Spraycity.at—Graffiti Archive and Online Map

Stefan Wogrin

doi:10.48619/indigo.v0i0.713

Stefan Wogrin Spraycity.at (Spraycity e.U.), 1120 Vienna, Austria

DOI: https://doi.org/10.48619/indigo.v0i0.713

Keywords: archive, Austria, documentation, graffiti, Vienna, writing

Abstract

Spraycity is a documentation archive dedicated to the graffiti writing movement in Austria. The archive was founded in 2001 by art historian Stefan Wogrin to react to the transience that goes hand in hand with writing. The works of the graffiti writing movement are usually ephemeral and not destined to last forever. The ‘Spraycity’ archive aims to record, archive and catalogue the resulting works as photographs and makes them accessible to the public for a longer period. While some works have already disappeared from the public, photographs are often the only possibility to let them remain. The archive currently includes about 300,000 image documents from all over Europe (mainly in Austria), Asia and the USA. The ‘Spraycity’ website (https://www.spraycity.at) forms an interface through which a selection of around 100,000 photos can be accessed online. Each photo contains metadata and is also searchable through its categorisation and keywords.

Author Biography

Stefan Wogrin, Spraycity.at (Spraycity e.U.), 1120 Vienna, 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.