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.