‘An Extremely Rewarding Experience in Moscow’
Andrea Mubi Brighenti, University of Trento (Italy):
Taking part in the June 7-8, 2013, Moscow conference, ‘Street Art in the Changing City: Theoretical Perspectives’, was an extremely rewarding experience.
First, the atmosphere of the meeting was warm, friendly, and non-competitive. In my view, these are essential ingredients for a really focused and productive scientific meeting, which is what ‘Street Art in the Changing City’ proved to be. This also happens when a conference is set up by a cohesive, scientific group of people whose collaborations are well coordinated and who are personally committed to enhanced teamwork. In this case, the organization was not a rigid structure that people had to serve but a resource to improve people’s work. Of course, small to mid-size conferences facilitate this (on the contrary, it is awful when an organization comes to matter more than the people who are in it).
Second, I found the level of the presentations to be well above average (and that should say a lot, coming from someone who has travelled to many conferences in the last couple of years). Given that the number of topics and perspectives touched upon was really considerable, I particularly appreciated the fact that the relation between empirical research and theoretical reflection on analytical concepts was consistently present in the speakers’ presentations. This facilitated the task of putting order in the wealth of cases and examples; also, the possibility of working comparatively through key analytical notions was extremely helpful and beneficial to all participants. This does not mean dogmatism or a subscription to a single theory but rather the availability to articulate different phenomena by paying attention to the stakes and underlying dynamics involved.
A third, noticeable feature of the Moscow ‘Street Art in the Changing City’ conference was that the discussion was extremely lively: in two full days there was never a single moment when the silence of boredom or embarrassment fell in the room. Different voices contributed to the discussion which means the debate was not hijacked by any single participant (contrary to what I’ve occasionally witnessed in other contexts). Post-conference gatherings were further venues for discussion and exchanging views. In that regard, the kindness of the organizers was outstanding, as it is certainly not easy for foreigners to navigate a city like Moscow. So the conference hosts and organizers made a remarkable effort for which I am deeply grateful.
Looking into the future, I think the conference could provide a blueprint for other future meetings on similar topics. Perhaps, the ‘On Walls’ informal scholarly network could also be mobilized. A number of young and active scholars across different disciplines are engaged in the study of urban visual ecology, urban visibilities, graffiti, street art, and cultural production; they could be fruitfully brought into the discussion. Disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, human geography, criminology, urban planning, architecture, art history, economics, and law, could all provide important contributions to the study of how urban visualscapes change. ‘Street Art in the Changing City’ appears to have been an excellent kick starter!