ROYALTE

ISSUE 1 - THE PRINCE IS

BORN

2

EDITORIALPower corrupts and absolute power corrupts

absolutely.

Just kidding, power is amazing!

Alise Golovacka, Edgars Spudiņš, Isabella Leandersson, Jānis Pētersons, Nastia Yeremenko, Nathan Hunter, Robin Rönneke Belfrage, Marek Navrátil, Merel Blok, Ieva Vīksne, Mairi Sõelsepp, Jaan Kristjan Utno,

Kārlis Caune, Andre Tamm

Issue brought to you by

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diverse space & royalty

AN EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

From the very beginning of this session you may have noticed quite a few referenc-es about kings, royalty, precious gems and polished manners. Even though it is a pret-ty straightforward theme, we do owe you a brief explanation of the idea behind it.

During the Opening Ceremony you had the chance to meet and greet the lead-ers of the session. But there is a catch to their role and what they represent as a team. The President, Head-Organisers and Editors could easily be perceived as mem-bers of the British royal family. Here’s how.

First of all, we have Kate and Wimmiam, the world’s number one couple. Moreover, we have Diana and Karles – a couple of royal names that should ask for no further explanations. And since every family must have an odd member to it, there is the less-er-known Prince Andrew, who is actually the first British royal to have a Twitter account.

The overall theme of this session is “Create a Base for Diverse Space”. Each of us, of course, will have a different opinion on what this base should look like, but we will nevertheless of-fer you at least a few of the possible answers in the pages that you are about to read.

For hundreds of years, monarchies in Eu-rope were assumed to be the strongholds of the continent, with royalty, tradition, strong armies and ceremonial rituals serving as cornerstones on the political and social or-der. If we look at the modern history and its development, the idea of democracy is still in its young days, while monarchy and royal families have ruled for much longer.

This is a fact that we tend to forget at times, but we ought not to – there most certainly is a reason why this political arrangement could persist for so long. We still do not know what the future holds for us and per-haps living life the royal way has more to offer than we tend to think. There is some-thing captivating in the idea – just look at the resonance the birth of the royal baby brought about! So here is our chance to look back and give the idea a second chance.

While on our way towards creating pre-con-ditions for a diverse space, we must realise that a car cannot ride without a rear-view mirror. So may the royal strength be with you and may it guide you through the session.

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SQUAT TILL YOU DROP

In Berlin, an artist moved into a vacant building that later became an art house called Kunsthaus Tacheles in 1990. It con-tains over a hundred artist-created galler-ies, workshops and even a night club. An open air exhibition was permanently held in the garden outside. Morritz, a former resident, says: “We were very self-suf-ficient. We gave workshops at low cost and played movies. You could feel the creative vibe as soon as you entered.” That was until some time ago when the owner announced the eviction of the res-idents. Not only are great art projects de-stroyed by this, but on top of that, about a hundred people will lose their jobs.

Squatting is illegal in most countries and also somewhat controversial. But in spite of that, creative people and activ-ists still find ways to start up innovative projects and provide housing for those in need. So whenever you are desperate for a place to live, you know what to do.

- Merel Blok

Caracas, Venezuela. At first glance the Tower of David appears to be just an un-finished building. But if you take a closer look, you will find a world of its own. The skyscraper – intended to be one of the highest bank buildings in Latin America – is home for over 700 families. After the bank that owned the tower had gone bankrupt in 1994, it became a haven for prostitutes and addicts. This situation changed when families unable to find housing in the capital city of Venezuela began a construction project inside the building five years ago. Nowadays, the community inside the tower pays for their water and electricity legally. Although the act of squatting is illegal, over a thousand people are provided with cheap housing.

The Tower of David is just one of many examples of successful squatting pro-jects. Squatting became a well-known concept during the sixties. Increas-ing poverty and a lack of proper living space made young people squat in va-cant properties. Squatting has evolved a lot since then. Great projects and initia-tives have been born thanks to squatting.

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Yalil is roughly 35, a short squat man with a receding hairline and hawk nose. His gaze is steady and half of the communication between us is ac-complished through enthusiastic gestur-ing. I would not have met this man if not for a community garden. Yalil and I just seem to be too different. We are not however and neither of us would have realised this if not for the garden.

