A FEW REMARKS ON VALUES AND SIGNS ON CITY WALLS

Fereński Piotr Jakub, Soboń Grzegorz

DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2022-1-41-53

Information About Author:

Piotr Jakub Fereński, University of Wrocław, Republic of Poland. E-mail: piotr.ferenski@uwr.edu.pl Grzegorz Soboń, University of Wrocław, Republic of Poland. E-mail: grzegorz.sobon@uwr.edu.pl

The article contains a theoretical and methodological proposal on how to research and understand the visual aspects of urban space. First of all, the authors present the concept of linking signs and values. This idea was created and developed in the 1970s and 1980s on the ground of Polish cultural studies. Researchers propose to use it to describe the graphic phenomena on city walls. What is commonly considered to be manifestations of vandalism or irrelevant images, inscriptions, and scribbles are, in fact, strategies for the transmission of values that are important for social communities (norms, beliefs, ideas, worldviews etc.). The further part of the text presents a few examples from field studies conducted in several housing estates in Wrocław (Poland). The research was qualitative, and the material was recorded with photo and video cameras. The material was collected in the years 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which influenced its content.

Keywords: values, signs, symbols, culture, city, block housing estate

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Issue: 1, 2022

Series of issue: Issue 1

Rubric: ARTICLES

Pages: 41 — 53

Downloads: 509