art rather than sabotage, documenting their works and archiving them on the internet as a fertile field for lovers and collectors of this art. As well as intensifying the courses related to linking fashion designing to other arts worlds in the colleges of clothing, textiles and fashion designing in Saudi universities; to reach new creative ideas with different horizons and different arts inspired by them. With the introduction of computer programs as an assistant factor in fashion designing and shaping on the dress form, and training of female students on it; to get creative designs in terms of diversity and rich in texture and color.

This article is devoted to the Figuration Libre association which became a landmark in the French art of the 1980s. The activity of the group members was perceived as a fundamental break with the non-spectacular art practice of the previous generation. In the reflection of the curator of the Figuration Libre Hervé Perdriolle, artist Ben Vautier, who participated in the promotion of young artists, and critics Suzanne Pagé, Otto Hahn, and Catherine Strasser, their main strategy was to establish new relations with everyday life and revise the boundaries and territories of art. In the works of the Figuration Libre, artists focus on the tendencies of the return of decorative and ornamental principles; also, the reconstruction of the pictorial medium is associated with the revival of “spontaneity”, the appeal to the lower, marginal language, and the restoration of the autonomous grammar of art. The members of the association form a specific vocabulary, close to the language of comics, graffiti, and mass media printed products, embodying the characteristic tendencies of the art of postmodernism, trying to overcome the crisis of representation. Their imagery is addressed to profane forms of culture, kitsch travesty and play quoting of “high” sources, where infantile optics transforms the logic of the avant-garde into entertainment. Emotionality and plastic emancipation in the spirit of “barbarous” syncretism is opposed to the intellectual elitism of conceptual gestures. Such strategies characterise the international phenomenon of the late 1970s and early 1980s, i.e. the art of the New Wave, bringing together the search of German neo-expressionism, the Italian Trans-avantgarde and artists of the East Village. The commonality of these aspirations was determined by the arrangement of the exhibition “5/5 Figuration Libre, France / USA”, which united French masters and their American colleagues, such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kenny Scharf. However, in the second half of the 1980s, the collective activity of artists ceased, completing the history of the association and the New Wave in France.

This article discusses the role of ‘space’ in Indian and Pakistani public sector universities in fostering national pride. University spaces have been highlighted, in both countries, for being used by the governments as agents fostering the national narrative yet there is limited research on how these spaces contribute to the visual culture of educational institutions and in the inculcation of nationalistic values. This article adds to the conversations regarding the fostering of national belonging and pride in universities by exploring space as a constitutive element of the visual culture of the higher education environment in India and Pakistan. In both countries, the physical spaces of public universities have become platforms for channelling student voices. This research uses two state-funded universities, from Delhi (in India) and Lahore (in Pakistan), and Lefebvre’s conception of space to conduct a discourse analysis of bulletin boards, graffiti, statues, sculptures, and any other imagery found online pertaining to the campuses and analyse how it is a ‘conceived’ and ‘perceived’ aspect of the visual culture of the universities. It adds to current scholarly conversations on national pride and consciousness in India and Pakistan by showing how university spaces can potentially play an active role in promoting the state’s narrative in students’ or educators’ everyday educational experiences.

Trespassing behaviour is a problem for railway operations because it leads to train–pedestrian collisions and important delays. Trespassing incidents result from the violation of the rail track access rules by pedestrians. In many cases, this behaviour is driven by vandalism intentions. Various measures have been developed and implemented to reduce trespass and vandalism on railway premises, but to date there is no publication to show which of these measures are more effective. This paper aims to review the good practices and recommendations on the prevention of railway trespass and vandalism and to provide a summary of the most promising preventive measures that involve human factors namely collaborative measures, enforcement, staff training, public education and environmental measures, which are likely to influence people’s behaviour. Physical measures (e.g. fencing) and purely technical ones (e.g. detection systems) are not within the scope of this paper, since there is consistent literature indicating the effectiveness of these interventions. The method included a systematic review of the literature on the topic, as well as a collection of prevention practices from the railway operating community. Both the procedures were conducted during the EU-funded projects RESTRAIL (REduction of Suicides and Trespasses on the RAILway property) and GRAFFOLUTION (Awareness and prevention solutions against graffiti vandalism in public areas and transport). Although the results reveal promising preventive measures, very few studies show evidence for their effectiveness. We discuss how measures can be combined to increase their efficiency for trespass and vandalism prevention in the background of a behavioural theoretical framework applied to the rail context.

