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]
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]