The topic of graffiti came up again for me recently, in regard to urban violence and crime. There is something about finding graffiti on the walls of a public bathroom that suggests the establishment doesn't pay particular attention to the upkeep, or that they can't enforce rules prohibiting defacing property. Tags are sometimes considered to be territorial markings of gangs, and the question remains about whether graffiti as "art" should be treated the same as, and removed along with profanity and offensive slogans. Banksy has really problematized this debate by making graffiti and other public art installations both aesthetic and political.
Returning to the bathroom graffiti, I think it has become more complicated. I do not feel that graffiti automatically suggests I am in an unsafe establishment. These days, having graffiti in the bathrooms is as much a fashion statement.
Here's a new addition, a nerdy little character that tickled me. This bathroom was in New York City.
And I also recently discovered the Bathroom Graffiti Project, documenting graffiti to create an archive of the world's toilets. Check them out here.
I wonder if bathrooms will ever integrate rolling display technology into their bathroom design, perhaps including an interface in which you can draw new graffiti. Why not make this into a community art project--seeing as its happening already. We could open up the forums through which to produce graffitiart, and see what we get when we mount it in the bathroom.
