| Abstract (english) | This thesis, titled „The Second Life of Graffiti: An Exploration of the Transfer of Street Art into the Museum”, examines, theorizes, and with a final execution in practice, proves the complexity of determining and evaluating graffiti – from its origins, history, types, artists and actors to semiotics and the socio-anthropological context. It offers a problem-based approach to the relationship between the practice of graffiti and its creations towards the phenomenon, institution, and current practice of museums through arguments that describe this practice as dubious and those that support it and, in relation to the this (graffiti and the idea of the museum), conservation and restoration processes that are applicable to graffiti. This thesis seeks a reexamination of the view of graffiti as a part of culture. Graffiti is a contemporary art form with links to urban communication rituals. Based on the knowledge gained by examining recent literature, experiential insights, communication and direct interaction with the artists, personal participation in the creation of the research subject and the technical and technological examination of methods and techniques, restoration, and the re-creation of graffiti, proposed is an shift away from the established view of graffiti as an act of vandalism. Therefore, a more layered relationship towards the message and the meaning of this visual form is postulated. The first layer is a semantic and cultural examination of the graffiti phenomenon as a communication platform for information mediation between social groups and subcultures in the urban context. The second layer is the creative application of technology that could be used to preserve graffiti in museum collections - musalization. In this new understanding of graffiti both layers work together, in an interdisciplinary manner. The critical insight into the graffiti phenomenon is concluded and rounded out by the technology of musealization. All of the above contributes to the understanding of graffiti as a form of communication. This thesis proposes that graffiti is urban land art. While in the familiar land art, inscription is done through the landscape and forms are inscribed in it, a comparison can be made here: in urban land art the inscription is done in an urban environment, through graffiti. Therefore, in 12 inscription, the text is in the creation itself, literally executed via the inscribed text, a painted image or via text and image on the urban landscape, the street, the walls of buildings, and fences. Furthermore, in the theoretical part, an anthropological analysis is made: in the treatment of the origin, history and types of graffiti, special attention is paid to exceptional Glagolitic graffiti that are preserved on cultural monuments of the past, and appear as a recent code of younger generations that, driven by the primeval urge, are searching for their own roots (national, family, gender). In addition, this thesis provides an overview of existing theories and a personal reflection on how images relate to words. Based on an eight-year study of known and available sources of information on the subject – from the most recent scholars on the subject to the early theorists of graphitic expression – scholarly literature, wide-ranging and diverse, professional and popular articles in domestic and foreign journals and websites, video and audio materials, the following conclusions have been established as a contribution to the theoretical framework for a dynamic understanding of several of the aforementioned aspects of the dubious position and determination of graffiti. Furthermore, theoretical support and practical experiment give a technological and artistic contribution to the innovative and practical implementation of the purposeful transfer of work created specifically for this research, a piece of graffiti, to the museum. The doctoral candidate agreed to have the graffiti placed in a Croatian museum. With an innovative approach, using a technology never applied before – by applying original methods, techniques, and a combination of materials and supplies – the candidate found a solution for how to transfer the graffiti: transfer it to the surface of a wall and then remove it. The timely intervention – the removal of the graffiti from the wall – prevented its possible damage, disappearance, and the termination of his life. This thesis is the result of a scientifically systematic, consistent and theoretically grounded search, examination, research, recording, and analysis of more than 110 works of graffiti and the artists of various practices (countries of origin) who created them, as well as museum selections in more than 50 countries. Doctoral candidate Vlatka Rudeš Vončina recorded changes to the graffiti over time through photographs and descriptions. She created a collection of photographs. On a carefully selected sample, she recorded the changes that occurred. By 13 first-person observation, studying the object in situ, recording data over time (3 to 4 years) on select graffiti the effects of changes caused by natural and atmospheric influences (atmospheric instability, inconsistent temperature, humidity, UV rays, precipitation) or human influences (passers-by, city services, other graffiti artists, rivals), the doctoral candidate postulates that graffiti, as a creation, an expression worth preserving, should be given the opportunity to be saved by intervention. Based on the conducted research, empirically validated conclusions, in the author's personal long-term professional practice, methods, techniques and tools for rescuing graffiti, are made, even before the situation arises in which they can be damaged. The chosen innovative material for executing graffiti is silicone. Prior to selecting a piece of graffiti, the doctoral candidate made paintings. She recreated the selected graffiti on a wall and then removed it and prepared the agreed transfer to the museum. She recorded a video of this process. It is particularly significant that the candidate’s initial purpose and goal were achieved in re-determining and re-evaluating graffiti by the fact that she managed to broker the reception of the piece by a public institution that is within the traditional system of national culture – a museum which will preserve it as an object of long-term value. In the preparation of her doctoral thesis, the candidate applied the methods of compilation and comparison of existing knowledge and facts from study of art with results obtained in her own research. Using critical and theoretical models in the evaluation of graffiti and the trial and error method, the most appropriate technologies, chemical substances and materials for the performance and transfer of graffiti to the museum were investigated. Through the research of the historical development and theoretical assumptions of the functioning and evaluation of graffiti, and discovering ways to conserve and transfer it, and in particular, synergy with citizens in the course of candidate’s work in the street, an effort was made to influence society, from observers, artists and museums to narrowly-specialized professionals. Positioning graffiti in the context of art offers an indication of how to save it from decay and try to sensitize the government, professionals, and the public to reserve some space for graffiti in museums, that is, how one can create value from a short-lived form of communication that is worthy of restoration and conservation, an enduring value that is a part of the cultural heritage. |
