Branded Murals and What’s Wrong With Them.
Will I see you in Madrid?
Ciao,
How have you been?
The last time I wrote you, I was in Paris, eagerly anticipating our first adventure together. And what an experience it was! There's so much to share about this trip, I might even write a book about it (seriously). For now, let's just say that meeting some of you in person and exploring a city together was nothing short of amazing.
In 2024, I aim to bring our community of alternative travelers together in the real world, whether by showing you around my hometown or meeting up on the road. In fact, I've already booked flight tickets for our next adventure, which will take place in Madrid from May 1st to 5th – more on that below.
So, what did we experience in Paris? Everything! We wandered through residential areas and suburbs, central districts and outskirts. We ‘flashed’ Invader's mosaics, came across graffiti writers at work, and marveled at the diverse street works scattered around the city and beyond – murals, graffiti, posters, installations, both illegal street art and institutional commissions, urban regeneration projects, and squats born in old factories now occupied by artists.
The one thing we didn't encounter, which would have certainly sparked a lively discussion, were the recently painted branded murals by Oatly in the heart of Paris. So, the debate about the intersection of street art, public space, and commercial interests that we didn't get to have in the streets of Paris, I propose we have it here.
Grab a cup of coffee with oat milk (haha), get comfortable, and let's start with this brief video visually introducing the topic:
Murals or Billboards? How Corporations Co-opt Street Art.
The practice of large companies commissioning murals in prominent urban spaces, often replacing existing local artwork, is unfortunately not new. In areas like New York's SoHo, Los Angeles' Arts District or London’s Shoreditch, it's common to encounter eye-catching murals advertising products from fashion to technology.
My concern here extends beyond the commercialization of public spaces. We are all too familiar with how our physical and digital environments are saturated with advertising.
My focus today is on the medium used for such advertising. Seeing a medium once reserved for genuine artistic expression now co-opted for corporate messaging is disheartening.
Take, for example, Escif's “La Vida Es Otra Cosa” mural in Valencia, which was painted over by Netflix a couple of months ago. Corporate murals often erase local artworks that hold cultural and historical significance, leading to a loss of community identity and heritage.
Here’s what Escif shared on his Instagram regarding this incident:
Painting a wall is an act of psychomagic; it's a poetic and subtle gesture that turns a barrier into a window; it's a powerful exercise in dissolving matter that manages, for a few seconds, to make the concrete disappear; it's an opportunity we have, as creative beings, to imagine a different world.
[...]
Allowing a multinational to cancel a mural with social content for promotion can only be understood as another victory of capitalism over culture. Money imposes itself over ideas. The market imposes its law over the lives of people. The window that once opened disappears again. The cement becomes cement again.
A similar situation unfolded in Rome’s Pigneto neighborhood, where a beautiful blind wall, long resisted by residents for artistic interventions, was eventually branded by Netflix. It was disheartening to see residents who had opposed high-value artistic contributions to their building quickly accept this monstrosity for financial gain.
Turning to Oatly’s murals in Paris, they may not have covered existing artworks, but I find their use of anamorphic style intrusive. Relying on perspective and angles, these murals are optical illusions that may seem coherent from the camera’s viewpoint (as seen in the video linked above) but are the epitome of visual pollution to residents and passersby.
In my opinion, there are numerous issues with branded murals. They range from impacting local artists' opportunities to corporations appropriating street art styles without understanding their cultural significance.
Ethically, the use of public art for private gain raises serious questions. We must ask how these murals benefit or reflect the communities in which they are placed. There's a palpable degradation of urban environments when art is usurped by advertising, transforming walls into prime real estate for hand-painted adverts.
The impact on cities is significant, and the responsibility falls on organizers to consider the implications of these murals, especially in light of gentrification, and so exploiting lower-income, multicultural communities for the benefit of advertising agencies.
However, it's the public that possesses the power to hold these agencies accountable. It's the people who stand up and call out these practices that can exert control over the visual messaging in our surroundings.
Therefore, I encourage you to observe your environment proactively and critically. Consider the visual messages around you and their implications. By doing so, we can collectively influence and perhaps even reclaim the visual landscape of our urban environments.
Until next month,
Giulia
ps. While I'm still in the process of organizing the Paris-related content for my blog, my Facebook page and my two Instagram channels (@giulia_blocal_riva and @street_art_city_guides), the Paris Google Map I created for my six urban walks and tested in the field, is already available online. Even though the full content is yet to be released (with a big surprise on the horizon, something I’ve never done before, stay tuned!), you can access the Paris map as well as all my other Google Maps through the link at the end of each newsletter.
