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Andrea L . Baldini

Peking University, School of Arts, Faculty Member

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As the Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor at Peking University, I specialize in interdisciplinary research that spans aesthetics, cultural studies, intellectual property law, and visual culture. My focus is on how creativity can infuse political and social value into everyday practices, particularly through street art, graffiti, and public art.

I am the founding Editor-in-Chief of the East Asian Journal of Philosophy (EAJP) and hold two doctorates—one in Philosophy from Temple University and another in Text Sciences from the University of Siena. I have authored three monographs, including A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law (Brill), and my work is widely published in leading journals such as Philosophy Compass, Contemporary Aesthetics, Estetika, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, and The Journal of Visual Culture.

In addition to my own publications, I serve as a guest editor, scientific committee member, and sit on several editorial boards, including the Bloomsbury History of Modern Aesthetics series. Over the years, I have been recognized with multiple accolades, including the Top Paper in Urban Communication award from the National Communication Association (NCA) and the Nordev Prize from Temple University.

My career has taken me to various prestigious institutions, including roles as a Fulbright Fellow at Temple University, International Exchange Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies of Nanjing University, and Visiting Scholar at both Padua University and CIEBA – School of Fine Arts at the University of Lisbon.
Supervisors: Susan Feagin and Joseph Margolis

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Nicholas J Crane

University of Wyoming

Dr. Sohaib Alam

Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University

York St John University

Paula Gil Larruscahim

INOPINATUM Study Center on Urban Creativity

Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma

Nouran El-Hawary

University of Otago

Karen Kurczynski

University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Videos by Andrea L . Baldini

From East to West, and Back Again: Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art in the Post-Pandemic World

Intro to the ASA Panel at the 2021 CAA Meeting with Prof Peng Feng (PKU); Prof Kathleen Higgins (... more Intro to the ASA Panel at the 2021 CAA Meeting with Prof Peng Feng (PKU); Prof Kathleen Higgins (UTexas); Prof Zhou Xian (NJU); Prof Mary Wiseman (CUNY).

Abstract:
This panel aims at deepening and building on the global aesthetics trend by considering both systematic discussions of aesthetics in the Chinese context and examples from Chinese art as salient to philosophical theorizing. The goal is to bring both contemporary Chinese theories of art and beauty as well as sustained analysis of Chinese art to the forefront of the studies of the arts.

83 views

Street Art, Graffiti, and Tags: The Value of Imperfection in Urban Aesthetics

Though many today appreciate several styles of street art, graffiti are still generally despised.... more Though many today appreciate several styles of street art, graffiti are still generally despised. They are dismissed as pointless disruption of the aesthetics of the “perfect city”: scribbles ruining urban harmony and décor. However, graffiti’s undiluted power of introducing imperfection in the city’s landscape has significant consequences at a formal and aesthetic-political level that require attention. In this paper, I argue that, by challenging ideals of urban perfection, on the one hand, graffiti – and in particular its most basic style, that is, tags – allow us to appreciate the irregular, the disordered, and the rough, thus enriching our aesthetic urban lives. On the other hand, as examples of spontaneous self-expression in the public domain, graffiti also function as an antidote to dominant oppressive policies of urban development.

63 views

Art and Labor: Rethinking Artistic Work in a Post-Pandemic World

Artists have been amongst the categories that have suffered the most from the economic crisis due... more Artists have been amongst the categories that have suffered the most from the economic crisis due to COVID-19. Artists’ «portfolio careers», generally based on freelancing and self-employment not protected by regulations and welfare, are one of the main reasons of this financial emergency. Artists’ odd forms of employment are rooted in a peculiar understanding of artistic work, which I call artistic work exceptionalism (AWE). AWE sees artistic work as essentially different from regular jobs, and finds its conceptual roots in western philosophy, which depicts making art as the opposite of regular jobs.

In this talk, I take issue with AWE. By placing emphasis on the heretofore neglected relationship between art and work, I argue that, in principle, making art is in continuity with other forms of employment. I call this view artistic work normalism (AWN).

7 views

Creativity and improvisation in the kitchen: Cooking the Italian Way

Can there be improvised recipes? This lecture not only argues that improvised recipes are possibl... more Can there be improvised recipes? This lecture not only argues that improvised recipes are possible, but also -- thanks to Shanghai-based Italian chef Lucky Lasagna -- it creates one. I call them instantaneous-recipes. They emerge at the same instant where a dish is also prepared. The improvisational freedom of instantaneous- recipes is displayed in the spontaneity of using what is available in terms of ingredients, tools, utensils, and techniques.

31 views

Philosophy of Street Art: Identity, Value, and the Law

This is the video abstract for an upcoming article in Philosophy Compass that summarises the stre... more

5 views

#INFLVENCERS 002: COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ON GRAFFITI WITH ANDREA BALDINI -- The Grifters -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFX-W6Gb2FM

In the first conversation, I interview Andrea Baldini about graffiti copyright. A philosopher by ... more In the first conversation, I interview Andrea Baldini about graffiti copyright. A philosopher by training and trade, he is an Associate Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory. Andrea and I met in Lisbon in 2019 at an Urbancreativity conference. After hearing his talk "To Copyright, or Not to Copyright Graffiti?" with copyright lawyer Enrico Bonadio, I decided to invite both of them to speak on the subject. Because they have opposing views on the subject, we will begin with Mr. Baldini and his antithesis on graffiti copyright protection. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFX-W6Gb2FM

Books by Andrea L . Baldini

Street art tra estetica e legge

ETS, 2022

Qual è la relazione tra la street art e la legge? La tesi di questo scritto è che la street art h... more Qual è la relazione tra la street art e la legge? La tesi di questo
scritto è che la street art ha una relazione costitutiva con la legge.
Un aspetto cruciale dell’identità di questo genere d’arte urbana
dipende dalla sua capacità di rovesciare gli usi dominanti degli spazi
pubblici. Gli artisti di street art sovvertono quelle leggi e norme sociali
che regolano la città. La street art non solo ha trasformato gli spazi
pubblici e le loro funzioni in materiale artistico, ma ha anche fatto
diventare la propria attitudine ribelle nei confronti della legge una risorsa
creativa. Questo saggio vuole chiarire e argomentare quest’idea,
traendo allo stesso momento importanti conseguenze per quanto riguarda
la metafisica della street art, il suo valore e la sua relazione con
la proprietà intellettuale, in particolare col diritto d’autore e i diritti
morali. All’estremo opposto rispetto all’arte contrattuale, la street art
è arte fuorilegge.

UN(AUTHORIZED)//COMMISSIONED

Rome: WholeTrain Press, 2017

Can Unauthorized paintings realized in the public space, commonly considered as acts of vandalism... more Can Unauthorized paintings realized in the public space, commonly considered as acts of vandalism, be recognized by a public institution and enter a collection of contemporary art, without being de-contextualized? Is it possible for writers and street artists who want to deal with galleries, to use the documentation of what has been done in the urban space without permission, rather than embarking on a course of study and working on classic supports such as canvases and papers?

