Courtesy of Wooster Collective. "This Post-It Sacred Heart Jesus Christ was done on a wall of the Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo in the Universidad de Chile. By Mecanismo" Check out Mecanismo's blog to see how it's done.

# posted @ 10:01 AM 3 comments | add a comment

Let's say I want to do something like this in Singapore (not the Jesus picture but public art) -- what are the steps/ processes/ authorities to clear with? Would you be able to advise?
By  Ivan Chew, at 1:43 AM  

Good question. Most street artists do not ask permission from property owners, and indeed believe that they are asserting a kind of right of the public to adorn public space, a right which should supercede the rights of private property owners.

After all, private property owners don't ask the public's permission when they bombard us with advertising messages, sometimes quite intrusive ones at that. Think about the awful bright screen at Suntec City, and how it spoils the ambience of the War Memorial.

However asking property owners' permission would be the most law-abiding way to go about this. Private property owners should have quite a free hand to decorate their walls or windows as they wish. I imagine that if something was deemed "a political advertisement" a different set of rules would apply however.

I *think* outdoor advertising does need a permit or at least registration number (I should know this), but does 'art'?

Under old Emergency-era rules, painted graffiti is publishable with caning, but sticker art does not seem to fit under the terms of that rule. And post-its are very easy to remove...

The artists at PKWorms did a series of projects in Chinatown (I wrote about this in Vehicle, the Worms art publication), and they had some interesting encounters with the various authorities who controlled "public" spaces.
By  Katong, at 1:12 PM  

Thanks! Fills in lots of gaps (for me, that is).
By  Ivan Chew, at 3:58 PM