those with some barcelona experience (or currently located there) - i'm going to be swinging thru in Oct and would like to know where the street writers / graffiti kids are representing.
I lived in Barcelona for 3 months. There was a lot of construction in Poblenou. There were blocks and blocks covered with halls left and right. I took pictures all of the time and they would change about every 2 weeks. I'm sure the neighborhood has changed since 2005, but its a pretty safe bet because there is a lot of construction going on there. Also, check out by MACBA.
ryanj - can't post it if it's not on the web, but i'd love to see the photos; if you have the inclination, i'm at johnszot(a)johnszot(d)com - email? could do a quid pro quo if yr into documenting this kind of thing; have lots of photos from all over
21Ronin - any of these a particularly bohemian neighborhood (a la Lower East Side NYC or the like...)?
see, this one, in a Barcelona street, is dedicated to people like, presumably, you... you have to understand that "tourist" here not only means the middle age couple on vacation but also the youngsters messin' around the MACBA square
with love,
these kind of paintings are becoming somewhat popular because lately tourists -and students- think that Barcelona is the perfect place to do things like... ***attention: adult content***this*** (this image has been the most commented piece of news this summer in Barcelona... a couple of young tourists having "fun" in el Raval -not far from the MACBA, just next to Les Rambles-...)
I won't hijack it, I was just telling you that you can find some people in BCN that think that painting a wall -in a construction site or any other place- is not much different, in terms of the public image of the city, than what those tourists are doing with that couple of girls -which are not exactly catalan, not even european-. So, to these people -call them ultraconservative if you want-, that painting I posted above could easily be directed to people like you. And that's far from being "nonsense", it's a reminder that not everyone is "into" street "art". And less if it comes from abroad.
But, um.., have fun, the Poblenou neighborhood is still probably the area you'll be interested in -the one with most construction sites-. But "bohemian"...? not much. Bohemian, in the way you're probably referring to, in Barcelona is El Born, you'll find the bars and coffee shops you're thinking of in that neighborhood which is in the eastern side of the Old City, near the old port. Gràcia, on the other hand, is the alternative, at the upper side of the city, more "authentic" if you want, even if it's full of Erasmus -european- students nowadays (Gràcia was an old town, absorbed by BCN in the first decades of the 20th ct, and still keeps a sort of mix of small art galleries, bars, etc with little squares, not too much traffic, and locals doing their daily life... I don't know about NY or London but it's probably the equivalent, sort of, of your artsy neighborhood).
.. btw, that pic I linked above appeared in a general newspaper -and was reproduced in all TV news shows- this last august and has caused a great debate, ... I was not trying to be funny, or sensationalist, but what you see there is what happens every day in the front door of a lot of locals, so a lot of barcelonians are becoming very tired of the tourist invasion and the image Barcelona is projecting around the world (like the city is in some sort of trap, dying of success).
But I'm sure you, being an architect, will have more style than the "vikings" in that pic... :p
Medit has a lot of good points. Barcelona is definitely a nationalist city, aka the capital of Catalonia. The "ultra-conservative" parts of Barcelona want it to be an autonomous state like the Basque to the west. If you look into the project 22@Barcelona, you will see why there is growing unrest with the native Catalans. They are turning Barcelona into a University city and a city for international business. Also, there are a lot of illegal immigrants filtering through Morocco. The immigrants want work and the benefits of the socialist government. It's the European equivalent to Harlem in NY.
Like Medit said, Poblenou is not really bohemian, more like middle to lower middle class families. I know some people that are going to international business school in Barcelona, I lived there for 3 months and I made friends with my Spanish teacher, while I was there. She lives in Gracia. Gracia is definitely the neighborhood that you are talking about if you are looking for bohemian. But, I wouldn't say that it is the neighborhood that you should look to for graffiti. Graffiti in Europe is an international wandering sport. If you are up on your writers, you will see all of the well known writers in spots like Poblenou because of all of the construction. In Barcelona, when there is a construction site, they control access by putting up a CMU wall.....perfect for graffiti.
ronin has explained it better than me (pardon my english, not my first language, not even my second)... but I should add that Barcelona is as "nationalist" as ANY other city in Europe, not much more or less than Paris or Madrid... the difference being only that it is the capital of a stateless nation (Catalonia), so it sorts of 'verbalize' that nationalism with more insistence than other european capitals... very peacefully though, no worries.
also, when I said ultraconservative I was thinking more about the attitude of the regular barcelonian towards the city's public space and the city's image... they love their city, every building, every tree and every corner... so street art has to be very good -and in the right place- to please them or you'll be treated almost like a criminal (i'm exaggerating a bit, but you get my point).
