A web site that mainly acts as a board for posting graffiti and street art. Images of different media are posted on the site with the ability to add comments. The site also acts as an archive of street art related sources – there are extensive articles on culture jamming and urban defacement as well as ‘mental self defense’ and resisting the spectacle. The site has image archives for posters, graffiti, stencils, billboards, subversion, street debris and stickers, as well as interviews with specific artists such as ‘shut up and shop’.
revolutionary artistic movements
situationism
guy debord
subversion
detournement
culture jamming
arts activism
property destruction
billboard liberation front
rtmark
the freenet project
Web homepage: http://www.cleansurface.org/
email :hazchem@cleansurface.org
Snail mail:
CLEANSURFACE.ORG
PO BOX 12589
A'BECKETT ST.
MELBOURNE 8006
AUSTRALIA
Site is based in Australia, and profiles a significant proportion of Australian artists, but also includes numerous international references and pictures.
Living archive of public trouble-making, street art, unsanctioned creativity and the urban space remix . (from website )
Blurring the lines between destruction of property and artistic creation, with a good dose of humorous subversion and detournement thrown in. The site also advocates ‘mental resistance’ to the commodity spectacle. Street art is seen as a way of spreading a message in a relevant and accessible way, but also as an act of rebellion in itself.
Definitely influenced by groups such as BLF, also influenced by Guy Debord and Dada.
The gentrification of urban space. Consumer culture. Boredom. Ugly buildings.
Spray cans, stencils, posters, pens, and of course cameras and the internet.
Clean Surface focuses on the borders between art/culture and politics, looking at how artists can be activists and vice versa. The actions advocated are generally non-violent, but of course entail an element of ‘destruction’ of private (and public) property. Clean Surface highlights how a ‘tactic’ can proliferate without necessarily becoming ‘branded’, as most works are the actions of individuals or small collectives working entirely independently. Clean Surface is an example of how a community can still form around spatially disparate acts, with no ‘rules of membership’, but only bonds of common interests.
Clean Surface is part of a growing community of artists on the web, and the site is also an excellent link page to other related projects of ‘urban renewal.’
While Clean Surface provides a stimulating visual archive, it functions as more than just pictures of other people’s work. Each picture serves as a message board, for others to post reflections and support and ideas, and for the artists to respond. Clean surface encourages a community spirit, and provides a forum for education on methods and tactics, as well as an area for discussions between people all over the world.