Havel's Heirs

The ghost of Václav Havel hovers over politics in the Czech Republic. His appreciation of irony and willingness to deflate the pretensions of authority seems to be entirely lost on current legal and political elites in the country. Need evidence? Try this brief report from The New Republic on the prosecution two men - David Hons (aka Roman Týc) and Roman Smetana - for committing political art and freedom expression in the country.

"The Revolution Will Not Cure 'the Nubs' . . . "

A piece of street art known as "Tantawi's underwear" mocks
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads the ruling transitional
military council.

After the revolution, graphic artist Adham Bakry began stenciling
the face of Safwat El Sherif, a member of Egypt's former ruling party,
behind bars. El Sherif was arrested on corruption charges soon after.
Bakry sees the rise of Cairo's street art as a push back against those
who use the uprising as a marketing tool. Photograph © Adham Bakry.

This evening npr ran this interesting report on the uses of graffiti in post-Spring Cairo. I thought the resistance to the commercialization of the revolution is right on point. No more iconic Che Guevara tee shirts! This follows nicely on this earlier post on the post-Spring street art in Libya & Tunisia.

Political Street Art - Murals and More from Tunisia & Libya

Tunisia, 2011 - www.zoo-project.com. Photograph © Elissa Jobson.

At The Guardian today are two slide shows - here and here - of political street art from central theaters of the "Arab Spring."

Who Is Afraid of Ai Weiwei?

I posted last month when the Chinese government arrested artist and political critic Ai Weiwei. You can find in depth coverage of the situation surrounding Ai Weiwei - including reports on the detention of his associates and other critics of the government - here at The Guardian. You might also check out this trailer for a forthcoming Frontline documentary on Ai Weiwei.

It seems appropriate today to raise questions concerning Ai Weiwei's whereabouts. Why? Because today a set of his sculptures will "open" in Central Park. You can find a story here about Ai, his art, and his politics; npr broadcast it yesterday, using the New York City "opening" as a pretext. Rather than lift a picture of Ai or of his works, I thought it more appropriate to pilfer this image. What you have is a photograph of a projection that, according to news reports, an artist operating under the pseudonym Cpak Ming surreptitiously made late last week onto the exterior of the Barracks of the People's Liberation Army in the center of Hong Kong.* The projection depicts Ai and asks rhetorically "Who Is Afraid of Ai Weiwei?" Asked and answered?
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* The same image reportedly (look here too) also is being stenciled elsewhere in Hong Kong.

The Guardian Covers Graffiti

In Paris, "Princess Hijab" has been altering fashion adverts in the Metro - a process she apparently refers to as "hijab-ization." You can find her work here.

Meanwhile, across the Channel, the Brits can't still seem to make up their minds what to do about graffiti - some jurisdictions insisting that it be whitewashed, others trying to make it pay - dubbing it a tourist attraction! The sordid tale is here. What I want to know is this: what does making graffiti into a tourist attraction do to its putative outsider, quasi-disreputable, transgressive status?

Tweaking the Surveillance Apparatus

According to a report at The New York Times, this recently painted mural by Banksy will be removed by order of the borough council. It is difficult to know whether this is just because, as the council president proclaimed, one cannot simply encourage graffiti, because of the critical message the mural expresses, or because, the artist managed to paint the mural without detection right under the nose of a CCTV camera (shown circled in red to the upper right in this photograph).

On the Usefulness of Walls for Politics (6)

A local resident takes a picture of a Banksy art work
showing a soldier being frisked by a young girl.
Photograph © picturesonwalls.com/PA.

The highly controversial wall, constructed by Israel under the
claim that it provides security for its people, has been condemned
by activists and declared illegal by the United Nations.
Photograph © Emilio Morenatti/AP.

Banksy's latest publicity stunt is timed to coincide with
today's opening of an exhibition of his work, and that of
other artists, in the city which aims to bring tourists
back to Bethlehem over the Christmas period.
Photograph © picturesonwalls.com/PA.

International graffiti artists have been leaving their
mark on the eight metre-high concrete barrier.
Photograph © Emilio Morenatti/AP.

Banksy's signature rat holds a sling and looks up at the barrier.
Photograph © picturesonwalls.com/PA.

A Palestinian man walks by a section of the security
wall decorated by an anonymous graffiti artist.
Photograph © Emilio Morenatti/AP.

I have lifted these images and captions from a slideshow in The Guardian today; while I do not find Banksy's work to be profound, it seems gratuitous to dismiss it, especially in this context, as a "publicity stunt." As an aside, you may recall that Emilio Morenatti is a Spanish photographer who Gaza was kidnapped while working in Gaza in 2006.
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P.S.: (Added 5 December 07) At the BBC you can find this slideshow showing more work by Banksy and other artists in Bethlehem.

P.S.: And another, final installment, from The Guardian:

Bethlehem, West Bank: Illusive (sic) British
graffiti artist Banksy's new works.
Photograph © JIM HOLLANDER/EPA.

Banksy's Bobbies

I am not overwhelmed by Mr. Banksy, his work mostly seems like good fun, nothing to get worked ap about one way or the other. But, since the homophobes who persist in leaving anonymous comments here seem to be driven to new heights of desire by images of men kissing, I thought I'd post this. I had never seen this, but another commenter sent it along (Thanks Lee!)