Social Research Methods and Urban Studies

Paint. Buff. Shoot. Repeat is a photographic project that zooms in on the
location and lifespan of street art and graffiti in the urban environment. It is a response to online image banks that often capture street art and graffiti with a focus on the image rather than its setting and arrange photo archives by artist, style or production medium. In opposition, this project uses the method of repeat photography to capture the transformative processes street art and graffiti go through and argues for the capacity of this method to reveal changes on city surfaces.

This essay explores what happens when one looks at graffiti and street art as localized inscriptive artifacts, rather than focusing on their production, reception or regulation. Methodologically, it shifts away from sociological or ethnographic studies of graffiti and street art, and into the realm of visual, textual and semiotic approaches. I propose to bracket the distinct cultures of “graffiti” and “street art” with their own codes and histories, and tackle them through the lens of semiotic theories instead, as part of a wider material and communicative context.

В статье рассматривается опыт использования авторского метода «биографическая прогулка» в индустриальных районах. Представлен краткий обзор родственных мобильных методов, даются практические рекомендации по использованию биографической прогулки и по способам интерпретации ее результатов. Обсуждается потенциал применения метода для дальнейшего анализа городских пространственных практик и территориальной идентичности.