Stencils and Graffiti: Making Systemic Violence Visible in Madrid

Walking by different districts in Madrid on my way to work I run into several stencils,  graffiti, and interventions that focus on the cuts in social budgets and on the labor precarization that have been imposed on the people living in the Spanish state.  With the potency inherent to non-authorized cultural production, these pieces make visible what Slavoj Zizek calls systemic or institutionalized violence.

Por Favor and Dos Jotas: Equation. Apodaca, 1 Oct. 2014.

In Violence:  Six Sideways Reflections (2008) Zizek argues that it is in the circulation of capital–in the “self-propelling metaphysical dance of

Esténciles de Yipi Yipi Yeah en Lavapiés

Si caminas por las calles de Lavapiés con cierta atención a las paredes, de seguro te toparás con las intervenciones urbanas de Yipi Yipi Yeah.  Un buen número de ellas consiste en esténciles colocados estratégicamente que dialogan con su contexto social y urbano en maneras que comentan sobre los efectos sociales de los proyectos económicos neoliberales y neo-conservadores en Madrid.  Tomemos la figura de  tamaño real de una monja que camina elevada sobre el suelo como si en medio de un sueño, acercándose a una máquina expendedora de preservativos en la Calle de Sombrerete:

Según Yipi Yipi Yeah, el esténcil de la monja pretende llamar la atención sobre el hecho insólito de

Yipi Yipi Yeah: Stencils in Lavapiés

If you walk down the streets of Lavapiés paying attention to its walls, you will most likely run into Yipi Yipi Yeah‘s urban interventions.  A number of them are strategically located stencils that dialogue with their social and urban context in ways that comment on the social effects of the neoliberal and neo-conservative economic projects in Madrid.  Take the stenciled figure of a life-size nun, walking on air as if in a dream, reaching out to a condom dispenser in Calle Sombrerete:

According to Yipi Yipi Yeah, the stenciled nun seeks to call attention to the astonishing fact that

Alturas de Madrid / Heights of Madrid

When walking in the streets of Madrid, make sure to look up.  The sections of the walls beyond hand reach are  spots favorited by street artists to put paste-ups, plates, and posters,  eluding this way the Ayuntamiento’s zeal for removing sprayed street art.  Here is a brief selection :

Yipi Yipi Yeah: hot dog.  Wolf:  space

Por Favor and Yipi Yipi Yeah in Lavapiés

Por Favor:  Tiananmen Surf.

Por Favor: Nurse.

Yipi Yipi Yeah:  Invader.  Por Favor: Tiananmen Surf and Nurse blowing bubbles.

Lavapiés. 11 May, 2014.