Artwashing
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.2|5 Pointz, a former graffiti-covered industrial building in Long Island City, New York, later demolished during a redevelopment project. The site became emblematic of tensions between street art, urban development, and gentrification. Artwashing is a term used to describe the use of artistic and creative practices in ways that have been associated with processes of gentrification. In academic literature, the term has been used to refer to situations in which art is employed to make locations more amenable to private capital and to the aesthetics favored by higher-income groups
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
16 sectionsContents
- Etymology and relation to other “washing” concepts
- Academic and theoretical context
- Typology of art-led urban regeneration
- Artwashing in urban development and planning
- Temporary and tactical urbanism
- Case studies
- Boyle Heights, LA, USA
- London, UK
- Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa
- Berlin, Germany
- Criticism and debates
- Arguments for the civilizing role of art
- Misdirected blame and "coffeewashing"
- Resident resistance and contested public space
- See also
- References
thumb|upright=1.2|5 Pointz, a former graffiti-covered industrial building in Long Island City, New York, later demolished during a redevelopment project. The site became emblematic of tensions between street art, urban development, and gentrification. Artwashing is a term used to describe the use of artistic and creative practices in ways that have been associated with processes of gentrification. In academic literature, the term has been used to refer to situations in which art is employed to make locations more amenable to private capital and to the aesthetics favored by higher-income groups.
The term is also widely used by activists, who argue that by promoting narratives of “creativity” and “coolness,” artistic activity can function as a form of symbolic capital that contributes to the rebranding of devalued or industrial neighborhoods, a process they associate with the displacement of existing low-income communities.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Artwashing” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.