It’s full rush hour, the time where vast masses of people keep scouring the streets – hazed with neon and ominous advertisements which stretch and impregnate as far as the eye can see. Scarce is the person who resists the widespread consumerist appeal, as the commerce opens like an enormous gallery of labirint aisles and streets, endowed all around with the most influential brands – everyone is out for shopping, consuming and adorning… What’s with all these people?

Embedded within the crowd, camera in hand acting like a tourist, I closely watch all around except the displays and temptations… My undivided attention is focused upon finding the one thing which dazzled me the most last time I’ve visited Barcelona’s vast urban landscapes. Street art… Graffitis, Stencils, drawings, callegeros shows (steet performances), skaters and freestylers, the rebirth of everything native to the urban landscapes and pertaining its vast breed.

I must admit… as soon as I came back here, I sadly noticed it was nearly all gone. I was told bout the new civil law: all manner of cultural intervention and manifesto had been tagged as misdemeanors. No more bottelons, street fighting, pissing the corners and vomiting the alleys… Barcelona was serious about nourishing a civilized state. Fortunately though, genuine street culture hasn’t been entirely vanquished.

As soon as the daylight dims and people engage their self-imposed curfew, the whimsical fantasy of ramblas-parading ceases, and the stores shut down… this is when the true Barcelona is revealed, thriving with urban culture. From rough sketches to impressive works of art, the mechanical portals and shutters protecting the stores emerge, thus revealing a mass of urban canvases… many of which serve as advertisements, but others display captivating pictures which snag the attention of the persons who care: people such as myself; and hopefully you as well…

As the sunlight fades, the struggle resumes… each day new portals are painted, and each day old ones are cleansed. There are companies assigned for the cleaning, and there are “companies” engaging the self-imposed task of covertly turning gateways, alleys, walls and cars into something new and fresh, much to the dismay and amazement of the widespread population.

 Dear readers, this is just my opinion, and I’m well aware many among you will easily regard such activities as vandalism – myself, I wholeheartedly appreciate urban art exhibiting great technical skill and proper sense of placement.

If you were to consider the opposite point of view – what about the ceaseless propaganda and advertisements which ceaselessly floods everything around us, even your own computer? If that’s a necessary evil, why shouldn’t we honor street art with a similar attribute? Every since I once saw a humongous Adidas advertisement right in the middle of a Brazilian favela, I couldn’t cease to wonder… isn’t that a different shade of vandalism and perversion?

This guest post was written by via_publica, a contributing author who’s currently living in Barcelona, Spain. If you want to see his travel logs, check here.

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