Ugly Graffiti, Antistyle, and ‘Shithole’ Post-Socialist Aesthetics

  • Anton Polsky Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Keywords: Ugly Graffiti, Anti-Style, Eastern Europe, Post-Socialism, Shithole Aesthetics

Abstract

The development of street art (especially graffiti) in peripheral contexts such as Eastern Europe or Latin America is tied to globalization and the spread of US American culture in the 1980s-90s. After the first stage of attempts to copy and adopt new trends, the reaction appeared as a form of rejection, protest, self-exotification, and work with the context.

Although the anti-style/ugly/ignorant graffiti has been around for about 20 years, its history has never been written down. There aren’t many publications and analytical texts around — this is probably because the anti-style is a subculture within a subculture, so only the participants of this sub-subculture could write its true history.

In my current research, I focus on the roots of ugly graffiti in Eastern Europe, primarily on Czech, Ukrainian, and Russian cases, analyze its connection to the post-socialist urban and social environments, and what I call ‘shit-hole’ aesthetics that became popular in social media in recent years.

Author Biography

Anton Polsky, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Anton Polsky aka MAKE is involved in the street, political, and socially engaged arts, artistic research, and pedagogy. As an artist, he works with people in public spaces, using urban interventions, performance, and social sculpture as mediums. As
a researcher, he uses methods from art history, sociology, and political sciences, relying on Marxist and Foucauldian
paradigms. He is interested in researching, supporting, and working with feminist art/activism and the decolonial
approach. He is currently working on his doctoral dissertation at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin on the topic of
political street art in East European post-socialist contexts.

Published
2024-12-13
How to Cite
Polsky, A. (2024). Ugly Graffiti, Antistyle, and ‘Shithole’ Post-Socialist Aesthetics. GSA - Graffiti and Street Art, 2(2), 58-63. https://doi.org/10.48619/gsa.v2i2.887