[spectre] Budapest's Fifth District vetoes "graffiti sculpture"

[Geert Lovink]

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Budapest's Fifth District vetoes "graffiti sculpture"

By: CaboodleNews
2007-01-02 13:01:00

Munkácsy Award-winner Hungarian sculptor, János Sugár, has had his  
plans to erect a memorial to a famous graffiti scrawl in central  
Budapest scuppered by the District V government. According to index.hu,  
the rejection is against regulations.

Sugár wanted to point out the controversies in urban folklore by  
installing an aluminium statue of the "Sztriptíz" ("striptease")  
graffiti, which "graced" the wall of a building on Városház utca for  
fifteen years. After receiving all necessary permits, the sculptor  
thought the district government would okay his plan to have the name of  
a short-lived punk band on display in aluminum. However, the district  
rejected the request on grounds that it did not want "a memorial to an  
unwanted phenomenon."
 
Sugár said his work would create an interesting tension by pulling  
graffiti painters, who "work" illegally and usually not for the  
purposes of art, into the realm of art. The sculptor believes the 40 to  
80 centimeter-tall aluminium letters standing on an articifial stone  
pedestal at the same location as the original graffiti would pose the  
question "What is needed for something to became an accepted part of a  
city?" (Index.hu writes that the story of the graffiti sculpture shows  
the answer is "an official stamp.")
 
Sugár, who teaches at the Intermedia Department of the Academy of Fine  
Arts (Képzőművészeti Egyetem), designed the statue for an exhibition  
organized by the Soros Foundation in 1993. Although the foundation has  
offered to finance the installation of the work, and the cultural  
committee of the Budapest Goverment had given permission on grounds  
that the building is not a historical site, the cultural, urban  
development and environment protection committee of the Fifth District  
Government voted against the plan.
 
Tibor Pásztor (MSZP) told the portal that the opinions of committees  
should not be considered by the office issuing the permits. The final  
decision, he argues, should be made by the owner of the building - in  
this case, Magyar Telekom -, and, if all other papers have been  
submitted, the office should issue the permit. Magyar Telekom has  
agreed to the installation and the goverment of Budapest has given its  
permission.
 
A final decision is expected to be made later this month.