Great Wall graffiti gets free hand

Area in famous section set aside so tourists can leave their mark

Mutianyu, a famous section of the Great Wall, now has a designated area for graffiti to better protect it after media reported that many foreign tourists left their words on the old buildings.

Visitors take in the sights at Mutianyu, a famous section of the Great Wall. A special area of the wall has been established for graffiti to better protect the heritage site after media reported that many foreign tourists had carved words on the old buildings. Photo by Chen Yehua / Xinhua

Mutianyu, one of the best-preserved parts of the Great Wall, is located in Huairou district, 70 km northeast of central Beijing.

This section of the Great Wall has frequently been the target of graffiti in English and other languages, according to a statement from the district’s publicity department on Sunday.

In fact, more foreign languages appear than Chinese, a report published by Beijing Evening News said on Friday. The No 5 Fighting Tower building is a popular spot for leaving graffiti, with most of it in English, the report said.

For many foreign tourists, Mutianyu is their first choice for seeing the Great Wall in Beijing.

As a key national cultural relics site, Mutianyu attracts many tourists every year, with 40 percent from foreign countries, according to the publicity department.

For years, the administration office of Mutianyu had arranged routine patrol teams to discourage tourists from graffiti writing. Anti-graffiti placards were also added.

Meanwhile, the cultural relics protection department was ordered to restore the defaced buildings.

Yet graffiti has remained a problem in Mutianyu, administrators said.

To solve it, they established a free graffiti zone for tourists in the No 14 Fighting Tower building. “As many tourists like to carve words on buildings, we will develop the graffiti writing area as a new scenic spot of Mutianyu,” said a director of the administration office.

The office said it plans to set up two more areas, in fighting towers No 5 and No 10 for tourists to carve or write their names in the future.

An electronic graffiti board is also being considered, it said.

The new policy gives visitors inclined to improperly leave their names an approved place to do so, which will better protect the ancient buildings of Mutianyu in the long run, said a publicity official, surnamed Wen, of Huairou district.

Xu Fan, a member of the panel of tourism experts of the World Tourism Organization, said that designating an area for graffiti was acceptable. But she questioned the plan to add more such areas and said an electric board for graffiti writing was a better choice.

Signage is also good, Xu said: “In current areas where tourists carve words spontaneously, the administrators should also set up signs to guide people to the newly established graffiti writing area.”

Great Wall graffiti gets free hand

Someone Just Paid a Record $209,000 For This Graffiti On a Brick Wall

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Someone Just Paid a Record $209,000 For This Graffiti On a Brick Wall

5Pointz, a Graffiti Mecca in Queens, Is Wiped Clean Overnight

But on Monday night, it was the owner of a building in Queens who used a crew of painters to work overnight and paint over graffiti on a warehouse in Long Island City, wiping clean a canvas that was used by thousands of artists over the years to transform an otherwise nondescript, abandoned brick building in a working-class neighborhood into 5Pointz, a mecca for street artists from around the world.

By Tuesday morning, the work of some 1,500 artists had been wiped clean, the Brobdingnagian bubble letters and the colorful cartoons spray painted on the building’s brick walls all covered in a fresh coat of white paint.

“We are supposed to be the vandals, but this is the biggest rag and disrespect in the history of graffiti,” said Marie Cecile Flageul, an unofficial curator for 5Pointz.

The plan to convert the three-acre site into a $ 400 million development project that will include two glass towers and 1,000 new luxury apartments had provoked opposition from artists and their supporters. But after months of public debate, court hearings and political maneuvering, opponents had little left in their arsenal.

In a last-ditch effort to stop the development, they were hoping to have the building designated as a landmark. That option is now likely gone as well.

“I don’t know how you can erase 12 years of spectacular art,” said Hans Von Rittern, a guide who arrived with a busload of tourists, only to find the building’s art gone. “It’s cruel.”

The warehouse is scheduled for demolition by the end of the year.

The property has been owned by the Wolkoff family for over 40 years, and for most of that time they allowed artists to use the building’s facade as they liked.