Unauthorized // Commissioned, through essays by Pietro Rivasi and Andrea Baldini, as well as with the images of Zelle Asphaltkultur, Fra32 and Egs among others, investigates the complex relationship between urban art and institutions, taking as an example the experiences of “Icone” and “1984. Evoluzione e rigenerazione del writing”

A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law

Brill , 2018

What is the relationship between street art and the law? In A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and ... more What is the relationship between street art and the law? In A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law, Andrea Baldini argues that street art has a constitutive relationship with the law. A crucial aspect of the identity of this urban art kind depends on its capacity to turn upside down dominant uses of public spaces. Street artists subvert those laws and social norms that regulate the city. Baldini shows that street art has not only transformed public spaces and their functions into artistic material, but has also turned its rebellious attitude toward the law into a creative resource. He aims at elucidating and arguing for this claim, while drawing important implications at the level of street art’s metaphysics, value, and relationship with rights of intellectual property, in particular copyright and moral rights. At the other end of the spectrum of contractual art, street art is outlaw art.

Street Art. Banksy & Co. L'arte allo stato urbano

by Christian Omodeo, Luca Ciancabilla, and Andrea L . Baldini

In cinquant’anni, writing, street art e molte espressioni artistiche affini hanno profondamente c... more In cinquant’anni, writing, street art e molte espressioni artistiche affini hanno profondamente cambiato il nostro modo di relazionarci allo spazio urbano, grazie anche alla disponibilità di nuovi materiali industriali, come le bombolette aerosol e i pennarelli negli anni Settanta e Ottanta, e di nuove tecnologie digitali, come il web e i computer a basso costo a partire dalla fine degli anni Novanta. Fin dagli anni Settanta, questi fenomeni hanno attirato l’attenzione del grande pubblico e del mondo accademico. Tuttavia, l’interesse per gli aspetti sociologici, giuridici ed economici è spesso prevalso, limitando l’analisi della natura artistica di queste espressioni. Così, mentre il distacco tra cultura alta (highbrow) e cultura di massa (lowbrow) tendeva ad annullarsi, la centralità di uno dei principali campi di studio, che permetteva l’analisi dei risultati di questo fenomeno nel settore delle arti visive, è stata sottovalutata. Prova ne è la rarità di fondi pubblici, in Italia come all’estero, che possiedono materiali che documentano queste culture urbane. Street Art. Banksy & co. L’arte allo stato urbano è la prima grande retrospettiva dedicata in Italia a questo tema. Un modo originale e unico per scoprire la storia dell’arte di strada nella New York degli anni Settanta e Ottanta, capire che le città vivono e comunicano attraverso un sovrapporsi non regolato di parole ed apprezzare una selezione di opere che offrono un ampio campionario della street art degli anni Duemila. Ma la mostra e il catalogo sono anche un invito alla riflessione sulla memoria di queste esperienze urbane. Quali tracce di tali culture stiamo trasmettendo al futuro? Quali modalità e quali approcci sono da prediligere per salvaguardare questo fenomeno? Che ruolo avrà il museo in questa prospettiva? Sono solo alcune delle domande alle quali storici dell’arte, giuristi, esperti di restauro, sociologi e professionisti nel campo della conservazione rispondono fra le pagine del presente volume, testimonianza viva di un dibattito quanto mai attuale a cui il lettore potrà prendere parte anche grazie a un ricco apparato iconografico destinato ad offrire altrettanti spunti di riflessione.

Joseph Margolis, Ma allora, che cos'è un'opera d'arte

Mimesis, 2011

La questione più profonda che la domanda “Che cos’è un’opera d’arte?” nasconde ha a che vedere co... more La questione più profonda che la domanda “Che cos’è un’opera d’arte?” nasconde ha a che vedere con il significato fondamentale delle pratiche artistiche: per Margolis l’interrogativo che funziona da centro di gravità per le riflessioni qui sviluppate, non può trovare risposta se non con il chia- rimento di quale sia il ruolo delle arti e di quale sia il loro legame con quel- le potenzialità peculiari che trasformano gli individui della specie Homo sapiens in ‘persone.’ L’arte, infatti, non è un semplice gioco o passatempo che le diverse società storicamente determinate hanno sviluppato a parti- re da capacità basilari che potremmo intendere – in senso riduzionistico – come funzionali alla sopravvivenza della nostra specie (come parlare un linguaggio o essere in grado di produrre rappresentazioni simboliche), ma è invece un’attività in cui e attraverso cui la stessa “natura” umana si sviluppa e struttura in quel modo proteiforme, mutevole e che sembra resi- stere quasi senza appello a ogni tentativo di analisi.

Thesis by Andrea L . Baldini

Public Art: A Critical Approach

In this dissertation, I provide a philosophical analysis of public art. I focus on its “publicnes... more In this dissertation, I provide a philosophical analysis of public art. I focus on its “publicness,” and draw implications at the level of public art’s ontology, appreciation, and value. I uphold the view that an artwork is public when received within a public sphere rather than within artworld institutions. I further argue that, as a consequence of the peculiar nature of its reception, public art possesses an essential value that is distinctively non-aesthetic: to promote political participation and to encourage tolerance. By examining how public art and its value(s) relate to the public domain in the context of pluralistic democracies, this dissertation also contributes to a fuller understanding of an important aspect of our social world.

Papers by Andrea L . Baldini

The Graffiti-Game and the Ubiquity of Resistance: Getting Up as Oppositional Agency

GSA - Graffiti and Street Art, 2024

We tend to think of resistance as an exceptional event in our lives, when something so drastic oc... more We tend to think of resistance as an exceptional event in our lives, when something so drastic occurs that the status quo is completely disrupted and reshaped. According to this viewpoint, moments of resistance occur when one or more people actively participate in acts of political sabotage, in which some hierarchy or structure of power is knowingly challenged and subverted with the purpose of long-term change. I'd like to challenge this idea. Resistance, in effect, can function in many ways. Not only revolutions or revolts should be conceptualised as such. Everyday actions can sometimes be considered forms of resistance. De Certeau describes such activities as “sheeplike subversion.” This form of rebellion, however far from being a traditional insurrection, is a common and quiet disruption of social control. Rather than efforts aimed at structural societal changes, they are micro alterations that have a major influence on transgressors’ personal lives while yet evoking (traces of) social change. Graffiti, and more specifically, getting up, is a kind of resistance in this way. When painting tags, throw-ups, and pieces, authors are not concerned with long-term structural changes; their efforts may be futile on a global scale. And it does not appear that they intend to permanently change the status quo. In playing the graffiti game, spray-can calligraphers' efforts can be viewed more appropriately as enacting an oppositional agency that they would not otherwise have, allowing them to freely express themselves even when legally restricted.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial and Angelus Novus: Ephemera, Trauma, and Reparation in Contemporary Chinese Public Art

CLOCKSS Archive, Aug 2, 2022

What is the nature of memorials? Traditionally, memorials have been conceptualized as lasting ent... more What is the nature of memorials? Traditionally, memorials have been conceptualized as lasting entities preserving memories of our shared pasts. This paper challenges this view. My aim is to retheorize our practices of memorialization by examining the role that ephemerality plays in experiential memorials. Rather than fixed structures of meaning, experiential memorials are unstable careers whose significance depends on viewers' performative engagement. I provide evidence for my thesis by developing a critical interpretation of Qi Kang's Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (NMMH) as an example of experiential memorial. The fragmented nature of the here and now frees visitors' experiences. Like the wind propelling Benjamin's Angelus Novus into future and progress, the ephemerality of NMMH's experience unchains its significance from the constriction of dominant narratives of vengeance and resentment. If liberated temporally, the experience of memorials may help us not only to never forget, but also to find reconciliation.

