The renowned urban art festival Open Walls now Open Walls Conference returned last Friday with a series of activities that will take place between the 27th and 30th of October in La Nau Bostik, a former industrial space in la Sagrera.
Banksy from the controversial banksy & Co. exhibition in Bologna
The festival has also organised a series of international seminars and lectures that will take place at the CCCB and cover topics such as urban art conservation counting with the participation of key voices from the urban art scene today like Christian Omodeo, Elena Gayo, artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada and Javier Abarca that will discuss the ethics of conservationism in the street art arena.
Is it ethic to take urban art from the streets and place it in a museum in order to preserve it? And what happens to the work when placed in within an art institution? Is it street art anymore? Certainly controversial questions that need and answer.
New to this year’s festival is the unveiling of Unlock,an editorial fair specialised in graffiti and urban art that will gather more than fifty European and US editors.
Among others, Ulrich Blanchè will present Banksy: urban art in a material world, the first academical study about the popular British artist Banksy. One of the other names that will also be presenting their work at Unlock is the British artist Syrup, author of All City Queens, a compilation of the work of some of the most famous women street artists. Unlock will be open to the public on Thursday and Friday afternoon, and along the day during the weekend.
In addition to this the Open Walls Conference invited eight renowned artists; Bostik, Sheone, Rock Blackblock, Fasim, Dumar NovYork, Muretz and Syrup, to paint in different parts of La Nau.
Also as part of the festival and like in past editions, the event will provide legal spaces to anyone who wants to paint in the city through the legal walls network Openwalls.info as well as various workshops and activities.
This year, The Open Walls Conference curated what is probably the biggest mural ever in Barcelona painted Spanish artist SIXE paredes in the beginning of this month. Tomorrow will Sam3 start his mural at Passatge Mas de Roda, in Poblenou, Barcelona. So if you are around drop by and send me some images.
Sixe for Open Walls Conference 2016
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
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