Writing in the Margins

URBAN CULTURE COMING OUT OF THE SHADOWS

The last decade has seen a dramatic shift in the way that urban culture is perceived and celebrated globally. For a long time, it was the problem child of the art world, the thing that would just never behave, an ugly blight on society’s otherwise cheerful facade. Graffiti was a blemish on a city’s architecture and socially conscious rap music sent shivers down the spines of the mainstream. Urban culture was to be kept in the shadows, from where it came.

Such pioneering and often subversive movements are able to weather storms of perception, thriving as popular sociocultural documents on the human condition. Testament to their resilience is the fact that people are, finally, beginning to take note. Many brands, seeing the value in what these voices have to say, are beginning to embrace them. Now you’ll find the graffiti’s lettering on the front of a Nike sweater, or underground filmmakers becoming festival darlings.

Many artists can be seen as having a pivotal role in facilitating this shift in perception towards urban culture, like graffiti’s Futura, Os Gêmeos or Alexandre Farto aka Vhils. Best known for his own innovative interpretation of urban art, Vhils’ iconic portraiture is formed by breaking away the facade of a wall, rather than adding to it as was the popular method in street art hitherto his emergence. The artist mused, “I noticed from a young age the dissonance between my perception of creating space for social reflection and what others viewed as a simple statement or even vandalism. This space of interpretation has fascinated me since and is something I wish to highlight and examine in all of my projects.”

LISBON: A POWERHOUSE OF CREATIVITY

Space and place are pivotal parts of the urban cultural expression and Vhils’ art is inextricably linked to his hometown. Lisbon is very different today than it was a decade ago. You’d expect change over a decade and a half, but rarely to the magnitude of that which Lisbon has experienced. There was a clear shift in tone, from impoverished southern European capital to a European powerhouse of creativity. In amongst this chaos, Vhils’ art provided eloquence to these dissonant voices.

Vhils has sought to articulate this urban experience through Underdogs, a Lisbon cultural platform that focuses on art in both the gallery and public, fostering relationships between creator, public and city with an international roster of urban-inspired artists. Manifesting from the work done by the artist with Underdogs came the Iminente platform with particular focus on curating urban cultural experiences in an all-encompassing manner, making space for art, music, dance, architecture, design and even gastronomy to bubble together in a unique brew - one that highlights the relationships between the city, its people and their creative output.