It was the 1970s when Jerry Wolkoff bought the warehouse. At the time, people who tagged storefronts, subway cars and street signs were widely viewed more as menace than artist.

Today, graffiti is more mainstream than outlaw, used in commercials, sold at auctions and stamped on clothing.

The British street artist and presumable millionaire Bansky ended his recent monthlong residency in New York with the words “save 5Pointz.”

The Wolkoff family said they long planned to develop the site, but only in recent years has it become financially feasible.

As a concession to the artists, David Wolkoff, Jerry’s son, told the City Council in October that he would raise the number of affordable apartments to 210, from 75, and include 12,000 square feet for artists’ studios, up from 2,200 square feet.

He said he was a fan of the work of the people who turned his building into a work of art.

“The artwork is absolutely fabulous,” he said at the hearing. He did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Still, the painting of the building – which started after midnight and finished around 7 a.m., according to witnesses — was met with anger and surprise.

“Everyone was kind of shocked,” said Jeff Carrol, 33, who went to the building Tuesday morning only to find workers applying a final coat of paint.

Mr. Carrol said he moved to Williamsburg from Seattle in September, and, while he was not a street artist himself, 5Pointz “was on the list of cool things that I should see.”

He would return occasionally to check out what was new on the building, but he knew time was running out.

Tuesday morning, he said, he was greeted by a police officer stationed at the warehouse and was told that if he caused any trouble he would be arrested.

The graffiti was painted over before it could be formally celebrated, and supporters said they would hold a vigil Tuesday night.

Graffiti has long been ephemeral but Mr. Carrol said he had hoped that 5Pointz would be granted a “stay of execution.”

“I guess I got to see it just in the nick of time,” he said.

NYT > Arts

5Pointz, a Graffiti Mecca in Queens, Is Wiped Clean Overnight

Lecturer fined £28,000 after scratching graffiti into cars

The judge suspended a nine month jail sentence for a year.

Mr Graham, who had no recollection of the events, had previously stated that he did not agree with people driving large 4x4s, otherwise known as Chelsea tractors, in cities.

However, the judge accepted that this was not the motivation for the vandalism. Only ten of the vehicles he scratched were 4x4s. Others included a red Audi A1, a grey Volvo, a Mercedes and a promotional Mitsubishi 4×4 for the Metro Radio station.

Words he carved into the paintwork included “arbitrary”, “wrong”, “very silly” and “twat”.

The court heard that Mr Graham had enjoyed a distinguished academic career. He was “highly-respected” in his field and had received glowing references.

On the night in question, he had taken antibiotics for an infection contracted after having a tooth removed and was taking medication for an ongoing depressive illness.

He told police that he had also drunk three quarters of a bottle of gin, and having been unable to sleep, must have gone out.

Officers were called after a witness heard scratching on the pavement in the early hours of August 31 and looked outside to see a figure crouching on the ground.

Julian Smith, mitigating, said: “These are extraordinary circumstances which have caused him to feel profound embarrassment and shame.

“Part of him still struggles to comprehend how it is someone with his professional circumstances should find himself before the court answering for these offences.”

He said Mr Graham could remember going to bed, and apart from some “dreamlike memories” the next thing he recalled was being arrested not far from his home in Jesmond, a leafy suburb of Newcastle.

With regard to how his client was dressed, Mr Smith said: “That is not a man who has set out to commit damage to cars, it is a man who is clearly not properly within himself.”

He said the lecturer had shown no signs of aggression when arrested but simply had a bad reaction to the medication and alcohol.

A report by forensic psychiatrist Don Grubin, for the defence, found that Mr Graham had been detached from reality.

The professor admitted four counts of criminal damage and asked for another 23 cases to be taken into consideration.

The judge said: “He is obviously a highly intelligent man. He is married no doubt to a highly intelligent woman. If he needs, he knows where to obtain help.”

He expressed hope that Mr Graham would not lose his job.

A Newcastle University spokesman said: “We will be considering the matter through normal university procedures.”

Crime News – UK Crime News

Lecturer fined £28,000 after scratching graffiti into cars