Digitized Street Art

Abstract

This chapter argues that “street art” is a mode of artistic expression reliant on the vagaries of the urban environment as its canvas and, as a result, is ultimately dependent on digital technologies to document, disseminate, and reproduce these inherently ephemeral artworks. Whether altered or destroyed by another artist or tagger, “buffed out” by overzealous municipal authorities, or simply decayed by the elements, street art is fundamentally ephemeral. It is this inherent ephemerality that requires the original piece be digitally documented and preserved. The digital camera and the Internet in particular, then, serve to preserve the work of street art that, in their absence, would otherwise be lost to time. By reference to firsthand field research undertaken in Detroit, Michigan, shortly after an “original” Banksy was relocated (and depending on one’s perspective, destroyed or saved) by a local art gallery, this chapter concludes by exploring the idea that street artists working within the very physical and concrete confines of the urban city are better regarded as digital artists, albeit digital artists that go to great lengths in the preparation of their compositions.