Graffiti Walls

I heard about this last year and thought it was pretty interesting. Apparently in some urban parks they now include a wall specifically intended for graffiti art, in an attempt to give would-be vandals a place to outlet their artistic impulses.

I think this is a really great idea, and is particularly appropriate adjacent to a skate park, for example. I do have some questions, however...

1. Is it appropriate to establish a set of rules for content of graffiti? For example, are racial slurs or X-rated material permitted?

2. Should the walls be periodically painted white, providing a blank slate for a fresh set of art? Or, should the art just be built in layers until eventually older work is obscured by newer material?

Here is a good graffiti site to peruse:

http://www.graffiti.org/

And here are some descriptions about places where legal walls have been installed:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east/series2/graffiti_vandalism_tags_spray_paint.shtml

http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia/nsw/newcastle/200505/s1376470.htm

(From http://www.nograffiti.com/files/freewalls.htm)
Rockford, Illinois. The Aldeen Dam, located in a Rockford Park, was previously a place where high school students, with a permit, could spend all night decorating the walls with boasts about their schools. In July, 1997, with the arrival of hip-hop taggers in Rockford, the Aldeen Dam became entirely dominated by hip-hop taggers only. Almost all graffiti at Aldeen is done by the same taggers and crews that vandalize the residences, businesses, billboards, railroad cars, and signage of Rockford. Further, the number of tags at Aldeen is proportionate to a crew or tagger’s frequency of vandalism on the streets of Rockford. This fact alone would seem to disprove the claim that a “free wall” might be an effective tool to combat graffiti. Aldeen also displays the “spread-to-all-adjacent-areas” characteristic which other free walls manifest: at Aldeen, in the areas adjacent to the free wall, there is graffiti on light poles, the grass, trees, the parking lot, trash containers, park benches, and walking trails through the woods. (Jim Powers)

The following comments were received as a result of our discussions on free walls from a very involved Law Enforcement officer specializing in tagger suppression.........

When I was a part of the team in the Long Beach undercover sting operation, I suggested an area of free walls back in 1991. None of the taggers were interested. The reasons why they were not interested:

1 The "establishment" was making them conform to rules.
2 Taggers have no rules and they are anti-establisment, like the crew names depict: YPN(Your Property Next) or MAK(Murderers Assassins Killers).
3 If it isn't vandalism its not graffiti. It would be like asking gang members to be gang members Monday thru Friday from the hours of 3:30 pm to Midnight and not on weekends.
Free walls will always attract the taggers that will not respect the concept and you have a Huntington Beach situation all over again. The only reason why there is a persistence to make this "free wall" mistake again is someones ego is getting in the way of common sense. If a person goes to the Venice "pit" where it is similar to a free wall, all you have to do is look around the neighborhood and its got graffiti on it. The taggers did not limit it to the pit.

I hope the folly of free walls begins to sink in, those people that say it is a success often times hide the disaster it causes. I would like to visit a city the size of LA and see where a free wall concept is working. Whats really working and not working may boil down to from whose perspective.

I am very interested in hearing of more communities where these walls have been installed, and whether they are successful in giving young people an artistic outlet, or as this last article implies, whether they are NOT successful.

I venture to guess that a free wall would work best in a small community or town where the teenagers need an outlet such as this, rather than trying it in an area where gangs are going to be a problem. And if, in a small community, it is made clear to those using the space that if it is abused the privilege will be removed, maybe it will work. Also, putting it in a place where it is highly visible might provide passive policing. In a park, near a playground for example, where not only will vandalism of other elements besides the wall be observed immediately, but inappropriate content will be noticed by parents and reported to park officials who can paint over it.