Facing a Chameleon—How Project INDIGO Discovers and Records New Graffiti

Geert J. Verhoeven; Stefan Wogrin; Jona Schlegel; Martin Wieser; Benjamin Wild

doi:10.48619/indigo.v0i0.703

Geert J. Verhoeven Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft - LBI ArchPro, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Stefan Wogrin SprayCity, Austria
Jona Schlegel Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft - LBI ArchPro, 1190 Vienna, Austria
Martin Wieser Independent researcher
Benjamin Wild TU Wien - Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, 1040-Vienna, Austria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.48619/indigo.v0i0.703

Keywords: anonymisation, change detection, computer vision, graffiti, localisation, monitoring, photogrammetry, photography, Vienna

Abstract

Graffiti are studied by, amongst many others, archaeologists, sociologists, (art) historians, linguists, ethnographers, architects, anthropologists, librarian scientists, geographers, criminologists, conservators, lawyers and architects. Although most of these professions rely on a digital representation of graffiti at a particular stage of their research, there has been strikingly little attention to how graffiti can effectively be monitored and digitally documented. And this is precisely one of the gaps that the heritage science project INDIGO is trying to fill. Through collaboration between geomatics, photography, data management and graffiti specialists, INDIGO aims to develop technical and logistical solutions that facilitate the systematic documentation, monitoring, and analysis of extensive graffiti-scapes. This paper focuses on the graffiti-discovering and data acquisition strategies INDIGO has been applying during its first project year. At the same time, the text explores new avenues for improving the existing approaches.

Author Biographies

Geert J. Verhoeven, Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft - LBI ArchPro, 1190 Vienna, Austria

Geert J. Verhoeven (°1978) is a senior researcher in archaeology at the LBI AchPro and is currently leading the academic graffiti project INDIGO. He received his Master’s and PhD degrees from Ghent University (Belgium) in 2002 and 2009, respectively. Since 2010, Geert has been working on many 3D modelling, remote sensing and data visualisation topics at the LBI AchPro, a research institute of which he is currently the vice director. In September 2021, Geert took a deep dive into the colourful graffiti world through project INDIGO. His research output can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geert- Verhoeven-2.

Stefan Wogrin, SprayCity, Austria

Stefan Wogrin (°1989) is an art historian and graffiti documenter. In 2001 he founded the “Spraycity “graffiti writing archive (https://spraycity.at), which is also an online platform where 100.000 graffiti photos are accessible online. The archive is based in Vienna. He received his Bachelor of Arts in art history and European ethnology from the University of Vienna in 2017. Since 2001 Stefan is also an active graffiti writer. Furthermore, he photographs graffiti from all different public surfaces in Vienna and the entire Europe. Since 2013, Stefan has also been researching the history of graffiti in Vienna, which is his main research interest. Stefan curated several exhibitions about graffiti, and he is the editor of the “Offline Graffiti Magazine “. The research Stefan is involved in can be found at https:// spraycity.at/research.

Jona Schlegel, Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft - LBI ArchPro, 1190 Vienna, Austria

Jona Schlegel (°1988) is doing a PhD at the University of Vienna (Austria) on archaeological stratigraphy and spatio- temporal reasoning. Furthermore, she is employed as a junior researcher at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology. She received her Master of Science in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Applied Science and the Free University (Berlin, Germany) in 2018. Since 2017, she has been working with geophysical prospection methods like geomagnetics and ground-penetrating radar. Starting in September 2021, she is part of project INDIGO, focusing on the graffiti thesaurus, spatio-temporal data structuring and web development. Her research can be found at: https:// www.researchgate.net/profile/Jona-Schlegel

Martin Wieser, Independent researcher

Martin Wieser (°1986) is an independent researcher in photogrammetry and remote sensing. He received his Master’s degree from the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien, Austria) in 2012. From 2010–2019, Martin worked on many photogrammetry, 3D modelling, remote sensing and data visualisation topics at the TU Wien as a project and university assistant. Since 2016, Martin has also been developing geospatial soft- and hardware prototypes for researchers worldwide (Historic England, University of Vienna, Murdoch University Perth).

Benjamin Wild, TU Wien - Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation, 1040-Vienna, Austria

Benjamin Wild (°1996) is a PhD student and university assistant at the Photogrammetry unit at the Department for Geodesy and Geoinformation at Technische Universität Wien (TU Wien). He received his Master’s degree from TU Wien in Geodesy and Geoinformation in 2021. Since then, he has been part of the graffiti-centred academic project INDIGO. Before investigating photogrammetric solutions in the context of graffiti research, Benjamin was working in the same department but in the field of environmental microwave remote sensing. What connects both experiences is the interest in understanding our environment better. Be it the amazon rainforest or the graffiti along Donaukanal. Benjamin’s research output can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/ Benjamin-Wild-5.