Philosophy of Street Art: Identity, Value, and the Law

Philosophy Compass, Aug 9, 2022

We are living in the era of street art. Since Nick Riggle’s pivotal work on the definition of str... more We are living in the era of street art. Since Nick Riggle’s pivotal work on the definition of street art, several philosophers have addressed issues on the philosophy of street art. The goal of this paper is to summarize the literature. I consider the following matters, which have been at the core of philosophical discussions on street art: demarcation, value, illegality, and the ethical foundation of intellectual property (IP) protection. In answering the question ‘What is street art?,’ philosophers have generally resisted skeptical approaches by developing a wide range of real and essentialist definitions of street art (Section 2). When considering street art’s value, I distinguish between aesthetic and non-aesthetic centered accounts. If the former focus on the aesthetic side of our experience of street art, the latter generally place emphasis on its activist nature and political significance (Section 3). In discussing the relationship between street art and illegality, I canvas different takes on the issue. If for some scholars illegality is either a necessary or sufficient condition for street art, philosophers tend to agree that it is neither, while not denying its relevance at the level of identity and authenticity (Section 4). Finally, I consider matters of IP protection of street art. On the one hand, copyright optimists defend the view that current IP legislations may very well have a positive impact on the promotion and preservation of street art. Pessimists, on the other hand, argues that an extension of copyright privileges to works of street art is likely to jeopardize the counter-cultural and rebellious nature of this urban art kind (Section 5).

A new journal for a new idea of philosophical dialogue

Street Art and the Politics of Improvisation

Routledge eBooks, Jul 5, 2021

Copyright Skepticism and Street Art: A Contrasting Opinion

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Nov 7, 2019

In this essay, I focus on what I call the moral question in the IP protection of street art, whic... more In this essay, I focus on what I call the moral question in the IP protection of street art, which heretofore has been largely overlooked: Is extending copyright to street art the right thing to do? My analysis casts serious doubts on the possibility of morally justifying an extension of copyright to street art. My skepticism in the context of street art rests on the following thesis: copyright is incompatible with street art’s essential subversiveness. Rather than a tool for the promotion and protection of this urban art form, copyright is a step toward street art’s commodification and absorption within mainstream art. Both transformations are unwelcome insofar as they jeopardize the identity of street art. Copyright may very well accelerate the death of this art form.

Street Art: A Reply to Riggle

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Apr 1, 2016

In “Street Art: The Transfiguration of the Commonplaces,” Nicholas Alden Riggle provides a defini... more In “Street Art: The Transfiguration of the Commonplaces,” Nicholas Alden Riggle provides a definition of street art – a discussion very much needed when considering street art’s growing popularity and the lack of philosophical literature on the topic. Riggle argues that, like Pop Art, street art is a critical response to the Modern separation of art and life. Pop Art challenges Modernism by allowing everyday objects in the museum. Street art, on its part, does it by taking art out of the museum and “into the fractured stream of everyday life”. Riggle’s definition has the merit of emphasizing street art’s deep engagement with the city. However, as we shall see, it overlooks an essential feature of street art: its subversiveness. This omission obscures an important aspect of street art’s nature, and raises a fatal classificatory concern: it makes impossible distinguishing between street art and site-specific art.

Graffiti Writing as Creative Activism: Getting Up, Sheeplike Subversion, and Everyday Resistance

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Jun 7, 2023

Is graffiti writing creative activism? In this paper, I challenge commonly held beliefs that graf... more Is graffiti writing creative activism? In this paper, I challenge commonly held beliefs that graffiti writing is politically inert. On the contrary, I argue that graffiti writing is an example of creative activism. Rather than being a narcissistic form of vandalism, primarily directed at increasing one’s fame in front of an esoteric group, that is, fellow writers, writing is a form of everyday resistance allowing its practitioners to challenge authoritarian power. In questioning dominant hierarchies, graffiti is a powerful tool to help correct a specific instance of spatial injustice: the unequal distribution of access to urban surfaces for self-expression in the city, where corporations and political elites hold an unjustified monopoly over visual communication.

From East to West, and Back Again: Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art in the Post-Pandemic World

Intro to the ASA Panel at the 2021 CAA Meeting with Prof Peng Feng (PKU); Prof Kathleen Higgins (... more Intro to the ASA Panel at the 2021 CAA Meeting with Prof Peng Feng (PKU); Prof Kathleen Higgins (UTexas); Prof Zhou Xian (NJU); Prof Mary Wiseman (CUNY).

Abstract:
This panel aims at deepening and building on the global aesthetics trend by considering both systematic discussions of aesthetics in the Chinese context and examples from Chinese art as salient to philosophical theorizing. The goal is to bring both contemporary Chinese theories of art and beauty as well as sustained analysis of Chinese art to the forefront of the studies of the arts.

83 views

Street Art, Graffiti, and Tags: The Value of Imperfection in Urban Aesthetics

Though many today appreciate several styles of street art, graffiti are still generally despised.... more Though many today appreciate several styles of street art, graffiti are still generally despised. They are dismissed as pointless disruption of the aesthetics of the “perfect city”: scribbles ruining urban harmony and décor. However, graffiti’s undiluted power of introducing imperfection in the city’s landscape has significant consequences at a formal and aesthetic-political level that require attention. In this paper, I argue that, by challenging ideals of urban perfection, on the one hand, graffiti – and in particular its most basic style, that is, tags – allow us to appreciate the irregular, the disordered, and the rough, thus enriching our aesthetic urban lives. On the other hand, as examples of spontaneous self-expression in the public domain, graffiti also function as an antidote to dominant oppressive policies of urban development.

63 views

Art and Labor: Rethinking Artistic Work in a Post-Pandemic World

Artists have been amongst the categories that have suffered the most from the economic crisis due... more Artists have been amongst the categories that have suffered the most from the economic crisis due to COVID-19. Artists’ «portfolio careers», generally based on freelancing and self-employment not protected by regulations and welfare, are one of the main reasons of this financial emergency. Artists’ odd forms of employment are rooted in a peculiar understanding of artistic work, which I call artistic work exceptionalism (AWE). AWE sees artistic work as essentially different from regular jobs, and finds its conceptual roots in western philosophy, which depicts making art as the opposite of regular jobs.

