AUSTRIA
WHERE A Weird Habit TURNED TO STREET ART
GRANDFATHER OF GRAFFITI
Viennese native Joseph Kyselak, born in 1799, has been considered the “grandfather of modern graffiti culture” because of his strange habit.[1] In the 1820s, Kyselak proposed to his friends that he could rise to fame in the Austria-Hungarian Empire within three years simply by writing his last name on buildings, bridges, furniture, trees and mountains throughout all of central Europe.[2] However, within only one year, Kyselak’s name became notorious.
According to legend, Kyselak was asked to refrain from painting his name on a bridge over the Danube until the opening ceremonies commenced. Kyselak was also summoned to the emperor’s palace after he wrote on imperial building. The emperor pled for Kyselak to quit his infamous habit—and Kyselak agreed—only for the emperor to find that his desk was tagged during this meeting.
AUSTRIA'S DARK PAST
Efforts to control public dissent did not stop with Kyselak. It is no secret that Austria’s past is tainted by Nazism, and political suppression ran rampant through the Nazi-controlled blocs. However, the counternarrative to unforgiving regimes remains important as hints of right-winged populism begin to resurface on the European continent.
Scholars Ruth Wodak and Rudolf de Cilla argue that studying counternarratives in Austria is particularly relevant because in 1988, “constitutive myths were suddenly questioned…[which] led to controversial debates and to a de-tabooization of the Austrian position with regard to the Second World War, Austria’s claims of victim status and the denial of its participation in war crimes.” They argue that “historical narratives are constantly discursively and visually (re)constructed, changing and shifting, due to contexts and diverse, often contradicting and conflicting, political interests. Hence, there is not one single past, nor one unique narrative; quite the contrary, many narratives which are informed by different interests are in conflict with each other for hegemonic status.”[3]
THE WIENERWAND PROJECT
Visually critiquing the discursive monopoly on Austrian history through graffiti is acutely intriguing and widely practiced today in the country, where freedom of expression has mostly been tolerated and even encouraged. The Wienerwand Project, championed by Mayor of Vienna Michael Häupl, legalized graffiti along the Danube River walls around 1990 to provide a platform for political expression and to embrace the unique Viennese culture.[4]
Mayor Häupl said:
“Vienna is a city of cultural openness, lived tolerance and humanitarian engagement. We are committed to cultural diversity, to cultural receptivity, to enabling and accepting. The city of Vienna supports the diversity of artistic forms of expression; along with traditional centers of culture, youth culture also has a place in our city. Graffiti is one of the most visible, and certainly also one of the most discussed forms of expression of youth culture. Graffiti is art. However, graffiti is also criticism and rebellion and like all forms of art sometimes it offers an uncomfortable critique of society. Through the Vienna Wall project, with the creation of new legal graffiti walls, this form of art is being supported and the dialogue between the writers and the public is being encouraged. In many cities graffiti is seen as a criminal act, which should only be met with rigorous prohibitions. We are convinced that tolerance and a many-sided discussion is the better way. Therefore, I wish the Vienna Wall project great success.”
Through this project, artists have utilized this massive canvas as a billboard to air their political opinions or personal grievances.
Freedom House Report
Echoing this sentiment, the Freedom House Report of 2018 ranked Austria 94 out of 100, meaning that Austria is considered a free country. However, their civil liberties score fell one point from their score in 2017 because of “increasingly unequal treatment of religious groups under the law.” The score for freedom to express personal views on political or sensitive topics maintained a perfect score, 4 out of 4, despite these findings:
“Private discussion in Austria is generally free and unrestricted. However, there have been some difficulties related to the balance between ensuring freedom of speech and enforcing legal prohibitions on hate speech.”[5]
Furthermore, Freedom House only rated Austria 3 out of 4 regarding the guarantee of equal treatment to various segments of the population through laws, policies and practices. This coincides with the finding that “strong rhetoric has been directed against refugees and migrants in recent years” and that “LGBT (lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual) people face some societal discrimination.”
There are several examples of politically sensitive street art throughout Vienna in the graffiti gallery.
Graffiti from AUSTRIA
Pictured below are some of the most intriguing pieces of graffiti the cohort found while living in Vienna. Please click the button below to proceed to the complete repository of Austrian graffiti.
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References
References
[1] https://1amsf.com/2011/02/17/kyselak-grandfather-of-modern-graffiti-culture/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Wodak, R., & De Cillia, R. (2007). Commemorating the past: the discursive construction of official narratives about the Rebirth of the ‘Second Austrian Republic.’ Discourse & Communication, 1(3), 337-363.
[5] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/austria