graffiti walk
In September 2006 a group of street artists was invited to participate in the "Remap KM" art installation programme which ran in parallel with the Athens Biennale. A group of street and graffiti artists, me included, were offered space, which was formerly occupied by three derelict buildings, to freely create within the context of the sub-project "Graffiti Walk". When the curator showed us the place, the buildings had been torn down and the ground had been covered with white gravel. The stench of urine, burnt wood and excrements though was still overpowering and syringe needles were scattered around (since these abandoned buildings had been turned into crackhouses in the passing of time. The larger parts of Kerameikos and Metaxourgio were -and to a large extent still are- no go areas in downtown Athens).
The concept we came up with finally was to use a common black and white palette throughout the productions, so as to make the paintings really stand out amongst the rubble and dirt, then add golden details, to accentuate the juxtaposition between the state that the neighbourhood was in and this new movement of gentrification that was being attempted in downtown Athens, with projects exactly like "Remap KM" spearheading it.
I painted alongside Icnoc, Quits, Pixel and Silent Progression, and the results were as follows...