About DE MI BARRIO A TU BARRIO / URBAN HEARTBEAT

In Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Street art developed in a special – perhaps even unique – context. Art in the public domain sets the tone of many towns in the region and has always been so: from the first murals of the advanced civilization of the Indians through Muralismo in Mexico to the painting of school buses in Panama or Haiti.

The tradition of the political wall picture continues in many countries today and in the 90s became the catalyst for change to new art forms. As Dorian Serpa, one of the graffiti pioneers of Nicaragua tells it: “We didn’t want to paint any more papayas or water melons or fat women and the political mural no longer held any sway and that is why we did graffiti and not murals”.

The character of the Central American and Caribbean cities at the beginning of the 21st century is reflected in many different ways in their street art. How would the spaces be used, laid out, conquered or controlled? The struggle for places and significance, whether real or symbolic, seems to be inextricably bound to street art. 



And even if imaginative, hand-painted adverts for wedding bands, car repair shops or the little corner shop lend a bit of colour to many dismal areas, it is really the big poster adverts of international firms which dominate the urban landscape. Public as well as private surfaces, sometimes entire house walls are being increasingly let to advertising agencies, so that the areas dominated by consumerism continue to grow.

The struggle for these spaces gives the occupation of many street artists a direction. It is a search for independence and identity but also for urban neighbourhoods and community. Street art wants to send the message that there is a more humane alternative to capitalism and consumerism and that it is possible to occupy wall surfaces or for the general public to recapture these spaces.

Although, graffiti culture is seen by many people in Central America not as enrichment but as a threat, partly due to the fact that graffiti is the most transparent mark of identification of the pandillas, rival gangs fighting each other in many Central American capitals.

Beyond this context, there is, of course, impressive street art in many places: whether large scale pre-Colombian motifs in Managua, politically motivated stencils in the centre of Guatemala City or classic colossal graffiti in San José – each country impresses in its own way. 



It was against this background that, over a period of a few months, the project DE MI BARRIO A TU BARRIO / URBAN HEARTBEAT was designed by the Goethe-Institut in Mexico, Nicaraguan sociologist Alicia Zamora, German multidisciplinary artist Jim Avignon, and DJ / cultural manager Holger Beier. The project was realized in collaboration with the German embassies and German cultural centres throughout the region.

The main objectives consisted in
  • promoting the Central American and Caribbean integration by means of a regional artistic project
  • strengthening ideas of public participation in urban spaces
  • creating an increased awareness of graffiti and street art as an art form and containment of existing prejudices against these techniques
  • documenting the Central American and Caribbean street art scenes and creating platform for them 
The main achievements include
  • Collaboration with various political and educative institutions in supporting the Central American and Caribbean street art scenes
  • Media coverage by Deutsche Welle, WDR, Berliner Tagesspiegel, Huffington Post, Lateinamerika Nachrichten, among others >> click here to see the full press review
  • More than 3.500 followers of the Facebook page of the project, which continues to be a meeting point for Central American and Caribbean street artists
  • More than 2.000 visitors of the exhibition about the project at neurotitan gallery / Berlin
  • Publication of a book about the Project which is available in various stores throughout Europe and Latin America

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