One thing I don't understand is people complaining about graffiti on trains and walls but they couldn't be bothered a bit by ads being everywhere in our daily life actively and literally trying to manipulate everybody's thoughts and actions. But it's legit because that access to your brain is bought with money.
@pawlowa I think the crux of it is that graffiti challenges people's perceptions of authority. But it's messed up that people seem to be fine with being manipulated by adverts, but have something against artwork.
@MichaelBall This is the thing. I don't want to discuss aesthetics. I don't like most graffiti aesthetically but I love how people just take that space without being concerned about who owns this wall or train and who decides what we see there.
@pawlowa yeah I appreciate the intent behind it, even if I don't end up liking the piece itself.
I'm in two minds about tagging though. In the UK tagging has been associated at times with violent gangs claiming certain areas as their territory. Not so much into that.
@MichaelBall That sounds rather offputting. In Germany there are kind of graffiti gangs, but it's really just about the pieces, doing stunts like covering a whole building in one night or placing your tag on trains in like 10m². But there is no violence behind it, it's rather like a playful illegal sport.
I also like it when I come to a new place and I can see which political groups are active there through graffiti. It gives me a lot of safety.
> through graffiti. It gives me a lot of safety.
I get your point about political groups.
But does it really make you feel safe, that this person had illegal access to this piece of the infrastructure you rely on? For example, tagging trains is usually done in the locked down train yards at night (AFAIK).
Instead of repainting the train they could just as well be re-wiring it, removing the brake, ... etc.
