Thursday, June 3, 2010

Graffiti in Florence...






Within our own group, we have had some discussion on the amount of graffiti across the city, and opinions around such acts-- is it right? or wrong? should the government being doing more about it? It's the Italian's city, and perhaps they are taking ownership. Or perhaps it's the tourists who have a need to leave there mark where ever they go. It's been sited in hidden alleys, to locations of high tourism- such as in the surroundings of the Uffizi Museo. From small writing on a banister to large writing covering an entire wall, it is in abundance. But it's a city of art and expression, so what's wrong with expressing oneself all over the city-- free too, you don't have to wait in line or pay to see this 'art'.

Tom Gates writes about it on a website entitled, "The Traveler's Notebook". He has a negative view on the issue, describing it as 'Florence Defaced by Graffiti, Declared Ugly and Depressing", as he titles the issue. Furthermore, "Cops in the city center socialize in circles, looking as if they might break out a hackysack at any moment. Bus and train station rent-a-cops seem to come standard with headphones and MP3 players. They all love to whistle," says Gates. I can attest to the fact that the lack of action that police take, seems to be true, from what I've seen. He even tries to find the meaning in all of this, "It’s a frustrating thing, the lack of purpose involved in all of this. It makes the streets look like the set of a bad 1980’s rap video. There’s no “fuck the police” or political statement, no reason given for the defamation of centuries-old buildings. It’s just a bunch of crap spray painted on a wall."(Gates)


From 'The Florentine' news, is quoted as saying in 2006, "This year the city of Florence spent more than 70,000 euro to remove newly sprouted graffiti from Florence’s walls, churches and storefronts. The cost of said removal has increased considerably since 2004, when the state paid 59,568 euro to a company specializing in the removal of spray paint and combating vandalism. " If the city has to spend so much money to remove it, then that starts to become a problem. It's money coming out of hard working citizens I would predict. Furthermore, if it's being removed It's seen as a negative thing. To reduce the amount of graffiti on historic buildings and churches, "Florence has recently created spaces specifically designated for this kind of contemporary art."(The Florentine) However, this doesn't seem to help, because still 4 years later it is still seen all over. On the other hand, "Graffiti is a word of Italian origin derived from the verb graffiare, or ‘to scratch.’ Romans often carved symbols and phrases onto walls and monuments that were not much different from today’s street art. Their scratches included everything from insults to love declarations, political consigns and quotations from famous literature."(The Florentine) So in being as unbiased as possible, I try to give you the facts... now is this right or wrong? I welcome your response.

See the blogs in context here, for further information:


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