Galeri Tiga Hari: Action of Participatory Art

Abstract

A city as a physical entity and symbolic construct uses advertising to expand its presence amongst its inhabitants. Meanwhile in some spaces, the city is enriched with various forms of expression such as graffiti, which has become urban symbols. However, the city government banned graffiti presence all around the city. Which leads to the question, how do graffiti artists, and its audience respond if presented with a blank canvas in a gallery environment? A work is a process which involves the cooperation of several parties and therefore, the methodological approach used in this study is phenomenological paradigm approach. Gallery Tiga Hari which is a gallery within a gallery provides a blank canvas like the walls of the city to facilitate messages that can be conveyed to its citizens and in effect provides a participatory art which engages the artist and the viewers in one space. The exhibition managed to engage visitors by visualizing the artist’s work in a participatory manner, by participating in the graffiti act themselves. The gallery is no longer the exclusive property of established artists, but as a means to reclaim the city spaces for residents of the city itself.

Key word: Graffiti, space, expression and townspeople.