STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
performance is an alternative to plays in the theatre. Face-to-face contact in street arts is totally
different from the distance between players and audience in the theatre and so it is a new form
of theatrical mediation.
2.3.2. The language of (urban, rural, industrial) space
For street artists public space is more than just a background. It is an integral part of the show
because the town is a physical, social, ideological and political entity that stimulates dramatic
creation within its walls. So certain requirements are common to all the artists:
• writing specially tailored to structures;
• physical contact with and sensitivity to an area, a town;
• multisensory attention to urban and rural settings (sight, hearing, smell and touch);
• political, social and ideological contact with the space occupied;
• making people look differently at ordinary places;
• making the story part of the town’s memories and history.
Using the town, for example, as a setting is a long-term project. Detailed location research
(traffic flows, natural light, identification of districts, daily use of the space by the community,
etc.), rehearsals in public in order to gauge and respond to audience reaction, identification of
the social fabric, are all parameters that the artist has to work out in order to adapt the
production to the surroundings. However, that assumes that the event will be unique and
ephemeral. Certainly there are shows that can successfully combine specifically urban creation
and adaptability but those are still fairly rare.
3. Ethics and aesthetics
As we have seen, street arts do not fit into any specific category of live performance, because in
fact they embrace all categories. Thus they do not constitute a single category in the usual sense
of the word; they are diverse and ephemeral. They create a sort of paradox that defies any
attempt at strict definition. But it is the general trends, the inter-relationships, that are diverse,
rather than individuals.
One way of describing street arts would be to say that they exist on the ‘margins’ of live
performance. But that does not mean they are marginal; quite the opposite. What is written in
the margin is often a commentary, a clarification, an ‘addition to the text’, so that it always
relates to the text, and sometimes even differentiates it completely 98 .
3.1. An ethic of social issues
In her report 99 , Franceline Spielmann explains that the ethical stance of street artists is a
common attitude shared by many. Thus it is not just an individual ethical position, a personal
commitment, it is a street arts ethic represented by many artists. She notes: ‘Their aim here is to
take away the everyday associations of any private or public space that can be used communally
98 Dapporto, Elena, Ressources et limites dans une perspective de développement, op. cit.
99 Spielmann, Franceline, Les questions de formation, qualification, transmission dans le domaine des Arts de la
rue, op. cit.
85
PE 375.307