From the big 1984-exhibition dedicated to Street Art “Arte di Frontiera. New York Graffiti“, Bologna has always driven some particular attention to this art form with undefined borders.
Whether for people’s movements animating the city or for the strong university call, from the community centres, Graffiti and Street Art developed like wildfire over the urban fabric in more or less spontaneous ways. Beyond the works by Blu (that have almost disappeared as a consequence of a protest where his murales were removed) and by Ericailcane, over the years also injections by Collettivo FX | Nemo’s | Pupo Bibbitò | Alicé | Tellas and many others came into light.
Since 2012, this artistic call gained a new energy thanks to the project “Frontier – La linea dello stile”, which involved Italian and foreign artists (among them: M-City | Does | HoNeT | Hitnes | Etnik | Eron | Joys | Dado | Cuoghi Corsello | Rusty | Daim | Andreco | Phase II | Peeta | Seikon | Nuria | Lokiss | Rae Martini) in the valorisation of some working-class buildings. The Cheap Festival contributed to the city’s new life too through an awareness-raising project where poster art enhanced public spaces, underlying their importance.
Bologna is rich in wall paintings, many of which – at least the biggest ones – are outside the city centre.
We suggest you take your bike and to ride through the city. To find street art you might use the digital map with an itinerary dotted with images, biographies and in-depth analysis of the artist that the association SenzAncora, with the support of the collective group Ozono Factory, has created; otherwise, if you want to keep always the pace, you might rely on the site BolognaStreetArt.