‘NAME WRITING IN PUBLIC SPACE’

Informal name writing in public spaces is a time-honoured practice, probably as old as writing itself. From children and anonymous labourers to prominent authors, politicians or archaeologists, people of all kinds and eras have felt the urge to symbolise their existence in a particular place and time by leaving a personal trace for other people to see.

This practice has played a particularly visible role in different points in history, such as Ancient Rome and Romantic Europe. It has served as a cartographic tool and as a way to keep track of people in unexplored landscapes. It has been used as a symbolic weapon in wars. And, in the last century, it acquired unprecedented intensity and became the central feature of several full-fledged folk cultures throughout the globe.

The most sophisticated of these cultures is the graffiti tradition that developed in the subways of New York City during the 1970’s and has later become a part of the landscape of most cities worldwide. By influence of this tradition, name writing is today generally referred to with the slang term “tagging”.

The Tag Conference aims to foster the discussion about tagging of all eras, about its nature, its meaning and its history, and about the diverse tagging traditions and cultures that exist and have existed. The conference is open to anthropologists, art historians, archaeologists, philosophers, geographers, urbanists, calligraphers, artists and other intellectuals or aficionados with an interest in the field.

TOPICS

The Tag Conference welcomes presentations about a range of topics including, but not limited to, the following:

Modern tagging cultures

Theoretical, aesthetic, historical or anthropological enquiries into tagging cultures, such as the following: The New York tagging culture and its reinterpretations throughout the world. The ‘pixação’ and ‘xarpi’ cultures of Brazil. The ‘flechero’ culture of Madrid. The ‘ganchos’ culture of Monterrey. The ‘trepes’ culture of Tijuana. The punk-originated tagging culture of Amsterdam. North America’s ‘boxcar art’. The ‘placasos’ culture of LA street gangs.

Tagging as a calligraphic practice

The tools, materials, surfaces, methodologies and graphic references of different tagging cultures. How these elements give shape to each culture’s calligraphic styles. The design and building of customised and DIY writing tools and materials as ways to solve calligraphic problems related to surface, reach and permanence.

Tagging as a spatial and time-based practice

The series of tags as a network spread through space and time. The relation of tagging and architecture. Tagging as a way for the individual to relate to the built environment. Tagging as a tool for control of the territory for street gangs.

Tagging as cartographic tool

and as a way to keep track of people across large expanses of territory: Daniel Boone and the tagging of North American pioneers. El Morro, Signature Rock and other traditional tagging sites in the North American colonial routes. Shepherds, early hobos, hitchhikers. Other related cases.

Tagging as symbolic weapon in wars

Notorious cases such as the tomb of Tutankhamun or the Reichstag in Berlin. The case of ‘Kilroy was here’. Other related cases.

Tagging as a marking of a fleeting relation to a place (‘I was here’)

Ttagging on mountaintops, caves or catacombs, on trees and rocks along routes and paths, on touristic spots, and on other symbolically charged places. Tagging on bus stops, surfaces next to queues in public services, in waiting rooms and public toilets, and other mundane places.

Tagging as a marking of a sustained relation to a place

Tagging in military bases and places of stationing. Tagging in prisons. Tagging in the workplace, on school desks and gym lockers.

Tagging as a rite of passage

The tagging tradition of the Spanish ‘quintos’. The ‘vítores’ tradition in Spanish universities in the XX Century and before. Other related traditions.

Tagging in history

Tagging in the Classical era. Renaissance-era tagging on Roman archaeological findings. Tagging as a part of Romantic tourism. Other cases.

Name-writing personalities

Joseph Kyselak, Restif de la Bretonne, Arthur Stace ‘Eternity’, Tsang Tsou Choi, Peter-Ernst Eiffe, Profeta Gentileza, Pray, Al Jolson, Zhang Dali, Toniolo, Melina Riccio, Oz, @rtist, Alain Rault and related personalities.

Slogan-based tagging of 1970’s Brazil

‘’Celacanto provoca maremoto’, ‘Gônha mó brêu’, ‘Hendrix Mandrake Mandrix’ and related cases.

Representations of tagging

Tags as displayed in movies, record covers, comics, literature and popular culture in general, particularly before 
the 1970’s.

Tagging and technology

Research about tagging that uses computing technologies, databases or robotics.

The relation of tagging with other forms of public graphic identity

Tagging as a reflection of advertising and of other forms of official name-writing in public space. Baudrillard’s reading of tagging as semiological warfare. Tagging with images, from street art ‘bombing”’ (stencils, stickers, paste-ups) to the paint patches of ‘graffiti vigilantes’.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 30 April 2020.

Send abstracts to thetagconference@gmail.com.

Abstracts must be under 1500 characters long. The submission must include a description of the submitter’s research background. Abstracts must be written in English. All presentations will be delivered in English. Each presentation will be allocated a slot of 30 minutes including Q&A.

The list of accepted abstracts will be communicated in May 2020.

Participation in the conference is free. The organisation cannot cover travel expenses for presenters. There is a limited number of accommodation grants for applicants lacking institutional support.

The Tag Conference welcomes the participation of non-scholars, and will consider any alternative presentational format such as panel debates, artist discussions, photography or video.

TEAM

Executive Committee
PhD Javier Abarca, independent researcher (ES)
PhD Orestis Pangalos, independent researcher (GR)

Production
Unlock Book Fair
Pietro Rivasi (IT)

Director
Javier Abarca (ES)

Media partners
MoCu magazine – Ass. Cult. Stòff
Pervenio

Poster photograph: street calligraphy by Alain Rault (Rouen, France) courtesy of Siska photographies—facebook.com/alainraultart