Reading an instance of contemporary urban iconoclash: a design report from Athens

Konstantinos Avramidis

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This paper investigates how politicized wall writings in contemporary Athens are informed by their urban context. It examines the sites and material surfaces of application, as well as the events during which they were executed. The paper deploys Kress and van Leeuwen’s notion of ‘semiotic landscape’ to capture the cultural specificity and historical development that determines how this practice is perceived in its context. It attempts a close examination of politicized writings on a specific wall in Athens’ city centre and utilizes the Latourian concept of ‘iconoclash’ to expose the latent meaning of these marginal image wars in Athens. The paper aims to introduce an architectural method of reading graffiti in situ and to provide insights into the Athenian particularity of the phenomenon.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)513-534
    Number of pages22
    JournalDesign Journal
    Volume18
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Oct 2015

    Keywords

    • Athens
    • graffiti and place
    • iconoclash
    • semiotic landscape
    • urban space

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