Name: 【TED-Ed】Is graffiti art? Or vandalism? - Kelly Wall
Uploaded: 2016-09-13T23:42:51.000Z
Duration: 4 min 32 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Graffiti pops up boldly throughout our cities.

It can make statements about identity, art, empowerment, and politics,

while simultaneously being associated with destruction.

Graffiti, or the act of writing  or scribbling on public property,

it's raised the same questions we debate now:

In the 1st century BCE, Romans regularly inscribed messages on public walls,

Mayans were prolifically scratching drawings onto their surfaces.

In Pompeii, ordinary citizens regularly marked public walls with magic spells,

and even messages to champion their favorite gladiators.

Some, including the Greek philosopher Plutarch, pushed back,

deeming graffiti ridiculous and pointless.

that the roots of the modern concept of vandalism were planted.

At that time, a barbaric tribe known as the Vandals swept through Rome,

But it wasn't until centuries later that the term vandalism was actually coined

in an outcry against the defacing of art during the French Revolution.

And as graffiti became increasingly associated

with deliberate rebellion and provocativeness,

That's part of the reason why, today, many graffiti artists stay underground.

Some assume alternate identities to avoid retribution,

while others do so to establish comradery and make claim to territory.

a novel overlap of celebrity and anonymity

hit the streets of New York City and Philadelphia.

Taggers used coded labels to trace their movements around cities

And the very illegality of graffiti-making that forced it into the shadows

also added to its intrigue  and growing base of followers.

The question of space and ownership is central to graffiti's history.

Its contemporary evolution has gone hand in hand with counterculture scenes.

While these movements raised their anti-establishment voices,

graffiti artists likewise challenged established boundaries of public property.

and even once went so far as to paint an elephant in the city zoo.

have used wall writing  to visually spread their messages.

During World War II, both the Nazi Party and resistance groups

can be seen as a striking symbol of repression

versus relatively unrestricted public access.

associated with graffiti  become mainstream,

Since the creation of so-called graffiti unions in the 1970s

and the admission of selected graffiti artists into art galleries a decade later,

graffiti has straddled the line between being outside and inside the mainstream.

And the appropriation of graffiti styles by marketers and typographers

has made this definition  even more unclear.

The once unlikely partnerships of graffiti artists

have brought these artists  out of the underground

Although graffiti  is linked to destruction,

it's also a medium of unrestricted artistic expression.

between defacing  and beautifying continues.

Meanwhile, graffiti artists challenge  common consensus about the value of art

and the degree to which any space can be owned.

Whether spraying, scrawling,  or scratching,

graffiti brings these questions of ownership, art, and acceptability

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【TED-Ed】Is graffiti art? Or vandalism? - Kelly Wall

debate

strike

deliberate

raise