In this talk, I take issue with AWE. By placing emphasis on the heretofore neglected relationship between art and work, I argue that, in principle, making art is in continuity with other forms of employment. I call this view artistic work normalism (AWN).

7 views

Creativity and improvisation in the kitchen: Cooking the Italian Way

Can there be improvised recipes? This lecture not only argues that improvised recipes are possibl... more Can there be improvised recipes? This lecture not only argues that improvised recipes are possible, but also -- thanks to Shanghai-based Italian chef Lucky Lasagna -- it creates one. I call them instantaneous-recipes. They emerge at the same instant where a dish is also prepared. The improvisational freedom of instantaneous- recipes is displayed in the spontaneity of using what is available in terms of ingredients, tools, utensils, and techniques.

31 views

Philosophy of Street Art: Identity, Value, and the Law

This is the video abstract for an upcoming article in Philosophy Compass that summarises the stre... more

5 views

#INFLVENCERS 002: COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ON GRAFFITI WITH ANDREA BALDINI -- The Grifters -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFX-W6Gb2FM

In the first conversation, I interview Andrea Baldini about graffiti copyright. A philosopher by ... more In the first conversation, I interview Andrea Baldini about graffiti copyright. A philosopher by training and trade, he is an Associate Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory. Andrea and I met in Lisbon in 2019 at an Urbancreativity conference. After hearing his talk "To Copyright, or Not to Copyright Graffiti?" with copyright lawyer Enrico Bonadio, I decided to invite both of them to speak on the subject. Because they have opposing views on the subject, we will begin with Mr. Baldini and his antithesis on graffiti copyright protection. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFX-W6Gb2FM

Street art tra estetica e legge

ETS, 2022

Qual è la relazione tra la street art e la legge? La tesi di questo scritto è che la street art h... more Qual è la relazione tra la street art e la legge? La tesi di questo
scritto è che la street art ha una relazione costitutiva con la legge.
Un aspetto cruciale dell’identità di questo genere d’arte urbana
dipende dalla sua capacità di rovesciare gli usi dominanti degli spazi
pubblici. Gli artisti di street art sovvertono quelle leggi e norme sociali
che regolano la città. La street art non solo ha trasformato gli spazi
pubblici e le loro funzioni in materiale artistico, ma ha anche fatto
diventare la propria attitudine ribelle nei confronti della legge una risorsa
creativa. Questo saggio vuole chiarire e argomentare quest’idea,
traendo allo stesso momento importanti conseguenze per quanto riguarda
la metafisica della street art, il suo valore e la sua relazione con
la proprietà intellettuale, in particolare col diritto d’autore e i diritti
morali. All’estremo opposto rispetto all’arte contrattuale, la street art
è arte fuorilegge.

UN(AUTHORIZED)//COMMISSIONED

Rome: WholeTrain Press, 2017

Can Unauthorized paintings realized in the public space, commonly considered as acts of vandalism... more Can Unauthorized paintings realized in the public space, commonly considered as acts of vandalism, be recognized by a public institution and enter a collection of contemporary art, without being de-contextualized? Is it possible for writers and street artists who want to deal with galleries, to use the documentation of what has been done in the urban space without permission, rather than embarking on a course of study and working on classic supports such as canvases and papers?

Unauthorized // Commissioned, through essays by Pietro Rivasi and Andrea Baldini, as well as with the images of Zelle Asphaltkultur, Fra32 and Egs among others, investigates the complex relationship between urban art and institutions, taking as an example the experiences of “Icone” and “1984. Evoluzione e rigenerazione del writing”

A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law

Brill , 2018

What is the relationship between street art and the law? In A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and ... more What is the relationship between street art and the law? In A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law, Andrea Baldini argues that street art has a constitutive relationship with the law. A crucial aspect of the identity of this urban art kind depends on its capacity to turn upside down dominant uses of public spaces. Street artists subvert those laws and social norms that regulate the city. Baldini shows that street art has not only transformed public spaces and their functions into artistic material, but has also turned its rebellious attitude toward the law into a creative resource. He aims at elucidating and arguing for this claim, while drawing important implications at the level of street art’s metaphysics, value, and relationship with rights of intellectual property, in particular copyright and moral rights. At the other end of the spectrum of contractual art, street art is outlaw art.

Street Art. Banksy & Co. L'arte allo stato urbano

by Christian Omodeo, Luca Ciancabilla, and Andrea L . Baldini

In cinquant’anni, writing, street art e molte espressioni artistiche affini hanno profondamente c... more In cinquant’anni, writing, street art e molte espressioni artistiche affini hanno profondamente cambiato il nostro modo di relazionarci allo spazio urbano, grazie anche alla disponibilità di nuovi materiali industriali, come le bombolette aerosol e i pennarelli negli anni Settanta e Ottanta, e di nuove tecnologie digitali, come il web e i computer a basso costo a partire dalla fine degli anni Novanta. Fin dagli anni Settanta, questi fenomeni hanno attirato l’attenzione del grande pubblico e del mondo accademico. Tuttavia, l’interesse per gli aspetti sociologici, giuridici ed economici è spesso prevalso, limitando l’analisi della natura artistica di queste espressioni. Così, mentre il distacco tra cultura alta (highbrow) e cultura di massa (lowbrow) tendeva ad annullarsi, la centralità di uno dei principali campi di studio, che permetteva l’analisi dei risultati di questo fenomeno nel settore delle arti visive, è stata sottovalutata. Prova ne è la rarità di fondi pubblici, in Italia come all’estero, che possiedono materiali che documentano queste culture urbane. Street Art. Banksy & co. L’arte allo stato urbano è la prima grande retrospettiva dedicata in Italia a questo tema. Un modo originale e unico per scoprire la storia dell’arte di strada nella New York degli anni Settanta e Ottanta, capire che le città vivono e comunicano attraverso un sovrapporsi non regolato di parole ed apprezzare una selezione di opere che offrono un ampio campionario della street art degli anni Duemila. Ma la mostra e il catalogo sono anche un invito alla riflessione sulla memoria di queste esperienze urbane. Quali tracce di tali culture stiamo trasmettendo al futuro? Quali modalità e quali approcci sono da prediligere per salvaguardare questo fenomeno? Che ruolo avrà il museo in questa prospettiva? Sono solo alcune delle domande alle quali storici dell’arte, giuristi, esperti di restauro, sociologi e professionisti nel campo della conservazione rispondono fra le pagine del presente volume, testimonianza viva di un dibattito quanto mai attuale a cui il lettore potrà prendere parte anche grazie a un ricco apparato iconografico destinato ad offrire altrettanti spunti di riflessione.

