Anonymous Inscriptions in Rio de Janeiro

Resistance and informal urban communication on the streets

Abstract

Parallel to the moment graffiti becomes an integrated component, legal and regular part of the city walls of Rio de Janeiro (mainly owing to the laws and actions that legalize and legitimize a once transgressive practice) a new kind of artistic intervention in the city emerged. Phrases written with spray, stencil or even pasted on the walls have the power to surprise, to question and challenge the townspeople. Interventions that can be comprehended as what Certeau (1994) defines as strange practices in the geometric space of the big cities. Actions that refer to specific forms of operations, which provide new visibility in urban areas. If the space is a practiced place, as the author affirms, the written phrases on the walls transform not only the backing, but also the space in which they are written.