Street art and the art of the street: theoretical approach and the problem of the art of the everyday life

U naslovljenom radu autor analizira suvremeni pojam i teoriju slike u kontekstu urbane vizualne kulture i društvenog spektakla kojima suprotstavlja dva naizgled bitno povezana fenomena – graffiti praksu i uličnu umjetnost, odnosno street art. Cilj je uvodnih poglavlja, stoga, stvoriti pretpostavke za suvremenu i kritičku analizu obaju fenomena sa polazišta teorije slike koja se uspostavlja u drugoj polovini dvadesetog stoljeća filozofijskim promišljanjem tehnologije i kritičkom analizom društva. U oba slučaja do posebnog izražaja dolazi ontološka važnost pojma svakodnevice za promišljanje uloge slike u suvremenom dobu pa je upravo kroz teoriju slike, odnosno njenu bitnu vezu sa svakodnevnim životom moguće pristupiti analizi ponajprije graffiti prakse. Graffiti praksu autor sagledava kroz svezu sa situacionističkim teorijama i praksama koje se ujedno pokazuju presudnima za suvremeno razumijevanje društvenog spektakla i medijske kulture uopće. Upravo u tome pogledu prema zaključku rada stvorene su pretpostavke za povijesno-umjetničko sagledavanje bitnih razlika ulične umjetnosti i graffiti prakse u njihovim uvjetima i simptomima, a kako bi se u zaključku mogao ponuditi novi smjer valoriziranja graffiti prakse do sada ne zabilježene u lokalnom kontekstu promišljanja subverzivnih umjetničkih praksi na ulici te u svakodnevnom životu napose sa posebnim naglaskom na bliski kontinuitet 'alternativne povijesti umjetnosti' između situacionizma, graffitija i suvremene virtualne svakodnevice. Upravo komunikacijske i eksperimentalne kvalitete graffiti prakse možemo smatrati specifičnom i posebnom estetikom vizualnog označavanja, afirmiranja površine javnog prostora kao materijalizacije uvjeta mogućnosti dijaloga i života u zajedničkom prostoru koji se samo u praksi prostora uvijek iznova pojavljuje kao društvena cjelina.In this paper author analyses the contemporary notion and the theory of the image in the context of urban visual culture and the society of the spectacle to which he attributes two seemingly connected phenomena – graffiti and street art. With the intracoronary chapters author will create the premises for the contemporary critical analysis of both phenomena from the standpoint of the image theory which is constituted in the second half of the twentieth century through philosophical inquiry into technology and through critical analysis of society. In both cases we find the notion of the everyday life to bear substantial ontological significance in the context of understanding the role of the image in the contemporary age and it is therefore that we are able to analyze graffiti especially through the image theory and its significant bond with the everyday life. Author therefore considers graffiti a part of the situationist theory and practice which prove themselves to be crucial for the contemporary understanding of the society of the spectacle as well as media culture in general. This is exactly where – towards the conclusion of the paper – the premises are established for the critical analysis of substantial differences of graffiti and street art in their conditions and symptoms in the context of contemporary art-history. Thus, the author will be able to consider a new path of valorization for the graffiti practice that was by now not recorded in the local art history as well as analysis of subversive artistic practices on the street and in the everyday life. Conceptual highlight is given to the continuity of one possible 'alternative art history' from situationism to graffiti and the most contemporary virtual everyday practices of resistance and contestation of our post-modern culture. It is exactly the communicative and experimental qualities of the graffiti practice that are worth considering as a part of its specific aesthetic of visual signification, affirmation of the public space as surface 73 and as the materialization of the conditions for the possibility of dialogue and authentic life in the communal space that is only through recurrent practice present to us as a societal whole. KEYWORDS: Street art, situationism, graffiti, everyday life, art of the street 7