Joseph Margolis, Ma allora, che cos'è un'opera d'arte

Mimesis, 2011

La questione più profonda che la domanda “Che cos’è un’opera d’arte?” nasconde ha a che vedere co... more La questione più profonda che la domanda “Che cos’è un’opera d’arte?” nasconde ha a che vedere con il significato fondamentale delle pratiche artistiche: per Margolis l’interrogativo che funziona da centro di gravità per le riflessioni qui sviluppate, non può trovare risposta se non con il chia- rimento di quale sia il ruolo delle arti e di quale sia il loro legame con quel- le potenzialità peculiari che trasformano gli individui della specie Homo sapiens in ‘persone.’ L’arte, infatti, non è un semplice gioco o passatempo che le diverse società storicamente determinate hanno sviluppato a parti- re da capacità basilari che potremmo intendere – in senso riduzionistico – come funzionali alla sopravvivenza della nostra specie (come parlare un linguaggio o essere in grado di produrre rappresentazioni simboliche), ma è invece un’attività in cui e attraverso cui la stessa “natura” umana si sviluppa e struttura in quel modo proteiforme, mutevole e che sembra resi- stere quasi senza appello a ogni tentativo di analisi.

Public Art: A Critical Approach

In this dissertation, I provide a philosophical analysis of public art. I focus on its “publicnes... more In this dissertation, I provide a philosophical analysis of public art. I focus on its “publicness,” and draw implications at the level of public art’s ontology, appreciation, and value. I uphold the view that an artwork is public when received within a public sphere rather than within artworld institutions. I further argue that, as a consequence of the peculiar nature of its reception, public art possesses an essential value that is distinctively non-aesthetic: to promote political participation and to encourage tolerance. By examining how public art and its value(s) relate to the public domain in the context of pluralistic democracies, this dissertation also contributes to a fuller understanding of an important aspect of our social world.

The Graffiti-Game and the Ubiquity of Resistance: Getting Up as Oppositional Agency

GSA - Graffiti and Street Art, 2024

We tend to think of resistance as an exceptional event in our lives, when something so drastic oc... more We tend to think of resistance as an exceptional event in our lives, when something so drastic occurs that the status quo is completely disrupted and reshaped. According to this viewpoint, moments of resistance occur when one or more people actively participate in acts of political sabotage, in which some hierarchy or structure of power is knowingly challenged and subverted with the purpose of long-term change. I'd like to challenge this idea. Resistance, in effect, can function in many ways. Not only revolutions or revolts should be conceptualised as such. Everyday actions can sometimes be considered forms of resistance. De Certeau describes such activities as “sheeplike subversion.” This form of rebellion, however far from being a traditional insurrection, is a common and quiet disruption of social control. Rather than efforts aimed at structural societal changes, they are micro alterations that have a major influence on transgressors’ personal lives while yet evoking (traces of) social change. Graffiti, and more specifically, getting up, is a kind of resistance in this way. When painting tags, throw-ups, and pieces, authors are not concerned with long-term structural changes; their efforts may be futile on a global scale. And it does not appear that they intend to permanently change the status quo. In playing the graffiti game, spray-can calligraphers' efforts can be viewed more appropriately as enacting an oppositional agency that they would not otherwise have, allowing them to freely express themselves even when legally restricted.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial and Angelus Novus: Ephemera, Trauma, and Reparation in Contemporary Chinese Public Art

CLOCKSS Archive, Aug 2, 2022

What is the nature of memorials? Traditionally, memorials have been conceptualized as lasting ent... more What is the nature of memorials? Traditionally, memorials have been conceptualized as lasting entities preserving memories of our shared pasts. This paper challenges this view. My aim is to retheorize our practices of memorialization by examining the role that ephemerality plays in experiential memorials. Rather than fixed structures of meaning, experiential memorials are unstable careers whose significance depends on viewers' performative engagement. I provide evidence for my thesis by developing a critical interpretation of Qi Kang's Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall (NMMH) as an example of experiential memorial. The fragmented nature of the here and now frees visitors' experiences. Like the wind propelling Benjamin's Angelus Novus into future and progress, the ephemerality of NMMH's experience unchains its significance from the constriction of dominant narratives of vengeance and resentment. If liberated temporally, the experience of memorials may help us not only to never forget, but also to find reconciliation.

Philosophy of Street Art: Identity, Value, and the Law

Philosophy Compass, Aug 9, 2022

We are living in the era of street art. Since Nick Riggle’s pivotal work on the definition of str... more We are living in the era of street art. Since Nick Riggle’s pivotal work on the definition of street art, several philosophers have addressed issues on the philosophy of street art. The goal of this paper is to summarize the literature. I consider the following matters, which have been at the core of philosophical discussions on street art: demarcation, value, illegality, and the ethical foundation of intellectual property (IP) protection. In answering the question ‘What is street art?,’ philosophers have generally resisted skeptical approaches by developing a wide range of real and essentialist definitions of street art (Section 2). When considering street art’s value, I distinguish between aesthetic and non-aesthetic centered accounts. If the former focus on the aesthetic side of our experience of street art, the latter generally place emphasis on its activist nature and political significance (Section 3). In discussing the relationship between street art and illegality, I canvas different takes on the issue. If for some scholars illegality is either a necessary or sufficient condition for street art, philosophers tend to agree that it is neither, while not denying its relevance at the level of identity and authenticity (Section 4). Finally, I consider matters of IP protection of street art. On the one hand, copyright optimists defend the view that current IP legislations may very well have a positive impact on the promotion and preservation of street art. Pessimists, on the other hand, argues that an extension of copyright privileges to works of street art is likely to jeopardize the counter-cultural and rebellious nature of this urban art kind (Section 5).

A new journal for a new idea of philosophical dialogue

Street Art and the Politics of Improvisation

Routledge eBooks, Jul 5, 2021

Copyright Skepticism and Street Art: A Contrasting Opinion

Cambridge University Press eBooks, Nov 7, 2019

In this essay, I focus on what I call the moral question in the IP protection of street art, whic... more In this essay, I focus on what I call the moral question in the IP protection of street art, which heretofore has been largely overlooked: Is extending copyright to street art the right thing to do? My analysis casts serious doubts on the possibility of morally justifying an extension of copyright to street art. My skepticism in the context of street art rests on the following thesis: copyright is incompatible with street art’s essential subversiveness. Rather than a tool for the promotion and protection of this urban art form, copyright is a step toward street art’s commodification and absorption within mainstream art. Both transformations are unwelcome insofar as they jeopardize the identity of street art. Copyright may very well accelerate the death of this art form.

Street Art: A Reply to Riggle

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Apr 1, 2016

In “Street Art: The Transfiguration of the Commonplaces,” Nicholas Alden Riggle provides a defini... more In “Street Art: The Transfiguration of the Commonplaces,” Nicholas Alden Riggle provides a definition of street art – a discussion very much needed when considering street art’s growing popularity and the lack of philosophical literature on the topic. Riggle argues that, like Pop Art, street art is a critical response to the Modern separation of art and life. Pop Art challenges Modernism by allowing everyday objects in the museum. Street art, on its part, does it by taking art out of the museum and “into the fractured stream of everyday life”. Riggle’s definition has the merit of emphasizing street art’s deep engagement with the city. However, as we shall see, it overlooks an essential feature of street art: its subversiveness. This omission obscures an important aspect of street art’s nature, and raises a fatal classificatory concern: it makes impossible distinguishing between street art and site-specific art.

