More representative Barcelona

So, there is indeed more in Barcelona than just plants and Markets... those where just some of my immediate excitedments that I wanted to share. There are also:

Beaches- This beach is just a bit north of Barcelona and just beautiful. On this particular day we did a bit of social comentary/ protest throught the medium of sand castles. Spain still has two colonies in Northern Africa- Ceuta and Melilla. These enclaves are surrounded by giant fences, some of the most heavily patrolled borders in the world. So our sand castle/ fortress is labled as Ceuta in the center, and in front written in the sand is welcome capital, persons without money prohibited.







claro scuro:



.
Claro Scuro, http://www.graffiti.org/claroscuro/index.html an amazing urban art duo that is currently working out of Barcelona elaborated on some of the frustrations they are experiencing in the city as of recent.
Laura: How do you pick placement

Claroscuro: Shh wherever the fuck we can right now because it become such a war with the police right now that we can`t, you know its like such you have to really tiptoe around the city in order to do anything, its really sick. Like 2 years ago the city was like conquerable you know anyone could have been king you know what I’m saying, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Like they could have been as fucking known as they wanted to be, but now its like you, you go out with the purest of ambitions you know and the militia is coming to get you, no doubt and they’re really fucking serious especially with extranjeros, with foreigners because they know that we have money, because we’re living in a different country they assume that we have money, they’re really, they’re really fuckers, the police here they’re really fuckers

Laura: So one of the things I was going to ask you is why the two of you chose
Barcelona to work and how is Barcelona different than other places you’ve been... but at the moment it seems like pretty down.

Claroscuro: Ya , ya, ya really, its really down it’s really depressing…I’ve never been in such a low point of street art in my life like you know come to a place to get so busy and have so much intention of getting busy and they really have a monopoly right now, you know like um we’re trying to find every way we can to get past it you know but we’re , we call ‘em the zippers, these fuckers that clean every night you know, well they`re not fuckers, they`re contracted by the city. But its like ya we have like 2 armies against us, that’s what it feels like you go to paint something and the next day, the next fucking hour, these guys are outside right now I just saw them drive by, you know that’s how fucking intense it is here, but they’re there every fucking minute you can’t really do anything about it … they’re definitely gonna clean it up right away So even if you do get arrested for rocking the city you know its not really worth it because its gonna get zipped up the next, it doesn’t fucking matter, so its super depressing.

This 2 hour interview with Claroscuro was a highlight for me. They are 2 artist that I respect a lot for their imaged based political pieces. They are very firm believers in the power graffiti has to change a society’s consciousness and reflect extensively prior to painting or hanging any work.


Fallen wings supporters have created many pairs of giant wings around Barcelona.... angels are among us...
www.fallenwings.org for more info...





Catalán





I took a few catalàn classes... but didn`t really get to far with my speaking abilities... i did learn enough however to be able to tell you that this pintada says "you're unique, just like everyone else"

Fabulous housemates:


Parc Güell:





La sagrada familia:


Okupas / Squata:





Graffiti and Urban Art:

I have soooo many fotos of graff and urban art in Barna.. I get overwhelmed when I try to pick... which is why I haven't updated my blog in months... here are a few of my favorites and I willl add more later.

Buldozer in Matarò



This reads "open your eyes" in Catalàn.... I just stumbled upon it on sidestreet in Matarò.... open your eyes is the same slogan that the amazing group Justicia Global uses www.escueladeformacion.org so that is one of the reasons that I especially liked this piece



One of Barna`s freequently painted walls...




"We don't need are north american brothers to give us a hand out... just for them to lift their foot off of us"

BARCELONA

This blog entry is dedicated to my mother, because she shares my love for plants and markets, and these are the things I am going to talk about in this entry.


In Barcelona I live in a large dirty flat. I live with a ton of sweet young people, There are 6 of us and we are from 6 different countries- Belgium, Slovakia, Brasil, Spain, Italy, and the USA. We have lots of laughs and language lessons. Our flat is located in calle Tamarit right in front of el Mercado de St. Antoni.











Barcelona has lots of Markets, here are several fotos from another market right off the Rambla by metro Liceo. It was in Spain that I learned to love figs which is why they are highlighted, and the pumpkin foto is to clear up any doubts about their existance in Spain (I was unsure for a while, but found pleanty in time for halloween). The seafood foto is because I think the little creatures look beautiful.

























































So living in front of a market with cool people- I couldn´t really ask for much more. There was only one thing that was bothering me. The state of my balcony. If I was going to live in an apartment for more than one month I would have a beautiful balcony, with lots of plants, lots. But traveling everymonth, it is a little hard to justify plant purchases... but the fact remained that I was very jelous of my neighbors balcony´s , and not the good kind of jelous where I was happy for them and their balconies, but the bad kind of jelous where you can´t sleep at night and you want their balconies.

