What connects 26 cities around the world in the middle of a global pandemic? Spoiler: the answer is not only a global pandemic.
What connects 26 cities around the world in November 2020 is the desire to take advantage of a particular moment to network. Networking, we were saying, in the name of a common passion: Urban Art. This artistic, cultural and social movement has been able to weave a huge web that has united (and that still binds) all the cities around the world, giving life not only to a community of active artists but also to a series of fans that work around it.
This is how a few weeks ago, a large community of individuals and associations was born on social networks. All of them, in various ways, make the Urban Art of each city known to locals and tourists through tours, workshops, talk and more. This great wave has given itself a name, or rather a hashtag, and you can find it everywhere as #streetarttoursworldwide: from Bogota to Paris, from Sofia to Valparaiso, from Cagliari to Las Vegas, passing through Lisbon, Milan, Antwerp, Athens, Turin and much more.
And of course Another Scratch In The Wall could not back out, and here we are talking. But how to get to know each other better? First of all, you can take a look at each bio below. Moreover, on November Saturday 28th and on December Saturday 5th, starting at 6.30pm CET, we will present both the community and the individual members during a live on Facebook: the appointment is on our Facebook page for a real journey through Urban Art from all over the world.
SAT Street Art Tourino
SAT_Street Art TOuRINO_ is born in Turin in 2014 from an idea of Claudia De Giorgis.
It’s the first project totally focused on a development of street art tours dedicated to Urban Art in the city. The main goal is to pursue a path of Urban culture’s support in all its forms: street art, urban art, writing, contemporary muralism.
SAT is part of Pigmenti Cultural Association which for years has been carrying out various urban art projects including Street Alps festival and Missiontoart artist residency. Pigmenti has an international breathe but operates on a territorial level by collaborating with the main international artists thanks to close collaboration with Street Art News, a worldwide reference blog in the field of street art.
Since 2019 SAT is the official partner of MAUA Torino: the first augmented Urban Art Museum in Italy with whom we launched a series of Augmented Reality Street Art Tours by using BePart App. There are two types of tours: Street art walk tour & Street art bike tour.
Contact: streetartourtorino@gmail.com
Bogotà Graffiti
The original BOGOTA GRAFFITI TOUR started in 2011. It was started by 2 international artists that saw an opportunity to share Bogotá’s street art culture with the growing number of tourists that were visiting the city. Today, out of 396 tours in Bogotá, we are the #1 Thing to do according to TripAdvisor.
Through our tours we get a chance to talk about Bogotá’s growing art scene, its artists and the message behind many of the iconic murals the city has to offer. Our tours are a way for visitors to get to know the complex social political situation the country continues to go through.. We do not shy away from talking about the political issues that continue to affect the people of Colombia through many of the political murals and posters that are spread all over the streets.
We are not just a tour. We believe it is extremely important to give back to the artists in the city. In the last few years we have been able to create and support more than 150 different projects and movements all throughout the country. We have worked with more than 300 artists and diverse communities using street art and graffiti as a tool for community transformation and expression.
Awesome Athens Experience
We are Kalliopi and Thomas, we live in the historic district of Kerameikos, close to Acropolis and we share many common passions. Our greatest ones are the love for street art, urban exploration, history, and travel. For the last three years, we hosted a massive number of artistic walks both in and around Athens. Now because of the new reality of COVID – 19, we are the only Athenians that host virtual experiences about street art in Athens for Airbnb and many more companies!
Only a breath away and within walking distance from all the hip, and alternative Greek neighbourhoods, we have the opportunity to explore all of the neighbourhoods’ large and small streets. We were born art lovers, and we know our stuff. We are street art hunters, and this is our life. Also, we are proud contributors to Street Art Cities, a global community of street art lovers, photographers, e.t.c with the main goal of mapping out all the urban art in the world.
Sofia Graffiti Tour
Sofia Graffiti Tour was born out of a love for graffiti and street art, with the mission to take visitors of Sofia off-the-beaten-track, to experience the alternative atmosphere of the Bulgarian capital, layered with stories and urban art.