Graffiti Writing as Creative Activism: Getting Up, Sheeplike Subversion, and Everyday Resistance

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Jun 7, 2023

Is graffiti writing creative activism? In this paper, I challenge commonly held beliefs that graf... more Is graffiti writing creative activism? In this paper, I challenge commonly held beliefs that graffiti writing is politically inert. On the contrary, I argue that graffiti writing is an example of creative activism. Rather than being a narcissistic form of vandalism, primarily directed at increasing one’s fame in front of an esoteric group, that is, fellow writers, writing is a form of everyday resistance allowing its practitioners to challenge authoritarian power. In questioning dominant hierarchies, graffiti is a powerful tool to help correct a specific instance of spatial injustice: the unequal distribution of access to urban surfaces for self-expression in the city, where corporations and political elites hold an unjustified monopoly over visual communication.

Street Art, Graffiti, and Tags

Routledge eBooks, Nov 29, 2022

Identity and Interpretation of Public Artworks: A Challenge to Intentionalism

Kultura, Społeczeństwo, Edukacja, Jun 15, 2015

art, pub|ic artwork, Baldini Andrea, Identity an d Interpretation o f P u b lic A rtw orks: A C h... more art, pub|ic artwork, Baldini Andrea, Identity an d Interpretation o f P u b lic A rtw orks: A C h a l-intentiona|ism, identity lenge to Intentionalism [Tożsam ość ora z interpretacja p u b lic zn y c h d z ie ł sztuki: w yzw a n ie dla in ten cjo n a lizm u ]. Kultura-Sp ołeczeństw o-Edukacja nr 2(

Quand les murs de béton muets se transforment en un carnaval de couleur

Cahiers de Narratologie, Jul 28, 2016

Quand les murs de béton muets se transforment en un carnaval de couleur Le street art comme strat... more

COVID-19, Patents and the Never-Ending Tension between Proprietary Rights and the Protection of Public Health

European journal of risk regulation, Apr 3, 2020

In January 2020, Chinese researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology filed for a patent coveri... more In January 2020, Chinese researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology filed for a patent covering the use of remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug, to treat COVID-19. Normally, this might be cause for celebration: COVID-19, a deadly pneumonia-like disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has so far killed thousands of people worldwide and sickened many more, sending researchers scrambling to develop an effective treatment. 1 Only, the Wuhan Institute of Virology did not develop remdesivir. The drug was researched and produced by Gilead Sciences, a Californiabased pharmaceutical company, which had filed patent applications at several patent offices, including in China, covering a "method for treating Arenaviridae and coronaviridae virus infection". 2 The remdesivir was originally developed to treat Ebola virus disease (EVD). From November 2018 to August 2019, the drug underwent a Phase 3 experimentation trial. 3 A relatively large sample of patients with EVD were treated with remdesivir, which appeared less effective than other drugs. However, in early 2020, scientists suddenly became interested in some studies indicating that Gilead's product could have activity against coronaviruses such as MERS and, hopefully, the rapidly spreading COVID-19. 4

Radically Rethinking Copyright in the Arts: A Philosophical Approach by James O. Young

Estetika, 2022

An Urban Carnival on the City Walls: The Visual Representation of Financial Power in European Street Art

Journal of Visual Culture, Aug 1, 2015

By discussing a selection of socially engaged street artworks from the Frankfurt-based project ‘U... more By discussing a selection of socially engaged street artworks from the Frankfurt-based project ‘Under Art Construction’, this essay sheds light on street art’s possibilities as a form of resistance against the power of globalizing finance. The author argues that through the use of carnivalesque strategies of irony and appropriation, street art can challenge the pretense of rationality of recent policies of austerity in the eurozone. Such a challenge exposes the contingency of spending cut programs. He finally suggests that, in debunking the myth of economic rationality, street art can change people’s experience of finance, while opening up a space for imagining alternative economic scenarios.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Philosophy of Street Art

Philosophy Compass, Mar 1, 2023

A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law

Brill research perspectives, Nov 26, 2018

What is the relationship between street art and the law? It is argued that street art has a const... more What is the relationship between street art and the law? It is argued that street art has a constitutive relationship with the law. A crucial aspect of the identity of this urban art kind depends on its capacity to turn upside down dominant uses of public spaces. Street artists subvert those laws and social norms that regulate the city. It is shown that street art has not only transformed public spaces and their functions into artistic material, but has also turned its rebellious attitude toward the law into a creative resource. This essay aims at elucidating and arguing for this claim, while drawing important implications at the level of street art’s metaphysics, value, and relationship with rights of intellectual property, in particular copyright and moral rights. At the other end of the spectrum of contractual art, street art is outlaw art.

The Public-Art Publics: An Analysis of Some Structural Differences among Public-Art Spheres

Open Philosophy, Jan 18, 2019

In this paper, I argue for what I define as the multiplicity thesis (MT). According to MT, there ... more In this paper, I argue for what I define as the multiplicity thesis (MT). According to MT, there is not a single public of public art, but a multiplicity of them. I defend MT both as a descriptive and a normative claim. I explore different types of publics of public art that can be distinguished from one another in terms of their different sizes. I expand my analysis of the differences among separate publics of public art by considering temporary and enduring ones.

What Is Street Art?

Estetika, 2022

What is street art? This paper offers a definition of street art as an art kind or art form based... more What is street art? This paper offers a definition of street art as an art kind or art form based on its essential value: its subversiveness. It argues that street art is essentially subversive partly in virtue of using public space as a technical resource. By hijacking a portion of the urban landscape with its colorful forms and witty designs, street art challenges familiar ways of practicing the city, while creating ‘temporary autonomous zone’ of free expression. There, corporate control over the city’s visible surfaces is ridiculed and people reclaim their right to use the city. In this sense, street art functions as a carnivalesque tactic of social resistance, favoring the emergence of alternative ways to imagine our urban life and our uses of public space. By considering its subversiveness, one can also explain how street art, one the one hand, significantly differs from official public art while, on the other, including graffiti as its original and most radical style.

Signature (and) Dishes

Humana.Mente, Dec 22, 2020

Can there be improvised recipes? This paper argues that improvised recipes are possible. I call t... more Can there be improvised recipes? This paper argues that improvised recipes are possible. I call them instantaneous-recipes. They emerge at the same instant where a dish is also prepared. The improvisational freedom of instantaneous-recipes is displayed in the spontaneity of using what is available in terms of ingredients, tools, utensils, and techniques. Similar to what graffiti writers do while tagging – that is, leaving their signatures on – a wall or the side of a train car, in creating their signature dishes, improvisers of the kitchen are forced to adapt on the spot to changing contextual conditions just like a missing or newly available ingredient, a technical failure, or a mistake. Analogously to tags, improvised recipes are formally imperfect: they do not comply with established ones and are often rough, unpolished, broken, and disordered. But their imperfections are not aesthetic flaws, but merits. Imperfectionism in cooking, as I call the view rejecting the idea that only perfect instantiations of pre-existing recipes afford positive aesthetic experiences, is linked with three values: aesthetic, humanistic, and sustainable. By bringing imperfect features within the domain of gastronomic appreciation, instantaneous-recipes broaden the range of our aesthetic palette, while also reminding us of our finitude as humans. By encouraging creative uses of available ingredients and leftovers, improvisation in the kitchen also embodies a more sustainable approach to food waste.

