Walls are silent? Quite the opposite. If we look around carefully, walls shout to us and at us, often insulting us with obscenities, slurs and symbols. Sometimes they enter into a constructive dialogue, but more often they assault the eye. Do we know how to respond? How can we stop hate speech when it creeps into public space? “Verbal Reactions” (“Reakcje słowne”) is a riposte-action taking place on the walls of Wrocław’s tenement buildings, stairwells and courtyards.
The street artists will present a range of ideas for responding, with words and images, to the scrawls that have surrounded us for so long that they have become invisible. The “Verbal Reactions” street art action works with selected places marked by hate speech. These will become the starting point for an artistic riposte – the creation of a new, positive message. The result will be a series of ripostes in the city’s public space, documented “before” and “after” the artistic intervention (in agreement with the property manager or owner).
Video documentation of the action will be available at Passage of Dialogue (Przejście Dialogu).
Julianna Płaczysko – a collective formed by Julia Biczysko and Anna Płachecka, artists who work with communities. In their projects they use street art techniques combined with creative public consultation.
Dialogopolis is delivered as part of the ReSTART project, co-financed by the National Programme of the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the state budget.
