Graffiti on Woden storm water drain now illegal

dannybear said :

Such a shame to see this go, it has to be one of the best street art spots in the region, I’ve emailed the ACT government asking for reasoning and for the decision to be reconsidered. If you feel the same way as me fire them an email too!

The site isn’t going anywhere.
Expect to see graffiti (or art if that’s what you think it is) there forever now that the government has declared it an “illegal site”.

Given the ACT Governments commitment to providing free-walls to legitimate artists around Canberra, this is hardly an attack on street art. The issue here has little to do with the artistic merits of the site and more to do with the relative safety of the location to both artists and admirers of their work. Any storm water drain poses a potential safety risk and the ACT Government rightly cannot be seen to encourage or endorse a site where even the slightest danger exists. Good decision.

Maya123 said :

I was also down in the Woden drain Geocaching and was spotted emerging from it. An elderly man walking his dog spoke to me. He said he saw someone look strangely at me, but he pointed to my camera (a great cover) and said he realised I was down there photographing the artwork. Then followed a discussion from both of us about how good it was. So, it is not only the young who enjoy it. Though not as elderly as this gentleman, I’m not that young myself.

An open heart and mind is all that is needed to enjoy art of any kind.

Such a shame to see this go, it has to be one of the best street art spots in the region, I’ve emailed the ACT government asking for reasoning and for the decision to be reconsidered. If you feel the same way as me fire them an email too!

rommeldog56 said :

dungfungus said :

Maya123 said :

That’s a huge shame. I have walked along those stormwater drains admiring the artwork. There’s some good work there and I often suggest they are worth a visit. So, what’s the alternative? Bare, concrete. Oh, so scenic (not)! The artwork improves it a lot.

You are a bit of a thrill seeker or you don’t remember the flash flood there about 35 years ago.

There is also a colony of feral cats living in the smaller storm water drains that empty into the larger, open drain with the “street art” on it. I suppose some well intended people feed them.

If not, their existance there can not be good for any local woldlife still in that area.

Maybe they should be removed too – along with the street art ?

rosscoact said :

I’m not sure what is going on with the street art policy and implementation in the ACT. There’s ructions about the Yerrabi spillway site with government vandalising art.

I think there’s also a disconnect in the understanding of what is art and blokes in utes tasked with destroying graffiti. It’s the modern day equivalent of book-burning

I can’t wait for the era of smart-phone smashing.

Maya123 said :

Has anyone visited the lane ways in Melbourne with the graffiti?

Not sure I’ve seen anything in Canberra quite on par with Melbourne.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3807/11584345043_7beee47809_z.jpg

Regardless, removing the legal status on those Woden walls is pretty short sighted.

Has anyone visited the lane ways in Melbourne with the graffiti? These are major tourist attractions. I saw people from all over the world taking photographs of the work and of themselves standing in front of it. I could have spent hours looking at the artwork. Some very good work and some done by international artists, whose work, if in a gallery, would sell for a fortune. Instead it is for all to enjoy and marvel at. I was in one less frequented lane way hunting for a Geocache when I was sprung when a roller door suddenly was raised. (I wonder if they have a camera and saw me with it?) It was a hidden art studio and I would guess that the artists who use that art space might have done a lot of the artwork in that lane way. I was asked what I was doing there. I didn’t want to say looking for a Geocache and give that away, so I said admiring the artwork, which was true. Then we had a discussion about the artwork.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=melbourne+graffiti+lanes&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-8IEVbrwJ8r_8QXIx4E4&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1664&bih=1000
The Woden drains are on a par with that; only smaller in scale. It will be a shame if this interesting part of the city is removed and we get to look at bare concrete again.
I was also down in the Woden drain Geocaching and was spotted emerging from it. An elderly man walking his dog spoke to me. He said he saw someone look strangely at me, but he pointed to my camera (a great cover) and said he realised I was down there photographing the artwork. Then followed a discussion from both of us about how good it was. So, it is not only the young who enjoy it. Though not as elderly as this gentleman, I’m not that young myself.

switch said :

dungfungus said :

You obviously don’t know what a “flash” flood is.

Is it like a “flash mob?” Or a pop-up village?

Like a “flash mob”?
I can see the similarities. Both the flood and the mob suddenly appear from somewhere else and cause a lot of disruption and inconvenience to people going about their usual business through being a nuisance before they dissipate.
Re the “pop-up” village, well, it has taken months to appear and it won’t be going away so, no, it isn’t like a flash flood.

Weatherman said :

The only reason they had legal graffiti sites is because people were spray painting on other peoples private properties, such as fences and walls.

If that is so, then it certainly didn’t work.

dungfungus said :

You obviously don’t know what a “flash” flood is.

Is it like a “flash mob?” Or a pop-up village?