Here is my neighbor directly below me...




and the neighor down the street....










So finally, I bought myself two mint plants, and I love them and they make me and my balcony very happy. And I justified the purchase because I am going to throw myself a going away party and serve mojitos... so my georgeous plans will be consumed entirely.




So, that is a bit about my living conditions and joys in Barcelona... onther highlights/ amazing urban art and graffiti fotos to come. Much love, Laura

PAIS VASCO

EUSKADI

BASQUE COUNTRY











So, Basque Country (Pais Vasco in Spanish) is in the north of Spain, the region consists of the three Basque provinces of Guipuzcoa, Biscay and Alava. In total Spain has 17 autonomous regions, and different regions have different degrees of autonomy.
As explained by the BBC´s country profile of Spain, "The level of autonomy afforded to each region is far from uniform. For example, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia have special status with their own language and other rights. Andalucia, Navarre, Valencia and the Canaries in turn have more extensive powers than some other regions. Asturias and Aragon have taken steps to consolidate language rights."

In el pais vasco in addition to Spanish, they speak Euskera. Here is a pintada written in Euskera. Euskera bears no relation to Castilian Spanish or indeed any other language in the world. This pintada translates into something like, less military, better for the people- this is at least how one person in the street in Bilbao translated it for me- if you´re fluent in Euskera and happen to be reading this please send corrections. Euskera is making a comeback. Under the dictatorship (which turned in to him being the official head of state) of Francisco Franco, which lasted from 1939 until his death in 1975, Euskera was prohibited... all of the local languages were prohibited and Franco only allowed Spanish to be spoken and written. He sent Spanish speaking teachers to all of the regions with indigenous languages, and had secret police who would punish people for speaking the other languages- sick things like that. So under Franco the number of people who spoke Euskera decreased, but now once again it is taught in schools and most of the signs are in Euskera and Spanish.






In Both Bilbao and San Sebastian- the two cities I visiited during my time in Basque country, there was quite a bit of Pro Basqe seperatist graffiti. Many Basque individuals I talked to don´t consider themselves Spanish at all.

Basque country is also known for the infamous ETA group – Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Euskadi Homeland and Freedom). The intense repression under Franco gave strength to this militant nationalist movement which demands an independent Euskadi state. Since 1968 the ETA has been using violence to pressure for these demands. However, the ETA declared a ceasefire in March 2006 - The move divided opinion in Spain. I mention this, because a fair amount of the pro-seperatism graffiti, stencils and pintatdas I saw- mentioned the ETA or were realized (or at least claimed to be realized) in the name of the ETA.






BILBAO

So Bilbao is a big inidustrial center, that formally looked like an industrial center, but has left several rounds of Urban planning and development looking quite posh... sometimes so posh and clean it´s scary.

The opening of Frank Gehry's spectacular Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 1997 called internatioinal attention to the city, fuelling its development as a tourism destination. The Guggenheim is awesome... the building is beautiful... the most obvious example of architecture as art that I have seen in my life. The giant cat made out of flowers could really spice up any town.





















So here are two fotos of "two posh" Bilbao. I call it too posh because It is so clean, oh so very clean... down town there is almost no graffiti. Talking with several artist they say if you paint anywhere close to center city, you´re lucky if it makes it untill morning... especially during the summer- tourist season. It makes me suspicions that a city spends so much money on cleaning... they either:
1)have lots and lots of money,
2) have no social problems
3) have social problems like all other cities, and just spend more on cleaning that social programs-
sometimes this last option is done following the theory that cleaning can cure soical problems... no
broken windows = less vandalism, hunger ect.

I haven´t studied enough about Bilbao´s particular situation to continue being sarcastic... but the city is just so clean, it just makes you suspicious.



























So, my second day in Bilbao I took their super clean metro a few stops north to the beach. You get out of the center a few metro stops and it starts to look like a normal city again. It´s dirty (not dirty dirty, just normal dirty) and their is lots of graffiti. I got off the metro around calle Maximo Agirre, their was just beautiful graffiti in this area, confirming the lack of graffiti in the center isn´t due to a lack of talented writers in the area.




























San Sebastian

























In San Sebastian I took a brief break from graffiti and went to the Chillida Leku museum to see some of Eduardo Chillida´s beautfiul scupltures.

http://www.eduardo-chillida.com/


The foto below is of "Buscando la Luz I" - Looking for the light I, 1997- definetly makes you want to throw up your arms towards the sky.






