A symbol of modernity

‘Other cities in Ticino should do the same thing. The three pieces of graffiti art that have appeared in the city in recent weeks and of which are part of the Lugano Urban Art project - which has been noted for its success. There has also been debate on the city that one would like to see more. There are those who - probably exaggerating a bit - see the Nevercrew whale appearing in Viale Franscini, and knowing that similar works would soon appear all over the centre, Those who have imagined a sort of turning point for Lugano - as if to say ‘Goodbye banks, welcome art’ But in the end, the strength of art is precisely this: to stimulate discussion.

‘It is also true - confirms Borradori - that we are a bit behind the avant-garde cities. But let me tell you it’s better late than never. Lugano has decided to focus on art and this type of work proves it too. Works that have the ability to attract a different audience. I am thinking of young people, still too often almost intimidated by museums’. In short, for Lugano, even according to the mayor, those gigantic graffiti mark in some way - and in their small way - a turning point. ‘Then I understand statements such as ‘Goodbye banks, welcome art’, but I believe that a modern and current city can and should have both. After all, in London or New York it is not unusual to admire a work by Banksy or Keith Haring and to have the skyline of the City or Wall Street in the background’. We are focusing a lot - underlines the head of Culture Department Roberto Badaracco - on this type of urban presence, especially after COVID. Citizenship needs to reclaim the territory. Our political will is therefore to bring art back to public spaces, in order to improve the quality of life of people, who thus find a presence of beauty, of art, in the urban context. Urging people to these presences also means calling them back to the designated spaces: museums and exhibitions of art, in the urban context.

What is certain is that the example of Lugano shows how times have changed and the same goes for the perception of the phenomenon. Mind you, smearing a wall without permission remains illegal (and definitely annoying for owners), but today the tolerance threshold seems to have risen a bit.

Until the end of the Nineties, the young ‘garfitti artists’ were described as one of the greatest expressions of youth discomfort (and the fight against graffiti was one of the main occupations of the municipal ushers). But the same was true for the boys out and about with the skateboard (now an Olympic discipline). In those days, faced with a project like Arte Urbana Lugano, there would certainly have been politicians to turn up their noses.

‘Those works - they would have pointed out - risk creating emulation’. The broken glass theory (according to which urban decay, and therefore also graffiti, leads to a spiral of decay), certainly still valid today, was perhaps taken more literally. Over time, however, in Ticino even the authorities began to recognise street art as an art form and walls, overpasses and walls were made available throughout the canton. But almost always in secluded places. Always a little out of sight. For this reason - at least in our latitudes - the fact that in Lugano street art has conquered the centre on a municipal mandate is an important novelty, certainly worthy of being described and analysed.

A tour through the centre

Of course, a tour through the streets of Lugano to discover the works (the new ones and those that were already there) begins to get interesting. Do not miss the two gigantic murals in via Lavizzari, the mouse at Villa Viarno and the portrait of Tupac at the Foce.

Bellinzona, when the merger was still a construction site, had coloured itself a little, with the later shipwrecked project entitled ‘The Walls’ and soon the Aggregate City will be too. Let’s start right from the graffiti that will see the light on the wall of about twenty meters that separates the Municipal stadium from the field B. A group of young people, from Turrita, who submitted two proposals first to the competent office and then to the Municipality both appreciated. It will be up to them to choose which one they prefer. ‘We look favourably on this initiative which is part of a sector where a mural is already present.

The design must have references to the capital, of course, and to sport. We also asked that they can restore decor to the two secondary access boxes to the green rectangle, this time with some inherent reasons for the Bellinzona football association, ‘notes the head of the Department of Social Services Giorgio Soldini. Who immediately states, urged by us, that the Executive has never deepened the discussion regarding any other experiences related to urban art’.

The Lugano Urban Art project was launched in 2010 with the aim of relating the public to the urban space, through the promotion of emerging artistic creation. Claudio Chiapparino, director of the events division, explains: ’We started off ten years ago, in 2020 we have resumed our activity with great intensity’. There were two factors that allowed the relaunch. On the one hand, the push of the Switzerland Tourism campaign, which aims to present the renewed urban face of Swiss cities, on the other hand the fact of being able to insist more on budget level, directing the funds provided on urban art towards this kind of interventions, also thanks to the collaboration with private individuals. We are obviously talking about the murals that have appeared in the city. ‘Paradoxically, despite the restrictions due to COVID, we were able to experience an acceleration of this project’. An investment, according to Chiapparino, which will lead to the possibility in the coming years of exploiting the work done in recent months.

Lugano, the future

There are three murals commissioned and coordinated by the city for now. Will there be others?

We have other surprises, but we can’t say what or where. It will not necessarily be new murals, maybe it will be something more ephemeral, also linked to the digital factor, therefore to communication. We are always in the field of installations in the public area. We will see in short. Somehow the conflict between the original definition of street art and commissioned work remains in the air. Chiapparino assures that the artists have been granted ‘carte blanche’. ‘Not exactly conformist’ artists. It was they who proposed the theme, the work itself, which, if anything, the individuals involved were asked to approve. On the other hand, ‘on some of the walls used, one could not even arrive spontaneously’.

Nevercrew, the homecoming

At the end of July, Christian Rebecchi and Pablo Togni - who have been working together since 1996 under the name of Nevercrew - took care of painting the large wall of a building in viale Franscini, in Lugano. Their was the first of the three large murals that appeared in the city. ‘It is interesting to bring our work into the culture that belongs to us, on a wall in such a familiar urban context. When you work in the public space, interaction with people is fundamental and many people who have known us for a long time have never seen us paint live’ they explained. Also known abroad, where they concentrated most of their activity, they suffered the effect of the pandemic: ‘We had jobs around the world planned until December and almost all of them were postponed to next year or to a date to be defined’.

Harald Naegeli, the sprayer

Harald Naegeli turned 80 last December. Profession? Sprayer. Known as ‘the sprayer of Zurich’, he is the forefather of Swiss street artists. Since the late 1970s, at night and secretly, anonymously, he has drawn between 400 and 600 threadlike graffiti. With justice in his hands, he fled to Germany, only to return to the Kunsthaus. New headaches even a few years ago, while taking care of a job inside the Grossmünster. Demonstrating how commissioned works can turn into spontaneous reactions.

Unknown, the exhibition

About street art, on August 1st the exhibition ‘Unknown: Street Art Exhibition’ opened in Milan, at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi. Among the protagonists hosted - more than one hundred works on display - also Banksy, Blu, Phase 2, Delta 2, BenEine, 3D, Bordalo II, Kayone, Swoon, Faith 47 and Serena Maisto. The exhibition will remain open until 13 December.