The “black-and-white mural” in Polytechneio :

Meaning-making, Materiality, and Heritagization Of Contemporary Street Art in Athens

Abstract

The campus of the National Metsovian Polytechnic in central Athens has been a significant cornerstone in the socio-political landscape of the city. Within the history of modern Greece, Polytechneio is regarded as a symbol of resistance against the Greek military dictatorship (junta) in 1973. In March 2015 and during times of austerity politics, the west façades of the Polytechneio were covered by a “black-and-white mural” (Tziovas 2017: 45). This paper examines how and why this black-and-white mural has been discussed often controversially from different kinds of recipients, leading to an ardent public debate within Greek society from a cross disciplinary point of view: 1) semiotics, 2) design, and 3) cultural studies. For our analysis, we use data from primary and secondary sources. Primary data sources include photographic documentation of the field. Secondary data sources include photographic material and newspaper articles circulated online, as well as, relevant academic literature.

First, we examine how this mural was integrated into the constructions and intersubjective experiences of public space from the perspective of semiotization of space. Second, we discuss the practicalities involved for the fulfilment of this mural from the perspective of design-scope. And third, we advance the discussion around the issues of cultural preservation and heritagization of street art and graffiti. Our goal in this paper is to avoid binary interpretations, and instead, to induce in an intermediary way the significance of public dialogue, which this mural achieved to trigger.