Spice Media and RGMD held a roundtable on "Features of legislative regulation of public art in St. Petersburg"
On June 5, as part of the project “Art in an Urban Environment”, a roundtable was held on “Features of legislative regulation of public art in St. Petersburg." The discussion was attended by the heads of CSPHCM, CUPA, as well as street art representatives. The meeting was moderated by Victoria Kulibanova, director of Spice Media, and Elena Bodrova, executive director of NP RGMD.
Key points:
Among the existing problems of one of the most common street art artist, leader of the Yav art group Anastasia Vladychkina and the author of street art depicting Brodsky, Oleg Lukyanov, highlight the length of the procedure for coordinating street art objects. They propose considering the possibility of simplifying and easing the legal approval procedures for artists.
“Not many artists apply to the CUPA and CSPHCM for permission to place urban art objects. Currently, only one project is at the approval stage," said Deputy Chairman of the CUPA Alexey Moor.
Roundtable results:
The founder of the Institute for the Study of Street Art, Albina Motor, suggested considering using transformer substations (TP) for street artists' creative expression and relaxing the procedure for coordinating images on them.
Chairman of the CSPHCM Sergey Makarov supported the initiative: “I am not an opponent of art in public spaces. It is quite possible to consider painting transformer booths even in the city centre, but subject to approval."
Sergey Makarov also approved creating special places in the city for creativity, although there is also a condition: "they must be removed from cultural heritage sites and modern architectural ensembles."
But temporary art designs in the form of banners or billboards can be installed almost anywhere.
The discussion participants agreed that a list of addresses will be compiled where it is possible to ease the legal regulation of placing art objects. The Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture has committed to interacting with district administrations in order to identify areas in the city suitable for artists' creative expression.
Alexey Moor promised to develop step-by-step instructions for coordinating street art projects.
