INGRID—Archiving Graffiti in Germany

Sven Niemann

doi:10.48619/indigo.v0i0.712

Sven Niemann Institute for German Language and Comparative Literature, University of Paderborn, Warburger Straße 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

DOI: https://doi.org/10.48619/indigo.v0i0.712

Keywords: archive, art history, document, graffiti, linguistics, ontology

Abstract

The article introduces the research project INGRID (Informationssystem Graffiti in Deutschland/ Information System Graffiti in Germany), which was founded in 2016 and provides a scientific database for graffiti. INGRID is an interdisciplinary cooperation project between the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Paderborn and offers a systematic registration of graffiti. INGRID contains over 130,000 photographs of graffiti. Different sources provided the images. A large part of the pictures comes from the police departments in Mannheim, Cologne, and Munich. Another part consists of photographs from private collections and public archives.

This paper focuses on INGRID’s ontology, the usability of the database, and the annotation and acquisition of graffiti.

Furthermore, there will be a presentation of exemplary studies, which examine the database from a linguistic, a historical and an onomastic perspective. With INGRID, it is possible for the first time to take a look at developments and changes in the phenomenon of graffiti over longer periods based on extensive, secure, and high-quality research data as well as to research its visual aesthetics, its specific scripturality, notational iconicity, grammaticality, urban location as well as its social function and meaning.

Author Biography

Sven Niemann, Institute for German Language and Comparative Literature, University of Paderborn, Warburger Straße 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

Sven Niemann is a research assistant in the graffiti research project INGRID and a PhD student at the Institute for German Language and Comparative Literature at the University of Paderborn. His research interests are political graffiti, sociolinguistics and written linguistics. Since 2014, he has been a freelance DJ and journalist, and holds workshops on DJing, music production and podcasting. For the Tourist Information in Paderborn, he has been guiding public graffiti tours since 2018. As a member of the artists’ collective Generation Arts, he actively promotes urban art and the visibility of graffiti in public spaces.