To Be Seen

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To Be Seen

A Film by Alice Arnold

film still TO BE SEEN is a study of visual culture, of urban culture and an exploration of an age-old urban cultural phenomenon, street art.

The subculture of street art is significant because it is an embodiment of subversive content, which is rare in today's culture of consumerism and political amnesia. It functions as a way of 'taking back the streets,' when public spaces are increasingly privatized—through security cameras, Business Improvement Districts, and the profusion of corporate marketing.

This form of art—which is not a commodity (there is no price tag), is ephemeral, and that tends to address current political and cultural issues—is examined as a form of public expression, a form of media and a means of political and social protest.

TO BE SEEN integrates a mix of interviews (Stuart Ewen of Hunter College, the artists Swoon, Michael DeFeo, Dan Witz, Skewville, Faile, The Wooster Collective, marketing specialist Marc Schiller, sociologists Sharon Zukin and Anette Baldauf, and others) with the visual field of the streets. It looks at who is making street art and why, examines the cultural and political significance of these expressions, and investigates the public's perception of this work. Is it Art or Vandalism? And what is art's role within the context of public space and urban culture?

"[TO BE SEEN] captures the new paradigm of personal communication within the corporate hegemony of signs. The ultimate non-commodity, street art is the post-evolutionary development of graffiti in a generation that's inherited the strategies of branding like extra vertebrae. TO BE SEEN tracks that slippery slope as a battleground where the boundaries of self navigate the public realm and the vitality of the streets pulses through the sanitized chambers of commerce. In the spectacle of a perpetual mass mediation, here is the coded language of community that works secretly outside of our blindered consumerism. If you think these kids are criminals, watch this movie to hear the true eloquence and intelligence of their discontent."—Carlo McCormick, Senior Editor, Paper Magazine

"We live in a world where we are blanketed by corporate images on every conceivable surface. Whereas advertising is accepted, individual public expression is not. It's revealing to see and hear the street artists in TO BE SEEN thoughtfully explain their work. Instead of viewing these stencils, stickers and other visual messages as vandalism, we begin to understand them as intelligent and creative responses to our consumer society. TO BE SEEN should be seen by all those who take an interest in the urban environment."—Martha Cooper, Director of Photography at City Lore, New York Center for Urban Folk Culture / Author Subway Art (Thames & Hudson)

** 2006 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival
** 2006 American Sociological Association Film Festival

30 minutes / color / 2005
Closed Captioned
Sale/video-dvd: $225
Rental/video: $75

Subject areas: Adolescence, Advertising & Marketing, American Studies, Art, Business, Communications, Economic Sociology, Media Studies, Photography, Sociology, Urban Studies

Related Titles:

Constant, Avant le Depart: Filmed shortly before Constant Nieuwenhuys' death, this is an intimate glimpse into the life and work of the painter, urban theorist, and influential member of the European avant-garde.

Last updated 10/23/2006