From the streets into the museum: an exploration of the representations of graffiti in the city and its arrival into the museum space in regards to the exhibition “Tec: Urbana”.

an exploration of the representations of graffiti in the city and its arrival into the museum space in regards to the exhibition “Tec: Urbana”.

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the presence of graffiti in the urban space and its function as a political tool utilized for transgression and social inclusivity. Beyond a biographical study, this text is sustained by the contributions of the Argentinian artist Tec, who was interviewed about the subject in the ‘Salão Cultural do Museo de Arte Brasileira’ ( the cultural establishment of the Museum of Brazilian Art) located within Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado, a space wherein he exhibited his pieces. The article considers the implications of graffiti’s arrival within museological spaces, analyzing this relocation as a form of asserting the practice as an artform, as well as acreditting the street artist, as an attempt to challenge the negative connotations which continue to be associated with the artform. This text also reflects on the inherent differences in the consumption of the art work in the streets and alternatively, within the museum. In conclusion, the text concentrates on a poignant segment of the exhibition ‘Tec: Urbana’, which comprises a large-scale replication of drawings made by public school children in Sao Paulo, in order to dispute the importance of a child feeling represented and accepted in the museological realm, which correspondingly incentivizes the study of art in schools, as well the inclusion of the family within artistic and cultural spaces of the city in which they life.