zero tolerance on streetart in bern1 min read

casablanca bern

we swiss sure like it clean, omg. today in bern starts the initiative casablanca, a collaboration between the city government, house owners, an issurance company and various other organisations, with the goal to clean the whole inner city of any street art and graffiti in one big first effort and from then to clean any new works within 48 hours.
this is inspired by the scandinavian zero tolerance strategy towards street art and graffiti.
the goal to have 75% of home owners participate was however not reached.

sounds like a major turfwar is about to start in bern. people selling spraycans should stock up. major.
or how did they express it @ bernergazette? spray it again, sam…?

the graffiti artists have already started…

casablanca graffiti in bern switzerland

casablanca-bern.ch – the project website [in german]
[hmm interesting. the website was realised by a company called bexa from burgdorf.]
bern, casablanca – aktion startet am montag – article [in german] ebund.

9 Replies to “zero tolerance on streetart in bern1 min read

  1. Graffiti can be very beautiful! I used to hunt through Berne to find new ones (they’re sometimes well hidden), and we had some really nice ones at the train station in Ausserholligen; a little figure taking a shit, my kids found it hilarious :-). It’s a pity they painted them over when they worked on it for the S1.

    “Tags”, on the other hand, are pathetic. Someone sprayed all the mailboxes in a neighbouring street, someone sprayed the children’s slide on teh playground – where’s the value in that? It’s just childish territory marking, about as useful as someone pissing on your carpet; it takes neither talent nor effort. Just plain old stupid vandalism. And we all have to pay for it (well, those of us that pay taxes, anyway).

  2. so, if i read you correctly, you would suggest that only certain street art should be removed? only the ugly stuff, like, in your opinion, tags.
    in a way i tend to agree with you. in the sense that i also think, that there is some steet art that really totally enhances the city. other stuff is not very well done, and does not help. but this raises the question of who would be the judge of that? and zero tolerance certainly does not make any such distinctions. it has that totalitarian ring to it… scary.

    and yes i agree. we have some extremly talented painters in bern.

  3. Absolutely. Zero tolerance is not totalitarian, it’s a desperate attempt at saving the city from a mess. MOST of the graffitis and tags are just plain ugly, and people spraying all over the place are going to destroy the value of our town. However, if the graffiti is more beautiful than the building, it would be a pity to remove the graffiti – remove the building instead :-).

  4. Ah no, we need the Alps – what would Heidi do without them! And with all the smog you wouldn’t see the mediterranean anyway.

  5. @mtts: the question might be, do we need heidi? and even, if we won’t see it, just good to know its flat to get to the mediterranean…

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