Guerrilla art is where vandalism meets creativity in a game of artistic warfare. Ideastap spoke to some of the covert creatives fighting on its frontlines...
If you think guerrilla art is the zoological term for creative primates, you’d be wrong.
Guerrilla, or urban art, is defined as unauthorised art in a public place. But it isn’t all Banksy (above), spray paint and hoodies; in the current movement, even horticulture can be anarchic. Guerrilla gardening – which involves secretly cultivating plants in places you shouldn’t – has bloomed in popularity. So too has guerrilla knitting, aka yarn bombing, a movement of so-called “yarnachists” who decorate public spaces with wool.
Paper is another unlikely source of controversy, but it’s designer Janice Stainton’s biggest weapon. She’s in charge of Papergirl Manchester, a Berlin-born project that distributes paper art to passersby by bicycle. Janice says, “The initial impulse for this project came with the tightening of a law, in 2005, equating sticking up posters in public places with graffiti-spraying. The idea of distributing art by bike came more from the search for new ways to bring art straight to society, than out of fear of possible punishment. Papergirl is participatory, analogue, non-commercial and impulsive.”
If guerrilla art is creativity in revolt, then it’s fitting that London-based artist Helen Nodding refers to her work as a “quiet revolution.” She uses “3D art graffiti” to create tiny worlds in the crack of a brick wall: it’s architecture for insects (see picture, below). “The word “graffiti” can conjure up negative connotations in people’s minds,” says Helen. “I think it can be judged on the generosity of the spirit in which it was done – was it done to deface public property, or to make a derelict locale more colourful?”
It’s a sentiment that rings true for most urban artists – there’s no malicious intent, just a desire to start a dialogue with an audience. Earlier this year, Galway artist Sinead Conlon explored the tension between audience and territory in her piece re:REM. She set up a pirate radio station in the Ad Hoc Gallery in Belfast; live ambient sound recorded in the centre of the gallery was illegally broadcast across the city‘s airwaves. “The unathorisation was integral to the concept of the piece,” she says. “I was interested in the necessity to operate outside the law in order to take ownership of a space.”
Territory was again the theme for The Erfurt Project by Belfast artist Jan Uprichard, who aims to explore the story behind a derelict plot of land in Erfurt, Germany, through illegal postering. Unauthorised signs were erected around the site, prompting a discussion on Facebook. “It wasn’t just a piece of provocative graffiti,” said Jan, “I like my work to be something that evolves over time, that people can have an input in. The work only starts to come to life when activated by the public.”
For New York theatre collective Improv Everywhere, public intervention is key. They operate the Urban Prankster Network – an online forum for guerrilla performers worldwide. They made headlines in July when they staged a Star Wars re-enactment on the New York subway. Last week their annual Mp3 Experiment saw 4,000 participants gather in midtown New York (see picture, below) to follow “ridiculous, coordinated instructions” relayed via iPod.
Group founder Charlie Todd says, “We bring excitement to otherwise unexciting locales and give strangers a story they can tell for the rest of their lives. Sometimes people misread our URL as ‘Improve Everywhere’. We think that’s probably a better name for what we try to do.” Where all these guerrilla artists are concerned, Charlie’s words seem like a rather apt way of summing it up.
Banksy/Gorilla image courtesy of Walt Jabsco on Flickr.