Beyond dominant narratives on street art : an alternative contribution from Italy

Conférence du séminaire "Street Art Europe" du 13 avril 2018 organisé par le Nice Street Art Project (NSAP) porté par Edwige Comoy Fusaro, tenu à l'Université Nice Sophia Antipolis.

By the analysis of the existing accounts on the theme, the roots of street art are usually traced in the North Atlantic area of the world (North America and North Europe). From this outlook, few "birth-places" of street aft can be identified. Nevertheless, by shifting the attention to different local contributions, we might be able to portray street art as diffused phenomenon - albeit in the form of isolated cases - even before its recognized process of globalization. The focus here lies on the Roman artist Pino Boresta and the handmade stickers he fìrst put on traffic signs around his city in 1995. He is quoted to be the first in Rome to create what nowadays, in retrospect, would not be difficult to name street art. And yet, Boresta was unrelated with the writers' network and devoid of any international connection. This proposal attempts to outline the origins of street art beyond the dominant narrative through a little-known case, at the same time offering a comparison between two ways of approaching street art according to whether the street environment is dealt more as site of exploration or more as carrier of promotion.