“There is no future without a past, because what is to be cannot be imagined except as a form of repetition.”
― Siri Hustvedt, The Summer Without Men
In December 2015 we got an opportunity to play with the words.
Repetition and Evolution
It was an interesting year for Amsterdam, as Amsterdam (Historical) Museum brought in from New-York City as a Canvas expo. The expo shared the images and stories of the birth of Graffiti movement in NYC and connected it to the 80-90s in A’DAM.
What bothered Street Art Museum Amsterdam a little was the fact that no live action was part of that expo that would connect the past with the present of Amsterdam, after all artists like SHOE and DELTA have inspired many ones of today TEAMBLAZIN and MATAONE.
“what fueled the drive of graffiti artists in the 1970s and 1980s is the same energy that is present in the activities of street artists emerging during the beginning of the 21st century”
Bojan Maric
So, we approached the municipality to grant the permission to create a couple of walls that would be marking the expo for many years after it took place, and that’s how Curiosity and Future were born.
About the Future...
In order to connect Graffiti of yesterday to Graffiti of tomorrow, we asked the students of today from the Huygens College (100 of them to be precise) to tell us what FUTURE means to them. Yes, we could have just commissioned the artists to paint the wall, and write their names there, but Graffiti is Social... It seems like an isolated, selfish act but it is not, as Dutch Graffiti Library can prove it.
Graffiti is a written word. It is a name, a writer’s name. The skill of graffiti writing comes from constant practice of writing one’s name, embellishing it with details, experimenting with its shape and form. In order to help the students, we asked TeamBlazin and Celand to give a series of 5 workshops to 5 classes of 20 students during which the students would learn the skill of calligraphy and write the words they believe represent FUTURE. The dialogue occurred and the youths told the writers what to write.
“My word is on the wall”
.... screamed a teenage girl on her way to school, when she noticed that one out of the hundred words we collected was brought to live on the wall opposite her school.
We also asked the artists to nominate 3 calligraphy works for their artistic, intellectual and original merits. The students whose works were picked got the prizes of Museum Card, a Calendar and an Artwork.
The words - shared and written - represent the dialogue between the artists and the youths, the future, the past and the present. Words are our means of the story telling, co-creating and co-enjoying our heritage, heritage that comes from us.
Below is a poem by one of the students for the theme of the year in 2014 - Future, and it’s a story...
THE STORY OF A BOY WHO DREAMS OF SUCCESS. WILL HE MAKE IT THERE?
Ik ben in New York wakker gemaakt,Ik lag te slapen op de hoek van een straat.Ik wilde hier mijn droom waarmaken, Maar ik wist niet dat ik in de problemen zou raken.
Ik had een vriendin, we dachten aan de toekomst,Maar nu is het verleden, alsof ze iets heeft gezien.Ze wil mij niet meer spreken, ik voel me niet fijn, Ik zou heel veel liever terug in Amsterdam zijn.
Ik heb geen vriend meer die ik vertrouw,Ik mis mijn familie van wie ik heel veel houd.Praten in het Engels met onbekenden, dat is goed voor mijn taal, Misschien dat ik ergens een baantje vandaan haal?
Ik denk dat ik terug naar Nederland moet gaan,Hard studeren en over een aantal jaar solliciteren naar een baan.Zonder diploma neemt niemand mij serieus. Ik ga hard studeren en voel me geen kneus.
Here is nasty style to start off your Sunday by #mataone #jeps #stein #marz #timon #cazn #prince photo by Leo @startapephotographe #streetart #supergraff #sprayart #urbanart #wallporn #art #graffiti #instagraffiti #mural #graffitiporn #instagraff