21Ronin - i've experienced the Catalan pride thing first-hand; none of this comes as much of a surprise - my interest in street writing is related to urban renewal and the way urban communities evolve - the ugly stuff is as interesting as the carefully-primped stuff in that respect; yr comments about the graffiti thing being somewhat independent of the bohemian lifestyle in BCN is enlightening - the two often follow one another, but not always; admittedly, i'm walking into this topic a bit blind as far as barcelona is concerned - my travels are coordinated by different prof. activities and i've done little research as of yet; this is mostly b/c the graffiti thing is something i pursue 'as i go' so to speak
Medit - appears we got off on the wrong foot; although i'm still not convinced there's a connexion between yr mullet-sporting "Johns" and what i'm asking about, your contribution has underlined the cultural pride thing and allowed me to better gauge its temperature; funny thing is, when i mention in forums that i'm looking for pointers on street writing in a certain city, the city's inhabitants are always a bit tweaked by the interest i'm taking in what might be considered their hometown's "dirty laundry" - and they usually express their disdain in similar-style comments; just the nature of this thing i guess; thanks for the link - i hand't seen that site yet...
I can never get the images to post right. It was a pic in Figueres that said "Freedom for Catalan Countries...This is not Spain!!!". It was a stencil not too far from the Dali Theatre/Museum.
I really don't mean to make BCN sound extreme. It helps people from the US understand the mentality though. Our buildings are viewed as property and are usually only considered when it comes to economic issues.
I think that it is important to understand the difference between graffiti as it is now and when the explosion of graffiti happened in NYC though. In Europe, graffiti inhabits construction sites and areas that are next for development. Not to mention, the majority of graf writers in Europe are traveling all over the continent to write. In NYC, it was the exact opposite. People from poor neighborhoods were going around the city and writing on trains, the subway system or places near the trains. Now, its like graffiti artist have turned into artists revolting against galleries and claiming the city as its gallery.
if you walk around at night you might even run into a writer or two in action. i walked through poblenou and saw "the black pacifier" and "jefe" putting up a piece. spoke to them briefly. my impression was that there's an overwhelming amount of graffiti in certain areas that i started seeing them as a whole instead of individual pieces.
barcelona sound off
those with some barcelona experience (or currently located there) - i'm going to be swinging thru in Oct and would like to know where the street writers / graffiti kids are representing.
any thoughts? neighborhood tips?
general hot info on city is good too...
thanks in advance y'all
I was there last July and to my memory most of the best graffiti was toward the end of the side streets off of the tourist drag, Las Ramblas.
...side note: is it possible to post a picture that is not located on the web? (I've got lots of sweet shots of Barcelona graffiti)
I lived in Barcelona for 3 months. There was a lot of construction in Poblenou. There were blocks and blocks covered with halls left and right. I took pictures all of the time and they would change about every 2 weeks. I'm sure the neighborhood has changed since 2005, but its a pretty safe bet because there is a lot of construction going on there. Also, check out by MACBA.
ryanj - can't post it if it's not on the web, but i'd love to see the photos; if you have the inclination, i'm at johnszot(a)johnszot(d)com - email? could do a quid pro quo if yr into documenting this kind of thing; have lots of photos from all over
21Ronin - any of these a particularly bohemian neighborhood (a la Lower East Side NYC or the like...)?
la belleza es su cabeza
see, this one, in a Barcelona street, is dedicated to people like, presumably, you... you have to understand that "tourist" here not only means the middle age couple on vacation but also the youngsters messin' around the MACBA square
with love,
these kind of paintings are becoming somewhat popular because lately tourists -and students- think that Barcelona is the perfect place to do things like... ***attention: adult content***this*** (this image has been the most commented piece of news this summer in Barcelona... a couple of young tourists having "fun" in el Raval -not far from the MACBA, just next to Les Rambles-...)
ahahhahah - yknow, i really don't see what pictures of tourists patronizing catalan prostitutes in public has to do with the thread topic.
do me a favor Medit - let's not hijack the original discussion. please take this nonsense to another thread.
I won't hijack it, I was just telling you that you can find some people in BCN that think that painting a wall -in a construction site or any other place- is not much different, in terms of the public image of the city, than what those tourists are doing with that couple of girls -which are not exactly catalan, not even european-. So, to these people -call them ultraconservative if you want-, that painting I posted above could easily be directed to people like you. And that's far from being "nonsense", it's a reminder that not everyone is "into" street "art". And less if it comes from abroad.
But, um.., have fun, the Poblenou neighborhood is still probably the area you'll be interested in -the one with most construction sites-. But "bohemian"...? not much. Bohemian, in the way you're probably referring to, in Barcelona is El Born, you'll find the bars and coffee shops you're thinking of in that neighborhood which is in the eastern side of the Old City, near the old port. Gràcia, on the other hand, is the alternative, at the upper side of the city, more "authentic" if you want, even if it's full of Erasmus -european- students nowadays (Gràcia was an old town, absorbed by BCN in the first decades of the 20th ct, and still keeps a sort of mix of small art galleries, bars, etc with little squares, not too much traffic, and locals doing their daily life... I don't know about NY or London but it's probably the equivalent, sort of, of your artsy neighborhood).