The initiative started in 2016 and we are the first to organize tours dedicated to Sofia’s street art and graffiti scene. Since then we have taken thousands of travelers to the hidden corners of the city to explore together the urban art, its stories and dive into the graffiti subculture.
By participating in the tour, you are also supporting the local graffiti, street and urban art scene of Sofia. Parts of our contributions are going directly to the events that we organize – Exhibitions and Workshops, annual Sofia Graffiti Battle festival and local initiative, improving the urban space.
Website: www.sofiagraffititour.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sofia_graffiti_tour/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sofiagraffititour
Valpostreetart
My name is Juan Francisco Astorga Graphic Designer, Photographer and producer of
urban art My project “Valpostreetart”, started in 2015 as a collection account for graffiti and murals in Valpsaraiso.
You can find the collection on the Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/valpostreetart/: each year the account is gaining more popularity and it’s becoming a spreading point for the Street Art culture. We are currently celebrating 5 years of the project, with a showcase of the best of national and international street art. Last year we launched our first book called: Valparaiso Capital of Urban.
I also dedicate myself to street art tours in English and Spanish in different parts of Valparaiso.
DownTownLasVegas Art Walk
Old Vegas meets contemporary art in our tour through the streets of Downtown Las Vegas. We invite our guests to discover the vibrant culture that our city has to offer as they learn about the history of street art and its journey to DTLV. From murals adorning casino walls to stickers and graffiti in hidden alley ways, our tour guides will introduce guest to spectacular pieces by artists from across the globe.
Street Art Antwerp
2020 has been a strange year for all of us. I already had big plans, from travelling to visit several festivals to expanding our street art tours and managing some projects.
When I just returned from Madrid (for Urvanity art) late february, it was clear the pandemic reached Europe and the future was uncertain. Belgium quickly went into lockdown for weeks and after a short pause we’re back in a semi-lockdown. Planning to start with 2 new tour guides, we basically did a handful of tours, before I decided to cancel everything for this year so that we could regroup and improve our website and build new tours.
For the first half of the year I (luckily) had my hands full with my daytime job as a maintenance coordinator on a big chemical plant, while next to that I continued to run the Street Art Cities community and manage the Ig page. The 2nd half of the year I had more time to run some projects, working on and supporting a handful of new murals in my town.
I strongly believe urban art is benefitting from this global change, because catching street art is basically one of the safest and fun things to do in cities these days. So it’s a good thing to see street art tour guides coming together and supporting each other to become even stronger when we can restart and show people the hidden gems and support our local artists even further.
Street Art Tours Cagliari
Bagamunda is the project I created to tell people about my island since 2018.
Bagamunda means “vagabond” in Sardinian language and it has always been my nickname.
I am an art historian, tourist guide and experience manager.
I create custom tours out of the touristic routes to show the authentic Sardinian culture with its traditions, local food and art. In particular I created the first Street art and Graffiti tours on the Island.
The StreetArt_Tours_Cagliari are guided experiences, constantly updated, that lead to the discovery of the most significant urban artworks and the stories of their authors.
During walking and bike tours alternative aspects of Cagliari are shown, which lives well with the context of the historical center or the outskirts of the city of the sun. My tours are often combined with graffiti workshops with local writers or visits to artist’s studios to get to know the protagonists in person and to learn techniques and styles of this artistic movement.
Someone said: ‘’Bagamunda with passion and professionalism introduced me into a new and fascinating world, which lends to a thousand interesting interpretations. Highly recommended!’’ – ‘’An exciting journey through murals and graffiti, I didn’t know this world, where it was and how it works. A nice surprise, an absolute novelty for the city!’’.
Spic’Art
My name is Virginie, I live in Paris, the city of lights. I’m an official licensed Tour Guide since
2000, self entrepreneur, happy in life, and crazy in love with street art!