Urban farming is not just about a hip-sterish desire to grow your own food, it is more than just a trend. For some it is a way of making ends meet, for others a way of changing your life and surround-ings. The urban farm creates a shrine of beauty in a stern, sometimes even des-olate, environment; the patch of green-ery inevitably attracts interest. Ties are formed – in the community garden prej-udices and social strata are broken down.

URBAN FARMING

Segregation has decreased visibly in the neighbourhood where I live since the ur-ban farming project started. Old Swedish ladies suddenly talk with young Somali women and the man who has suffered a stroke receives help with the planting. Even the juvenile criminals that show no respect for neither private nor public prop-erty leave the urban farm alone when on a rampage through the neighbourhood.

Though the greatest and maybe the most unexpected effect of urban farm-ing is how it unites the people around the farm, it also fills a vital role in the development of a society that tackles the challenges of climate change. Ur-ban farming helps lower the depend-ence on industrial agriculture – a sector which is heavily dependent on fossil fu-els – and reduces the emissions caused by the transportation of food products.

Finally, urban farms create spaces for meetings and conversations that go be-yond the ordinary. They are spaces of calm where you as an individual can form the world around you. If only by growing a zucchini, it is a way to claim a piece of the cityscape. The garden diversifies the urban space beyond housing, shopping malls and office buildings; it is a statement, sometimes even a bold one. Do you know how good homegrown vegetables taste?

- Robin Rönneke Belfrage

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1) How do you deal witH problems?a) I ask someone else to deal with them for me b) I feel depressed and yell at my superiorsc) I use my talents in order to make the best of the situationd) I joke about it to hide its effects on me

2) your favourite food?a) I must say that I find it hard to resist a nicely cooked swanb) What food?c) Whatever the posh are having, just slightly less poshd) Whatever I can juggle

3) tHere is a terrible bread sHortage, wHat is your reaction?a) No problem, I’ll just have cakes instead. b) They’re all saying it’s my fault! (I panic)c) Well, they’re all saying it’s someone else’s fault… (I don’t care)d) I find that I have to put my “we’re all going to die from star vation” jokes to early retirement.

ROYAL

QUIZ

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Who do you think you are?Are you a peasant, jester, merchant or even a monarch?

- Isabella Leandersson & Nastia Yeremenko

quiz

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4) How would you describe your style?a) Impeccable. I am truly a trendsetterb) All I have is hand-me-downs, does that make me hipster?c) I like to look like I’m coming directly from work, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t look goodd) It’s a bit flashy…

5) How far back can you trace you ancestry?a) Oh, my favourite question. Let’s see. It all started with my great-great-great-grandfather George…b) Ancestry? Is that a fruit?c) Further than you couldd) Oh, my aunt was really odd, you know, once she…

6) wHicH is your favourite pet? a) A pug to keep me warm in bedb) Does a cow count? c) A guard dogd) A parrot for comedic effect

7) favourite part of an eyp ses-sion? a) GA (everyone listens to me)b) Coffee breaks (free food)c) Committee work. I get to show my knowledge and talentd) Teambuilding. A few jokes, some funny. moves and I’m the most popular one around

9) wHat is tHe one tHing in life you wisH you Had more of? a) Powerb) Foodc) Materialsd) Fame

8) wHat do you wisH you Had less? a) Enemiesb) Droughtsc) Customers who “forget” their debtsd) Critics who are entirely wrong and who have always seemed kind of stupid anyway. What do I care about their stupid reviews? Arghh!

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ANSWERSSo, who are you? Time to see.

Mostly A’s: Well golly gee, I never. What a surprise, what an honor yer majesty. Surely your deep self-appreciation will inspire us all.

Mostly B’s: Oh dear… Seems like we’ve got a peasant on our hands. Now just stay there and I’ll draw a bath for you all right? Don’t move…

Mostly C’s: The finest of cloths, the sturdiest of weapons and the nicest cuts of meat can all be trusted to come from a merchant’s skillful hands.

Mostly D’s: How lovely! A little jokester crawls out of the shadows. Tell us a joke, ey, will ya?

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Start by walking around in a forest full of people looking for fresh milk right from a cow’s udder and find yourself in a giant hogweed field at the end. This is nothing impossible in Latvia, es-pecially during an event taking place at the moment – “LabaDaba” 2013.

