03/11/2025
WORKSHOP GRAFFITI IN ART AND VISUAL CULTURE
Wednesday, November 5, 2025, 4-7 pm with Jacob Kimvall (Stockholm) and Javier Abarca .es
Jacob speaks about “Design or Vandalism? Graffiti as motif and graphic design in record covers”
Graffiti has been described as both fine art and as vandalism. The lecture gets past this dichotomy by looking at the usage of graffiti as both a motif and as a visual medium in the promotion of recorded music. Building on survey of a collection more than 800 different record covers it suggests that the images travels between walls and covers, as well as between subcultural fine art, commercial applied art – and vandalism.
Javier’s lecture pushes the discussion on the position of graffiti between high&low: “Graffiti is “folk art””
Confusing the contemporary culture of graffiti as a chapter in the history of contemporary art is an old mistake. Graffiti is a culture of its own and can only be understood in its own terms. If we need to frame graffiti through the lens of contemporary art, it would be better described as a form of “folk art”.
Two lectures about graffiti, held as part of the courses taught by our guest lecturer Dr. Jacob Kimvall from on ephemeral memory culture and Prof. Dr. Ilaria Hoppe on graffiti in art.
Jacob Kimvall is an art historian specializing in graffiti research, visual studies, and popular culture. Javier Abarca is an artist, curator, graffiti researcher, and director of the Unlock Bureau, which organizes the international and .
Sponsored by http://xn--bersterreichischeversich-kocd.at/
Portrait Jacob Kimvall Credit: Tim Aro .aro.photography