I work for the most famous Museum in Paris, Louvre Museum where I regularly do official training about the relation between street art and classical art. I created the first street art and graffiti tours more than 10 years ago and now I am the main reference of the underground parisian guided tours! Come with me and get into the French Vandal lifestyle! I love to share my passion and; high knowledge of the Parisian fresh alternative culture and it truly makes a difference! As a member of several parisian artistic associations, friend with a lot of Artists, Street Art hunter from Belleville to District 13th, from Montreuil to Vitry, be sure to be part of the game with me and dig street art in Paris with a unique experience! The rule is simple: i only bring you to see the best known or hidden Street Art spots and admire the wild variety of local (Invader or Levalet) and international artists (Obey, Banksy, Vhils..): iconic pieces, large murals, collages and artistic installations, graffiti murals… fingers in the nose! Book your street art tour with me and be sure not to miss a thing and more: introduction to local artists, guided tours in private artistic studios, workshops with artists, specific street art galleries tour…
I would be so happy to share my expertise with you to bring you the best exquisite street art tour of Paris!
Mail: spicart75@gmail.com
Phone: 0033 619 653 191
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virginiefrom/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spicart75/
WALLIN VZW
Wallin’ is a non-profit organization that wants to make the street scene more attractive through street art and introduce people to the artform. With our Wallin’ Walking Tours we help people discover the world of Street Art and graffiti through the art found in the city of Ghent, Belgium. The last few years we’ve been busy organizing graffiti jams, different types of events and mural projects. Through these efforts we offer local and international talent an opportunity to show their work in a positive context. All the adventures we had during the projects are revisited during the tours, where we have a look behind the scenes and the artist’s vision behind their work. Everything from the sticker to the large-scale mural, nothing is left uninspected. The position of Wallin’ vzw is that of intermediary and organizer. By performing this function optimally we enable artists to fully develop themselves without having to worry about the legal, administration and financial burden of projects. We hope to further develop and optimize this formula. We intend to bring this also to the table during the development of this network. A network that will enable us as a group to make the world a more colorful place.
Video’s overview: https://www.facebook.com/Wallinofficial/videos/?ref=page_internal
Tour Video: https://www.facebook.com/1455095698131262/videos/688751878434822
Lisbon Street Art Tours & Yes You Can Spray
Our street art collective yesyoucan.spray is an intercultural project that serves as a socio-cultural platform in setting up creative interventions in public space with and for the community of locals/local initiatives, street artists, like-minded creatives and travelers passing through. We establish ourselves as a harbor to empower their awareness about public space through a variety of activities to re-awaken a sense of connection to their surrounding. We sustain through an artivistic, inclusive, research-based and impact driven approach where 100% of our profits are being resourced through our services [street art tours, workshops, [online] streetshop, in-between agent].
Through our glocal (global + local) collaborations we promote to explore, experience and express within the lovely city of Lisbon. Our paintjams are the main activity we work around and about with different street artists from, based in, or passing through Lisbon around topics of common interest, such as equality, domestic violence, social isolation, sustainability… to represent those social issues/changes in an artivistic way, mainly on walls-in-decay.
But we also set up and promote an online and inclusive platform of blogposts [along with our social media] on (street art) facts, DIY empowerment, exclusive interviews… in Lisbon as well as worldwide along with our ethnographic fieldwork through research and publications.
Also take part to the project Street Art Cities, Leuven Urban Art, Street Art Festival, A Guide to Leeuwardn, Juma Art Tours, Cooltour Spain, Tour Street Art GDL, Street Art Guide Vienna, OWSH Hasselt, Street Art Utrecht, One Day Africa, Blank Walls Collective, and Street Art Festival Patras.
Cooltourspain
Professional contemporary artists who created a local project in the Spanish capital city. They run street art tours in Madrid and offer graffiti workshops for all audiences. Moreover, the curate advertising projects and support the local emergent scene. Javier Garcia leads a cultural, educational and touristic project which offers a unique opportunity to discover Madrid’s urban landscape in a different way. He weekly writes for the blog and showing his city from a quircky point of view.
Also take part to the project Street Art Cities, Leuven Urban Art, Street Art Festival, A Guide to Leeuwardn, Juma Art Tours, Tour Street Art GDL, Street Art Guide Vienna, OWSH Hasselt, Street Art Utrecht, One Day Africa, Blank Walls Collective, and Street Art Festival Patras.
