16. Visual Negotiations of Space

Street art can be located in between artistic practice, public promotion of cultural policies and anarchistic counter cultures that challenge given perceptions and trigger critical discussions. Using the theoretical stances of Henri Lefebvre on the social production of space and the right to the city, the article explores the role of street art as a form of bottom-up movement that claims the city to be open for everyone. Street art as an expression of collective struggle is embedded in processes of space negotiations between multiple actors. Building on the outcomes of the empirical analysis, the article discusses how artists make use of inclusive as well as irritative strategies in order to increase the visibility of the marginalized in public space and to stimulate public discourse. Related to concepts of urban citizenship, this analysis focuses on activist aims as well as social divisions within urban societies that become visible through artworks and their public contestation.