Chillida´s work isn´t just confined to his museum, his 3 sculptures that compile "peine del viento" are located on rocks in San Sebastian´s beautiful bay.







between the beach and the Chillida museum I didn´t do too much with Graffiti in San Sebastian- I didn´t see to much either. I did speak with one writer who said they clean up all the graffiti in the down town/ tourist areas before every summer, but if I returned in November I would see some in theses areas. To see the talent the area has to offer graffiti wise during tourist season, you have to leave touristy areas.

The Stencils of barrio Lavapies


One morning I walked out the door of my apartment and found feet stenciled on the sidewalk all over Lavapies, every few footprints they had stenciled the question "Y Por que No?" "And why not?" ... I couldn't come up with a reason not to, brightened up my day and the sidewalk in general:)


So, Lavapies is great, I live in Lavapies. Lavapies is the most international place I have ever been. You walk into the locotorio to make a phonecall and you easily hear 8 different languages. Lavapies has traditionally been a working class and immigrant neighborhood, and still is to some extent, but young artsy types, such as myself, are drawn to the energy of the area, so we come in waves and are starting to raise market rent prices. In addition to higher rent, young people are also unleashing alot of alternative political energy in Lavapies as well. In the short two months that I was there, there were an amazing amount of film cycles, conferences, manifestations, seminars, concerts and much more all dedicated to raising public awareness around issues such as cuts in Spanish social service programs, racial profiling by police and changes in the European Union´s immigration policy. In addition to all of this, another medium frequently used in Lavapies for education, publicity, and general good times are STENCILS!!!!

So, many individuals don´t consider stencils to be exactly Graffiti, they are however an extremely important presence in the larger urban art scene. I like stencils for their clean final look and the quickness in which you can leave them. Of course it takes time to make the origional, but after that you can rapidly spread a message or design. The Quickness lowers the risk of being observed by non stencil fans -- such as police officers. Stencils also have a bit of the "logo effect", people see the same message 1,2,3 times, and it sticks in their heads. Also, in a wall full of tags, a crisp stencil really graps the eye.


So, I love spirals. Time is not linear, I have 2 spiral tatoos that I share with my fabulous sister Erica, and I find them very asthetically pleasing in general, I was immidiatly drawn to these 3 spiraly stencils on calle Lavapies. I pass them every day on my way to metro Tirso de Molina





So "comete la vida" is pretty much just like saying "eat up life", I love this stencil






















"la noche y la calle tambien son nuestras" " the night and the streets are ours (in the feminine form) too".










This "el sueño Israeli", "The Israeli Dream" stencil showed up all over the neighborhood during the Israeli/ Lebanon conflict. I asked all sorts of people in the street how they felt about this stencil, what they thought it ment, and people had a surprising range of answers. People had all sorts of interpretations of its meaning... kind of like an inkspot that was seen in whatever way would make it fall in line with that individuals existing political beliefs about Israel happened to be. However the most common response about the meaning of the stencil was that the realization of an Israeli state, the Israeli dream, would mean suffering for many others.









Here is another stencil that comments on the situation in the Middle east. This stencil didn´t provoke such a wide range of interpretations, the design makes it pretty clear thath the author feels the occupation of Palestine is unjust. Many Pro-Palestine supporters liked the stencil and felt in accuratly portrayed the magnitude of the injustice and the unequal access to resources in the conflict. However, some found the message disempowering, and would have prefered a stencil that put more enfasis on Palestinian resistance.




























Here are two more stencils that I found by la Reina Sofía art museum. "se vende el planeta" "planet for sale" and underneath are the logos of several companies with a very strong presence in Spain.























These unhappy little men in Suits, "hombresgrieses" can be found all over Spain. I found this sad little businessman by la reina sofia art museum as well. This group inculdes their websit in all of their actions... something that I´ve realized is pretty common. This sort of reverses my origional information dispersioin ideas about graffiti- That the wall was like a newspaper for ordinary people- so that you could, for example, take information from online independent media sources, and put it on the walls so that more people would have access to it. But lots of group put the internet adresses of alternative websites on the walls- www.otromadrid.org, www.sonajero.tk and www.hombresgrieses.com are just a few examples. Also, lots of graffiti artist sign their pieces with their website- elninodelaspinturas.com and www.seakone.com are two that come to mind.
I´m still accessing how effective this form of advertising is... I mean when I see websites written on the walls I write them down and visit them, but that could just be me.
















Here is the website of an independent radio station of some friends in Madrid. They just recently did a large stencilling run through Madrid to advertise their programs website (you should all go to the website, especially if you speak Spanish). Before they didn´t really advertise at all... so if website hits increase dramatically in the next week or so, that will speak strongly to the effectiveness of stenciling---or it will be a warped result because Laura told all of her blog readers to go visit www.sonajero.tk




So, these are the thoughts on stencils for the moment... I´ll try to put up some of the stencils i saw in Granada... there were some really incredible ones- both witty and aestetically pleasing.