GHOST PEOPLE OF SAVAMALA
450 x 300 cm
Not For Sale
The Kriška (Slice) collective is tow artists who joined forces during street art project they envisioned for the City Acupuncture event that took place across the region (Skopje, Beograd, Sarajevo, Zagreb and Split) from 2012 until 2014. In Belgrade, it was organized by Kulturni Front and K.C. Grad and the aim of the project was to animate city space with small urban interventions. Two graphic designers, who found that the streets talk louder than words, invented a whole world of lovable looking ghosts that inhabit Savamala. This is a city area which was, at the time when the project was enacted, just a blurred, dilapidated image of the neighbourhood that it once had been. Since then, the whole area has changed beyond recognition due to the highly-debated Belgrade Waterfront project. Even though all but one of those ghosts have been painted over, they still seem to populate social networks and, years later, are still subject of debate. If, concerning previous pieces, we were pondering upon the dilemma of whether they were graffiti or street art, in Kriška’s case, it is very clear that we are talking about street art. They might use spray cans occasionally but their main means of production is acrylic paint and brushes. Street art seems to be all about moving beyond the boundaries that were set by the graffiti culture in terms of ideas, representation, technical achievement and designated audience. Therefore, these little ghosts could be the best example of what street art could be if put in contrast with graffiti. And, after all these years, it is safe to say that Savamala’s Ghost People are the most beloved street art intervention in Belgrade to date.