Graffiti & Street Art Digital Library - About
The Graffiti and Street Art Digital Library strives to digitally capture graffiti art, both illegal and commissioned, and street art, which can also be categorized as public art and urban art. This art form is one of the most unprotected historically and currently. With the recent white-washing of 5 Pointz in Queens, NY, the realizations of the insecurity and ephemeral nature of graffiti art and other public art forms are pressing. This digital library prototype attempts to capture graffiti art from many locations and in many formats. Not only is 2D spray painting captured, but also sculptures, stencils, and marker artworks. Instead of organizing the items in traditional ways with facets of information, we created individual Collections that organize artworks in many unique arrangements. Since there is little information for many of the artworks, it was easier to focus on the information that we could access. For instance, popular artists, areas, and themes are represented in the Collections. The prototype contextualizes the pieces in their "habitat" and within the movement with panorama views, movies of the area, and linking adjacent artworks. Moreover, the Tags of the artworks are common terms used by the graffiti artists and within graffiti and street art. We present this prototype with hopes to further develop this project to collect more images of artworks and collaborate with other institutions and artists. Ideally, this will initiate efforts to digitally preserve some artworks that are threatened daily by vandalists, public outcry, or harsh weather conditions, and it will raise awareness of artworks that are often unappreciated.
The Graffiti and Street Art Digital Library strives to digitally capture graffiti art, both illegal and commissioned, and street art, which can also be categorized as public art and urban art. This art form is one of the most unprotected historically and currently. With the recent white-washing of 5 Pointz in Queens, NY, the realizations of the insecurity and ephemeral nature of graffiti art and other public art forms are pressing. This digital library prototype attempts to capture graffiti art from many locations and in many formats. Not only is 2D spray painting captured, but also sculptures, stencils, and marker artworks. Instead of organizing the items in traditional ways with facets of information, we created individual Collections that organize artworks in many unique arrangements. Since there is little information for many of the artworks, it was easier to focus on the information that we could access. For instance, popular artists, areas, and themes are represented in the Collections. The prototype contextualizes the pieces in their "habitat" and within the movement with panorama views, movies of the area, and linking adjacent artworks. Moreover, the Tags of the artworks are common terms used by the graffiti artists and within graffiti and street art. We present this prototype with hopes to further develop this project to collect more images of artworks and collaborate with other institutions and artists. Ideally, this will initiate efforts to digitally preserve some artworks that are threatened daily by vandalists, public outcry, or harsh weather conditions, and it will raise awareness of artworks that are often unappreciated.