Gatekunst i Bergen

Sammendrag

In 2011 the Municipality of Bergen implemented a plan on dealing with and developing urban visual expressions such as graffiti and street art. Together with other factors, this plan and its consequences have led to increased interest in street art and graffiti in Bergen. The plan seems to have a different impact on different groups within the urban art scene in Bergen. I argue that the city in general strengthens its identity as unprejudiced and innovative, while rebel identity in the local urban art environment can be said to be impaired. Street art generally seems to welcome legitimation and a broader interest. Graffiti has several and different challenges in the face of the old main enemy - society's apparatus for control, in this context represented by a municipal plan. Graffiti painters problematize commercialization and regulation, which can be understood as a reaction based on a more unified and consolidated tradition of rebel culture.