SAID DOKINS-POSTÓPOLIS.


Many thanks! to Wayne who invited me to participate al Postópolis Wayne is ethnomusicologist who studies the hip-hop phenomenon in different cities and has a very interesting blog: http://wayneandwax.com/

This news was taken directly from his Blog, which reported:
Said Dokins discusses his Avionazo intervention at El Eco (Photo Wayne)




My final guest at Postopolis, Said Dokins, brought some trenchant thoughts to bear on all of this. Said has been praised in global street art circles for his work, but he is no Banksy-come-lately. Said has long been deeply engaged with the local graffiti scene, among other efforts producing a book about female graffiti artists in DF, and he also places his work in the storied tradition of anarcho-critical muralists in Mexico City, some of whom are his mentors and teachers.
He is also rather thoughtful — and self-consciously so — about the work that he does, and the work thatit does (culturally and politically). For his presentation at Postopolis, Said delivered a strong statement about his art and how it expresses ideas about urban space, dystopia, power, subversion, and, among other specificities, how the omnipresent symbol of the skull in Mexico might represent the tragedy of history. (I quite like the idea of Benjamin’s angel of history wearing a máscara de calavera.)
Allow me to quote a passage that seems particularly relevant to the central questions of this post:
Desde que hago graffiti mi relación con lo no autorizado, con el acto ilegal ha marcado muchas formas en las que opero, trato siempre de salirme con la mía, de hacer lo no esperado, de estar en el límite de lo legal. En el caso del avionazo, no había una intención de acción directa contra del sistema hegemónico y el poder en un acto de choque, si no más bien aprovechar para que desde el sistema, es decir de los mecanismos de validación establecidos, ya que el proyecto en sí mismo fue apoyado, actuar como agente que de alguna manera señala problemáticas políticas y sociales, a través de la burla, infiltrando el desorden.
Since I do graffiti, my relationship with the non-authorized, with the illegal act, has marked many ways in which I operate. I always try to get my way, to do the unexpected, to be on the edge of legality. In the case of the plane crash, there was no intention of direct action against the hegemonic system and power through an act of shock, but rather to benefit from the system, from established mechanisms of validation, since the project itself was supported — to act as an agent that somehow fingers problematic political and social issues, through mockery, infiltrating the disorder.
Given Said’s indisputably radical, if practical, attitude about his art, it’s worth noting that the first comment on Saner’s post about his Kid Robot success is from Said himself:
ESO ES CHINGAO!!!! A HUEVO BANDE EN CORTO!!1 YEAH!!!
Avionazo den la plazuela by Said Dokins

Tlatelolco


(foto: Libre HEM)

Pinta en Tlatelolco parte del cierre del diplomado Arte en Espacios Publicos, proyecto dirigido por Alfredo Gutierrez, Libre HEM Tijuana.
Participaron:
Libre, Ofier, Smog, Ashes, Eye one, Cache, Saidokins, Itzio, Canek, Deline.

ANARQUISMO EN EL INAH



Via: INAH

Migration has favored development of graffiti in the world as a form of expression against injustice and repression, and has become the main means of identity and union of a wide sector, declared Said Dokins, graffiti specialist and practitioner in Los Angeles, United States of America.

The specialist participated at Coloquio Internacional Migración y Revolución (International Colloquy Migration and Revolution) organized by the Direction of Historical Studies of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

At the academic forum where 15 specialists from the United States, Canada, France, Italy and Mexico gathered, migratory processes and their influence in Mexican Revolution were analyzed. Dokins exposed that graffiti began in New York in the 1960’s decade as a form of expression product of the boredom of a depressing society.

“With migratory phenomenon, this urban manifestation expanded to different countries, becoming a worldwide expression. It proliferated in Los Angeles and it is from there that it began diffusing to the world, since it is in the United States where most immigrants live”.

In Mexico, graffiti began in Tijuana, at the beginning of the 1980’s decade; “American practitioners began leaving their imprints, such as signatures and letters”, commented Roberto, another urban artist that participated in the paintings at the façade of the Direction of Historical Studies part of the colloquy activities.

The group did not allow Mexicans to incorporate and this is how the urban artist group named Hechos en Mexico emerged, decorating Tijuana, the border crossed by more migrants from Mexico and Latin America to United States.

“This urban manifestation began diffusing in the national territory as well as in countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Argentina and Brazil”, mentioned Roberto.

“Messages are varied but promote union, better social conditions, and fight against discrimination to immigrants” declared Venus, another practitioner.

In Mexico, “there has been persecution because they do not realize we are looking for a way of expressing and it is in the street, not in the museum or the gallery”, added artist Libre.

Part of the activities of the INAH colloquy was a match between practitioners, where these urban artists captured how migration influenced social revolutions.

Ten graffiti practitioners from Los Angeles (USA) Tijuana, Oaxaca and Mexico City painted a 1.8 by 40 meters screen installed at the façade of the DEH.

Rosario, one of them, declared that the first stage of a design is to determine the message and then you begin to choose the images that will help to transmit it, to string characters and concepts together. There is place for improvisation”.

Almost 10 graffiti works were created during the colloquy; they will be exhibited until late June 2010 at the DEH facilities, and then will travel to different INAH centers. DEH is located at 172 Allende St. at Juarez, Tlalpan, D.F.

Coloquio Internacional Migración y Revolución.

Les invitamos a la mesa de mañana:

Mano a mano. Graffiti, migración y revolución, dentro del marco del Coloquio Internacional Migración y Revolución.
Dr. Jacinto Barrera Bassols. Coordinador del Coloquio
Coordinan mesa: Said Dokins y Laura García.

Participan:
Cache y EyeOne (Los Ángeles, California)
Ashes,Ofier (Ciudad de México)
Colectivo Lapiztola (Oaxaca, México)
Benus (Querétaro)
Libre (Tijuana)

Fecha:
jueves, 10 de junio de 2010
Hora:
17:00 - 17:30
Lugar:
en la Sala de Usos Múltiples de la Dirección de estudios Históricos INAH
Centro de Tlalpan
Calle:
Allende, número 172, Tlalpan Centro
Ciudad o población:
Ciudad de México


En paralelo a las actividades del Coloquio, se realiza un encuentro de graffiti en el muro lateral de la Dirección de Estudios Históricos (calle Juárez y Allende).

Programa:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXFh-EpfubOMZGc3aHNqY3RfMzVjYzV4dzloZw&hl=en