Historical Formalism in Music: Toward a Philosophical Theory of Musical Form

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), 2014

In this paper I begin to fashion a theory of musical form that I call historical formalism. Histo... more In this paper I begin to fashion a theory of musical form that I call historical formalism. Historical formalism posits that our perception of the formal properties of a musical work is informed by considerations not only of artistic categories but also of the historical, sociopolitical, and cultural circumstances within which that work was composed.

A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law: https://link.growkudos.com/1dw0fnu69kw

What is the relationship between street art and the law? In A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and ... more What is the relationship between street art and the law? In A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law, Andrea Baldini argues that street art has a constitutive relationship with the law. A crucial aspect of the identity of this urban art kind depends on its capacity to turn up-side down dominant uses of public spaces. Street artists subvert those laws and social norms that regulate the city. Baldini shows that street art has not only transformed public spaces and their functions into artistic material, but has also turned its rebellious attitude toward the law into a creative resource. He aims at elucidating and arguing for this claim, while drawing important implications at the level of street art’s metaphysics, value, and relationship with rights of intellectual property, in particular copyright and moral rights. At the other end of the spectrum of contractual art, street art is outlaw art.

The Expanded Exhibition in the Post-Pandemic World: Between Virtual and Material Spaces

In the post-pandemic world, we will experience severe limitations about traveling and personal mo... more In the post-pandemic world, we will experience severe limitations about traveling and personal movement. As a consequence, cultural production will increasingly rely on digital technologies. This paper critically discusses dominant trends in digital curatorial practices: The documental exhibition and the virtual tour. These two varieties of exhibitions show significant limits insofar as they are incapable of shaping how we practice public space, thus failing to transform our everyday lives. I then offer an alternative that does not suffer from such limitations: The expanded exhibition. By taking inspiration from how street artists such Banksy exploit the interplay between the digital and the physical domains, this type of exhibition is apt to face the challenges of the post-pandemic world, while not giving up on art’s transformative experience.

I'm Blu (Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die): La Street Art nell'Epoca delle sue Super Star

Roughly a month ago, Blu – a prominent street artist – has destroyed overnight all of his works i... more Roughly a month ago, Blu – a prominent street artist – has destroyed overnight all of his works in Bologna. In doing so, his intention was to protest against the inclusion of a series of his murals in a street art exhibition that inaugurated on March 18 in that same city. Many have commented on Blu’s symbolic gesture and its significance. However, discussants have generally overlooked that museal appropriation gave back political significance to Blu’s works in Bologna. In correcting that harmful lacuna, I offer a more nuanced analysis of the role that spontaneous forms of creativity can play in shaping urban space and how we understand it.

Sprezzatura, Good Taste, and Socrates’ Dirty Toga

The Philosopher's Magazine, 2018

In this article for the Philosopher's Magazine, I consider the philosophical significance of eleg... more

Remembering Tragedy in Nanjing | Sixth Tone

Mirrored Identity: After Nanjing (Identità Riflessa: Dopo Nanjing)

A Philosophy Guide to Street Art and the Law: Presentation at CUL

This is the slideshow that I have used when presenting my book "A Philosophy Guide to Street Art ... more

Is It Immoral to Go to Mars

Mars Day -- Guangzhou University, 2019

In this presentation, I defend an optimistic view about traveling to Mars. I argue  that coloniz... more

Post-Internet Cities | International Conference 2017

by Helena Barranha, Pedro Gadanho, Morten Søndergaard, Alice Bucknell, IOCOSE Collective, Andrea L . Baldini, Stephanie Cedeño, Godiva Veliganilao Reisenbichler, Salvatore Iaconesi, and Marisa Olson

Under the scope of the Utopia/Dystopia exhibition, organised by MAAT, this conference seeks to pr... more

Pebbles and Beads Reappropriating Post-earthquake L'Aquila with Street Art -- 2016 ICA Fukuoka (Presentation Poster)

by Andrea L . Baldini and Pamela Pietrucci

This presentation discusses how, in post-earthquake L’Aquila (IT), forms of “citizens’ activism” ... more This presentation discusses how, in post-earthquake L’Aquila (IT), forms of “citizens’ activism” making use of spontaneous varieties of public art played a central role in carving out a space for political discussion and reclaiming the city back, one piece of rubble at a time. In sharp contrast with the authoritarianism of the Italian Government’s top-down management, street art and graffiti, as those varieties of public art are usually called, promoted inclusive public participation in re-imagining and re-building a better future for L’Aquila and its citizens.

By introducing colorful and witty unexpected forms in the desolation of the “red zone” and temporary housing units, street artworks in L’Aquila violated what one expected to see in those places of sorrow and loneliness. In other words, those artworks called into questions the “distribution of the sensible” (Rancière 2004) regulating visibility in that context. In the light of this understanding of street art, we conceptualize how street artworks brought back to life the crumbled walls of L’Aquila by opposing hierarchies of visibility in the aftermath of the 2009 earthquake.

By turning inside out the norms and rules regulating the use of visible surfaces in post-earthquake L’Aquila, artists “made strange” (Foucault 1988) the order imposing quarantine on the lives of the Aquilani. Introducing street artworks in key areas of the city, including the forbidden “red zone,” showed that the authoritarian decisions of closing down the city center were far from inevitable. But once the expected appears as a contingent artifact of human will, it is then open to change. By disrupting dominant uses of public spaces in post-earthquake L’Aquila, we show that those artworks fostered discussion among citizens, opening a space for imagining alternative ways of thinking about the city and its reconstruction.

Subversive Walls -- 2016 EASA, Philadelphia (It includes the PPT)

This paper argues that street art's distinctive value is its subversive value. I suggest that wha... more This paper argues that street art's distinctive value is its subversive value. I suggest that what primarily motivates individuals in creating and appreciating street art is its capacity to question acceptable uses of the city's public spaces. By hijacking a portion of the urban landscape with its colorful forms and witty designs, street artists create " temporary autonomous zone " of free expression. There, corporate control over the city's visible surfaces is ridiculed and people reclaim their right to use the city.

