The Bridges of Graffiti

"The Bridges of Graffiti” exhibition will debut in Venice on the occasion of the 56th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia.
“The Bridges of Graffiti” project positions itself 30 years after “Arte di Frontiera. New York Graffiti”, the exhibition curated by Francesca Alinovi that in 1984 brought the New York graffiti writers artistic scene in Italy.
Traditional spray-painted graffiti artworks were born at the geographic edges of Manhattan, a frontier in itself, and also “an intermediate space between culture and nature, mass and elite, black and white, aggressiveness and irony, trash and exquisite refinement”.
The ten artists involved - Boris Tellegen, Doze Green, Eron, Futura, Mode2, SKKI ©, Jayone, Todd James, Teach, Zero-T - will work together for the very first time, bringing to life a single cohesive Hall of Fame piece within the Arterminal walls, together 
with some site specific works conceived especially for the exhibition.
“The Bridges of Graffiti” will settle in a proper frontier, the San Basilio Terminal, building bridges so that past generations' major contributions to the graffiti writing culture can finally be acknowledged and put into context. It’s an ideal bridge but also a tangible one, chronicling the influence and cross-pollination of Artists and Artworks that crossed the Ocean; the exhibition is about graffiti Artists who either already had or later on developed a figurative style as well, and have been evolving and reinventing themselves, staying ahead or outside the curve.
The name Arterminal (Terminal of Art) has been specifically chosen to evoke the relevance of the harbor for the city of Venice, strengthening its international relevance and facilitating the exchange and the encounter between different cultures and different forms of art, as a result. As in the past the relationship between the Serenissima and the East has brought to Venice the Byzantine art, so today the openness to art and culture of the Venetian water front guaranties the emerging of all those expressions related to travel and trade.
This is the reason why, since the beginning of the Arterminal project, the Venice Port Authority has committed to realize this project, further requalifying the port area, already open to the city, and the Venezia Terminal Passeggeri, the dealer of the Terminal, has contributed to the architectural set-up.
Therefore Arterminal is a perfect metaphor to tell the story of this first exhibition and its unconventional form of art, that is put in relation with the great tradition of la Biennale di Venezia.
These dialogues will be expressed though a dual-installation approach with San Basilio as a white canvas for figurative expressions and a documentation of this multifaceted art form at its beginning by Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper, opposite to those artists whose works have landed in museums worldwide and avidly embraced by corporate sponsors skyrocketing their values into the mainstream culture and Art world.
The space will also host a cafeteria and BookShelves to display a selection of books and fanzines about the history of graffiiti; these spaces have been designed by Boris Tellegen, artist that has constantly been experimenting with 3D and architectural shapes, also thanks to his studies of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft.



 

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