.. btw, that pic I linked above appeared in a general newspaper -and was reproduced in all TV news shows- this last august and has caused a great debate, ... I was not trying to be funny, or sensationalist, but what you see there is what happens every day in the front door of a lot of locals, so a lot of barcelonians are becoming very tired of the tourist invasion and the image Barcelona is projecting around the world (like the city is in some sort of trap, dying of success).
But I'm sure you, being an architect, will have more style than the "vikings" in that pic... :p
Medit has a lot of good points. Barcelona is definitely a nationalist city, aka the capital of Catalonia. The "ultra-conservative" parts of Barcelona want it to be an autonomous state like the Basque to the west. If you look into the project 22@Barcelona, you will see why there is growing unrest with the native Catalans. They are turning Barcelona into a University city and a city for international business. Also, there are a lot of illegal immigrants filtering through Morocco. The immigrants want work and the benefits of the socialist government. It's the European equivalent to Harlem in NY.
Like Medit said, Poblenou is not really bohemian, more like middle to lower middle class families. I know some people that are going to international business school in Barcelona, I lived there for 3 months and I made friends with my Spanish teacher, while I was there. She lives in Gracia. Gracia is definitely the neighborhood that you are talking about if you are looking for bohemian. But, I wouldn't say that it is the neighborhood that you should look to for graffiti. Graffiti in Europe is an international wandering sport. If you are up on your writers, you will see all of the well known writers in spots like Poblenou because of all of the construction. In Barcelona, when there is a construction site, they control access by putting up a CMU wall.....perfect for graffiti.
ronin has explained it better than me (pardon my english, not my first language, not even my second)... but I should add that Barcelona is as "nationalist" as ANY other city in Europe, not much more or less than Paris or Madrid... the difference being only that it is the capital of a stateless nation (Catalonia), so it sorts of 'verbalize' that nationalism with more insistence than other european capitals... very peacefully though, no worries.
also, when I said ultraconservative I was thinking more about the attitude of the regular barcelonian towards the city's public space and the city's image... they love their city, every building, every tree and every corner... so street art has to be very good -and in the right place- to please them or you'll be treated almost like a criminal (i'm exaggerating a bit, but you get my point).
btw, John, maybe you'll like this, some examples of street "art" in BCN: http://www.barcelonastreetart.net/
<img src="http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs202.snc1/6929_143546181050_519531050_3131586_7483_n.jpg" />
21Ronin - i've experienced the Catalan pride thing first-hand; none of this comes as much of a surprise - my interest in street writing is related to urban renewal and the way urban communities evolve - the ugly stuff is as interesting as the carefully-primped stuff in that respect; yr comments about the graffiti thing being somewhat independent of the bohemian lifestyle in BCN is enlightening - the two often follow one another, but not always; admittedly, i'm walking into this topic a bit blind as far as barcelona is concerned - my travels are coordinated by different prof. activities and i've done little research as of yet; this is mostly b/c the graffiti thing is something i pursue 'as i go' so to speak
Medit - appears we got off on the wrong foot; although i'm still not convinced there's a connexion between yr mullet-sporting "Johns" and what i'm asking about, your contribution has underlined the cultural pride thing and allowed me to better gauge its temperature; funny thing is, when i mention in forums that i'm looking for pointers on street writing in a certain city, the city's inhabitants are always a bit tweaked by the interest i'm taking in what might be considered their hometown's "dirty laundry" - and they usually express their disdain in similar-style comments; just the nature of this thing i guess; thanks for the link - i hand't seen that site yet...
nice pic, ronin - says it all, really - no?
I can never get the images to post right. It was a pic in Figueres that said "Freedom for Catalan Countries...This is not Spain!!!". It was a stencil not too far from the Dali Theatre/Museum.
I really don't mean to make BCN sound extreme. It helps people from the US understand the mentality though. Our buildings are viewed as property and are usually only considered when it comes to economic issues.
I think that it is important to understand the difference between graffiti as it is now and when the explosion of graffiti happened in NYC though. In Europe, graffiti inhabits construction sites and areas that are next for development. Not to mention, the majority of graf writers in Europe are traveling all over the continent to write. In NYC, it was the exact opposite. People from poor neighborhoods were going around the city and writing on trains, the subway system or places near the trains. Now, its like graffiti artist have turned into artists revolting against galleries and claiming the city as its gallery.
if you walk around at night you might even run into a writer or two in action. i walked through poblenou and saw "the black pacifier" and "jefe" putting up a piece. spoke to them briefly. my impression was that there's an overwhelming amount of graffiti in certain areas that i started seeing them as a whole instead of individual pieces.
ryanj - got yr email; been trying to work up a response - much thanks to you and be on the lookout
all - anyone have any input on the Raval?
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