Save the date!
May 1st - 5th
Will I see you in Madrid?
In a recent poll, I asked you to choose our next travel destination, and the winner is - drumroll, please - Madrid! Are you excited to join me in exploring Spain's capital?
I'm quite familiar with Madrid, having lived there from 2001 to 2002. It's a city rich with vibrant murals and street art by some of the most talented artists, not to mention its great contemporary art scene, delicious food, stunning architecture, and a thriving squat scene that's rare in Europe nowadays.
I'm still working out the specifics, but I want to share the dates now so you can start booking your flights. We’ll be embarking on a five-day urban exploration of Madrid, from May 1st to 5th.
The format will be similar to our Paris trip: you can book tours separately, each with a unique theme. The tours will run from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM, covering approximately 13KM daily. However, since the sun sets around 9 PM, we might extend our exploration time. Our focus will mainly be on murals, street art, and graffiti, but each tour will also include something special and off the beaten path – it could be a cemetery, a contemporary art center, a beautiful park, or something else not related to street art.
To get a sense of the places I like to visit, check out the Instagram stories I've been posting about Paris. I haven't covered all the spots we visited yet (there were so many!), but they'll give you a feel for the kind of experiences we'll have in Madrid, under the much more pleasant Spanish weather!
Are you in? Send me an email and I’ll tell you the details!
New on the blog!
Paris’ 12th Arrondissement: Exploring Urban Art and the City’s Lesser-Known Gems.
On my recent trip to Paris, I stayed in the 12th Arrondissement and discovered a treasure trove of unconventional Paris. Tucked away on the right bank of the River Seine, this district boasts a unique blend of residential areas, street art, and green spaces. Unlike the crowded tourist destinations, life here unfolds at a more relaxed pace.
If you want to avoid tourist traps in Paris, read this guide!
This detailed neighborhood guide comes to you with the kind support of citizenM Hotel - Gare de Lyon, who graciously hosted me, providing a delightful base for my Paris adventure.
Updated!
Urban Art in Paris 13th Arrondissement: From XXL Murals to unsanctioned street art.
I've updated my street art travel guide of Paris' 13th Arrondissement! Beyond the most impressive collection of large-scale murals in Paris (and arguably, in Europe), in the 13ème you can also find human-scale street art around the picturesque Butte-aux-Cailles area, and some pretty cool urban hotspots such as Spot13 and Les Frigos.
Visiting the Exhibition “Loading: Street Art in the Digital Age.”
After visiting the must-see street art exhibition of 2024, I've updated my interview / review. This immersive show really is something unusual, and in this article I’m telling you why:
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Handpicked by yours truly
Check out this adrenaline-filled video on Parisian graffiti by B4flight:
5 Urban Art Exhibitions in February 2024:
On February 3rd, graffiti pioneer Barry McGee unveils his latest exhibition, “Olde Iffy,” in Tokyo.
On February 4th, New York’s street art legend Chris RWK opens his solo show “Time Like This” at Exclusive Urban Art Gallery in Rome. See you there!
On February 17th, Invader inaugurates his biggest exhibition to date, “Invader Space Station,” in his hometown of Paris.
Last weekend, graffiti pioneer Lady Pink inaugurated the exhibition “She’s an anomaly” in Verona, Italy, on view until April 13th at Arena Studio d’Arte.
Last month for visiting Gonzalo Borondo’s solo show, “Tempo Perso,” at Tempesta Gallery in Milan, Italy.
It's all very true. I saw the Barcelona cathedral covered in giant mobile phone adverts as well; seems somewhat incongruous.
In Shoreditch there's regular huge 'graffiti' (or if you like 'graffadi') advertising murals appearing, changing weekly. Often for luxury products costing thousands of pounds, which seem out of place in the area. Usually just a flat copy of whatever the brand's advertising already looks like. Very occassionally with a bit more creativity.
Also sometimes these aren't even painted, but large-scale paste-up billboards, but resembling a subtle graffiti style.
However on the other hand, much of these are done as a source of income by graffiti writers themselves. So for me there's a bit of mixed feelings there, as I respect they have to make money somehow. But I'm still not a fan of these ads everywhere.
As someone who has loved exploring street art around the world, I'm incredibly disheartened to learn it's being appropriated by corporations. I hope something can be done to stop them.