Legal wall

Legal walls or open walls,[1] are public spaces where graffiti is allowed by any member of the public.

Legal walls started in Scandinavia,[1] and the first legal wall was likely the klotterplanket ("scribble board") in Stockholm which opened in 1968. The wall was repainted white every morning by a civil servant.[2] They are still most common in Scandinavia,[2] as well as Australia[3] where there are over thirty legal walls in Canberra alone.[4] However, legal walls exist around the world.[5][6]

A legal wall in the UK with sponsors logos at the start

Legal walls are different from commissioned murals or commercial graffiti as writers and artists are given relative freedom in what they create,[1] although hateful messages are often disallowed.[7] They may be state-designated spaces[8] or privately owned.[2] Privately owned walls may need council permission to exist in some jurisdictions, where graffiti-style art is illegal in public even if done on personal property.[9]

  1. ^ a b c Centea, Smaranda (2022). Public space negotiation around Stockholm's legal graffiti walls – an environmental justice perspective. Stockholm University.
  2. ^ a b c Kimvall, Jacob; Hannerz (2019-01-01). ""Keep Fighting Malmö" – Graffiti and the negotiations of interests and control at Open walls". Creating the City. Identity, Memory and Participation – via Semantic Scholar.
  3. ^ McAuliffe, Cameron (2013-01-24). "Legal Walls and Professional Paths: The Mobilities of Graffiti Writers in Sydney". Urban Studies. 50 (3): 518–537. doi:10.1177/0042098012468894. ISSN 0042-0980.
  4. ^ "Culture in a can: Canberra's legal graffiti walls". ACT Government. 2023-05-01. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  5. ^ "Free-for-all graffiti wall unveiled in Sarkandaugava, Rīga". eng.lsm.lv. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  6. ^ "Romania photo of the day: Cluj-Napoca launches its first legal wall for street art". Romania Insider. 2021-11-25. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  7. ^ "Plan for 'legal graffiti' walls to be identified in Glasgow under new pilot". Glasgow Times. 2023-09-30. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  8. ^ Chang, T.C. (2018-09-28). "Writing on the Wall: Street Art in Graffiti‐free Singapore". International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 43 (6): 1046–1063. doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12653. ISSN 0309-1317.
  9. ^ Iveson, Kurt (2013-10-28). "War is over (if you want it): rethinking the graffiti problem". Australian Planner. 46 (4): 24–34. doi:10.1080/07293682.2009.10753419. ISSN 0729-3682.