This article looks at the graffiti practice known as “tagging”—and, more specifically, “scratching” or “scratch tagging”—as a social phenomenon that can aid the thinking through of potential resistance to the hegemony of what is sometimes referred to as entrepreneurial subjectivity. While much interesting work has been produced on more “artistic” forms of graffiti—as have been made famous by stencil artists such as Banksy—there is very little work that looks to read scratch tagging as a form of political artistic practice, albeit one that emerges unconsciously and outside of what is commonly designated as the “art world.” Given that the figure of the contemporary artist is so wedded to the flows of international capital, it is worthwhile considering how the scratch tagger unconsciously engages in what the contemporary theorist Maurizio Lazzarato has referred to as “lazy techniques:” that is, forms of practice that are not circumscribed within the dominant logics of utility and productivity and are, accordingly, potentially resistant to the logics underpinning neoliberal capital.

The recent political protests unfolding in West Africa have been paralleled to the prospect of a Black Spring. However, these citizens' struggles have received a controversial media reception in the Global North and made visible a great divide between media coverage in official state-based channels and in social media. The documentary The Revolution Won't Be Televised by Senegalese-Mauritanian filmmaker Rama Thiaw (2016) figures as a significant reference for popular cultures (such as hip-hop/rap and graffiti) in the mediatizing process of revolutions. Thiaw records the immediacy of the civil struggle before the fall of Senegal's then-president and bears an intimate testimony to the mass impact of the urban protest movement Y'en a marre. This article analyzes the inclusion of Thiaw's pan-African vision of engaged filmmaking as a supposedly political gesture in the international (African) film festival circuit. It also aims to critically outline the exhibition and reception policies of current cura...

The polymineralic characteristic of granite implies an additional challenge during the laser cleaning of cultural heritage built of this rock, because the forming-minerals experience different behaviours under the laser radiation, leading to damages of variable nature and intensity. The aim of this work was to identify the ranges of fluence to satisfactorily and safely clean the four main constituent minerals of granite (quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and biotite) painted with three different graffiti colours. The cleaning was performed using a nanosecond Nd:YVO 4 laser which works at high pulse rate (kilohertz). The evaluation of cleaning effectiveness was performed in terms of graffiti extraction and mineral damage evaluated by optical, electronic and confocal microscopies and hyperspectral imaging technique. The results showed that, regardless of the graffiti colour to be cleaned, quartz and K-feldspar grains were satisfactorily cleaned at the same fluence range. However, in case of plagioclase, it depends on the colour of graffiti to be removed. In case of biotite the analytical techniques allowed to confirm that it was already cleaned with the lowest fluence tested and it was the mineral with the highest sensitivity to laser radiation. Therefore, in order to obtain a satisfactory and safe laser cleaning it would be required the prior identification of the granitic forming minerals to adjust the laser fluence.

Noise barriers have been used worldwide to reduce the impact of sound generated from traffic on nearby areas. A common feature to appear on these noise barriers are all manner of graffiti and street art. In this work we describe the relative performance of a large area luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) noise barrier before and after application of street art to one surface. Comparisons are made of performance of East/West facing panels during a sunny day. It is shown that the edge mounted solar cells that are furtheraway from the artwork perform at about 80% of their original performance level, while cells mounted nearby show greater performance decreases, suggesting that the effect of street art is primarily a localized effect. Furthermore, we demonstrate that illumination by sunlight from the rear side of the panel, opposite to the artwork shows less of a performance drop. In summary, the overall performance of a large-scale prototype LSC device is affected by the application of street art due to blocking solar access to the surface, but the effect is mostly confined to areas in the immediate vicinity of the surface modification, and the remaining panel area continues to function at a reasonable level.

The article discloses the problem of interactive technologies application at Ukrainian and German higher educational establishments that has been under study for the last twenty years. The definition of the notion “interactive technologies” and different interpretations of this concept that were given by Ukrainian and foreign scholars are highlighted. The peculiarities and varieties of interactive technologies (simulations, role-games, discussions, debates, cooperative and group learning, brainstorming, projects, graffiti, synthesis of ideas, collaborative work, fishbowl, roundabout and others) are brought to light. The article singles out similarities and differences of interactive technologies application in Ukraine and Germany. The author emphasizes on the organization of interactive activities at the lectures, the purpose of use of each kind of interactive technology in Ukrainian and German educational process. The detailed study, analyses and comparison of experience of foreign language teachers training in the above-mentioned countries are carried out.