f:code – the manifesto.

 

A visually outstanding, though often artistic and creative manner of resistance, graffiti inherently opposes political domination and authoritative control of public space. Because of these destructive tendencies, graffiti says "fuck you" to society, even if it doesn't exactly say "fuck you" — though many graffiti, of course, do.

Whether or not it says so in so many words, the fuck you message is hidden in the use of graffiti as communication. The medium itself mean alienation, discontentment, marginality, repression, resentment, rebellion: no matter what it says, graffiti always mean a "fuck you". Though addressing the larger society in this disapproving manner may be a secondary or even tertiary element of the graffiti writer's agenda, this element always lurks in the background of every graffito on every wall.

This type of rebellion and anger, shared between the graffiti artists and their work, is exactly the type of message that society strive to suffocate. The blatant disregard for public space is interpreted by the public as a type of "fuck you" statement; internalized, the code or the message of graffiti is seen as a personal attack, rather than a more general resistance to a system which leaves the fate of public space in the hands of a minority within our society. There is where the code came from.....

f:code