Copyright Skepticism and Street Art: A Contrasting Opinion

The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright in Street Art and Graffiti, 2019

In this essay, I focus on what I call the moral question in the IP protection of street art, whic... more In this essay, I focus on what I call the moral question in the IP protection of street art, which heretofore has been largely overlooked: Is extending copyright to street art the right thing to do? My analysis casts serious doubts on the possibility of morally justifying an extension of copyright to street art. My skepticism in the context of street art rests on the following thesis: copyright is incompatible with street art’s essential subversiveness. Rather than a tool for the promotion and protection of this urban art form, copyright is a step toward street art’s commodification and absorption within mainstream art. Both transformations are unwelcome insofar as they jeopardize the identity of street art. Copyright may very well accelerate the death of this art form.

Street Art, Graffiti, and Tags: The Value of Imperfection in Urban Aesthetics

Imperfectionist Aesthetics in Art and Everyday Life, 2022

Though many today appreciate several styles of street art, graffiti are still generally despised.... more Though many today appreciate several styles of street art, graffiti are still generally despised. They are dismissed as pointless disruption of the aesthetics of the 'perfect city': scribbles ruining urban harmony and décor. However, graffiti's undiluted power of introducing imperfection in the city's landscape has significant consequences at a formal and aesthetic-political level that require attention. In this paper, I argue that, by challenging ideals of urban perfection, on the one hand, graffitiespecially its most basic style, namely tags-allow us to appreciate the irregular, the disordered, and the rough, thus enriching our aesthetic urban lives. On the other hand, as examples of spontaneous self-expression in the public domain, graffiti also function as an antidote to dominant oppressive policies of urban development.

"It Spreads Like a Virus, Works Like a Virus, But Ain't No Disease: Graffiti Diaspora at the Time of Pandemics"

No Apologies 2, 2020

While typing these words, I'm quarantined in Siena, Italy, confined in my parents' house as a con... more While typing these words, I'm quarantined in Siena, Italy, confined in my parents' house as a consequence of a series of restrictions preventing my return to Nanjing, China, where I live. My circumstances are far from exceptional: Most of the world population is an unprecedented state of global lockdown. The pandemics of COVID-19 has taken the human race by storm, forcing many governments to introduce exceptional measures of social distancing. Spreading since at least December 2019, the virus is metaphorically teaching us many lessons. One is particularly salient in this context: Humans are bound together in a community of unity. In other words, it doesn't matter how far we live from one another, how different the languages that we speak are or the cuisines that we prefer: Our lives are inextricably intertwined. We share more than we know-and perhaps, at least in these tragic circumstances, more than we would like to. But how does a pandemics illuminate this nature of this publication and, more generally, of graffiti? I hasten to add, referring to the current state of emergency is not merely empty rhetoric. It is instrumental in clarifying some of the deepest themes that this second issue of No Apologies and its editor engage with. In effect, some might wonder about the reason(s) motivating a desire to put together writers from all over the world: There seems to be unifying principle justifying the inclusion of such a diverse array of writers with different styles, origins, approaches, and takes on the practice. Why are their stories told together? The short answer to the previous question is straightforward: Because those are human stories. The content of this claim may appear trivial at a first glance, and yet, after billions of human lives from China to the US going through Europe have been all together transformed, we understand more profoundly how individual acts and decisions may matter to the whole planet. After months looking at world's maps representing developments of the pandemics, I couldn't but notice the resemblance with the maps in the back of this fanzine's cover. It looks like just a representation of a global infection. It is in this sense that one should understand the first sentence of the title. Graffiti spreads just like a virus: Its movements follow no principle or rules. The story of graffiti unfolds following the disunified moves of its individual actors. And I believe that a full-fledged understanding of graffiti must begin from appreciating its diasporic nature. As many interviewees here recognize, modern graffiti originated in American metropolises, however its current status cannot be interpreted in the light of its original context. Graffiti moves and adapts to other environments, shaping and reshaping its functions and meanings. Let me emphasize a crucial point of what I am here suggesting. The diasporic nature of graffiti is not merely a function of circulation of information. Though, as DONIS and JOINTS perfectly explain, fanzines and the internet play a crucial role in the spreading of graffiti, there is something about the physical movements of writers that crucially informs the practice as a global phenomenon. The journey is a topos, that is, a traditional theme, in the history of graffiti and the lives of writers. Traveling appears as an existential need of many writers, as VAMP and BICER confess. Writers' trips are often enriched by creative deeds, possibly in collaboration with local writers, as SOAP very well tells us. Moreover, to some, the journey becomes an essential part of their lives as a consequence of relocating somewhere. In this sense, the publication of this fanzine, envisioned by a nomad of graffiti, is just an indicator of the viral nature of graffiti's spreading. It follows the same routes of international flights and travels that has made COVID-19 the global threat that it is.

"When a Soccer Club Becomes a Mirror" (with Andrea Borghini), in T. Richards (ed.), Soccer and Philosophy (Open Court, 2010)

by Andrea L . Baldini and Andrea Borghini

Introduzione a Margolis, "Ma allora, che cos'è un'opera d'arte?"

"Knitting a Community Back Together: Post-Disaster Public Art as Citizenship Engagement" in Laura Iannelli and Pierluigi Musarò (eds.), Territories of Political Participation. Public Art, Urban Design, and Performative Citizenship (Milano: Mimesis International, forthcoming)

by Pamela Pietrucci and Andrea L . Baldini

This chapter discusses how, in post-earthquake L'Aquila (IT), forms of " citizens' activism " mak... more This chapter discusses how, in post-earthquake L'Aquila (IT), forms of " citizens' activism " making use of spontaneous varieties of public art played a central role in carving out a space for political discussion and reclaiming the city back, one piece of rubble at a time. By introducing colorful and witty unexpected forms in the desolation of the " red zone, " street artworks in L'Aquila violated what one expected to see in those places of sorrow and loneliness. In other words, those artworks called into questions the " distribution of the sensible " (Rancière 2004) regulating visibility in that context. In the light of this understanding of street art, we conceptualize how street artworks, and in particular urban knitting, brought back to life the crumbled walls of L'Aquila by opposing hierarchies of visibility in the aftermath of the 2009 earthquake. By disrupting dominant uses of public spaces in post-earthquake L'Aquila, we illustrate through the case study of the yarnbombing project " Mettiamoci Una Pezza " (Let's Patch it) that those artworks fostered discussion among citizens, opening a space for imagining alternative ways of thinking about the city and its reconstruction.

Muri Addomesticati? Street art, musei e ribellione -- Street Art: Banksy & Co.

This essay discusses the controversial relationship between museums and street art. By showing th... more

"Dangerous Liaisons: Graffiti in da Museum," in Pietro Rivasi, Un(Authorized)//Commissioned

By taking Rivasi's exhibition "1984: Evolution and Regeneration of Writing" in Modena as case stu... more By taking Rivasi's exhibition "1984: Evolution and Regeneration of Writing" in Modena as case study, this essay explores the possibility of including graffiti within institutional contexts. It argues for the possibility of graffiti exhibitions under peculiar circumstances, namely when such an inclusion does not strip them of their subversiveness. Such a condition appears to be fulfilled when photographs and videos are showed rather than pieces taken from the street. In order to defend this claim, the essay proposes a new ontology of graffiti as performances.