At the same time as the 11th National Conference of EYP Latvia there are sev-eral events taking place all across Latvia, but one of them is worth taking notice of no matter what. It is the “LabaDaba” live music festival which meets an au-dience of at least 20 000 people per year, making it the second most attend-ed annual event in the country. The most popular one is “Positivus”, which takes place at the end of July in Salacgrīva.

WHAT ARE

YOU MISSING?

- Jānis Pētersons

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The one aspect differentiating both of these music related events from the rest is the approach to the needs of the au-dience. If you are looking for an occur-rence that is striving for the quality of an internationally recognised popular mu-sic festival, “Positivus” is the place to go since artists such as “Imagine Dragons”, “Sigur Rós” and “Noah and the Whale” are performing there. However, if you are looking for something to help you look into the Latvian culture without any se-rious expectations from the musical cov-erage, “LabaDaba” is your best choice.

The festival takes place at the begin-ning of August in Sigulda, Latvia. The audience of 20’000 to 25’000 heads is not an obstacle to meeting up with the most popular Baltic bands. Some of the headliners are “The Toast-ers”, “Jumprava” and “Satellites LV”.

Even though “LabaDaba” is considered an indie music festival, it attracts a wider and wider audience every year. The key to its success is the general feel of the whole event. Despite being a major festival in Latvia, it still manages to maintain the atmosphere of a minor one. The whole event is an opportunity to discover new horizons, meaning an innovative approach to not only music, but lifestyle as well.

In the festival one is given the possibility to enjoy music from three stages, which are all connected to the theme of nature. The festival’s name itself means GoodNa-ture. This year there are Eža (Hedgehog’s), Suņa (Dog’s), Kraukļa (Crow’s) and Lāča (Bear’s) stages that gather a total num-ber of 65 bands from all around the world that categorised by music style. Eastern European artists are mostly the headliners.

Considering that this year’s festival prob-ably will not be attended by any LNC`13 members, a reflection of “LabaDaba” 2012 might encourage one to visit it next year. The theme of it was “Nature Inside of You”, thus empowering sever-al non-musical activities connected to it. Such fun attractions as having one’s full body spray-painted, one’s chest cast in plaster or even enjoying a lubricated water slide into a pond. It is all about atmosphere and perception of life during these two days. And the pursuit of happi-ness continues when it comes to music.

Mostly the bands playing are represent-ing the music style SKA, which is a com-bination of reggae, jazz, blues and rock. Some of the SKA bands this year are “The Toasters”, “Oranžās Brīvdienas” or “The Dancing Clouds”. Another vital part of the musical format is the electronic DJ tent – “The Crows` Nest”. Headliners there are “Funky Breakout”, “Biorne” and “Viesach”.

To sum it all up, “LabaDaba” is something different from the usual festivals because of its focus on innovation. By doing so, it managed to grow into an important cor-nerstone of the Latvian festival culture.

Free yourself up, find your rubber boots and go for the milk, as I did. The adventure is calling you and if you are looking for one, feel free to join me at “LabaDaba” 2014.

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It’s Belarus where I come fromBut I can hardly call it home‘cause it’s disturbed, but still uniqueAnd that is why it’s hard to speak

Of all those things that make it suchBut I will try it, very much

It is symbolic, there’s no doubtAnd it’s reflected in the crowdSo I will mention all of itAnd show it, while you just sit

First, the aurocks comes to mindAn extinct bison, one of kindIt lives in “Pushcha” near BrestTo save it we do our best

As far as birds are here concernedWe cherish storks what’re being bornOn fields of ears and bluettsThe sights that give you no regrets

The land is beauty, that’s for sureWith lakes and rivers – we are secureBut some of lands are very harsh

Because they all consist of marshIt’s our burden and a giftIt’s dangerous and it’s a thriftFor nature of the whole EuropeAnd atmospheric cleaning-up

And as we’re human we got to eatWe have potatoes, rape and beetAnd as all those require fieldsWe have the tractors for these needs

I mean we use them quite a lotFor harvests mainly, but they’re boughtBy foreign companies as wellSo country profits, I can tell

But don’t you think of us like thisWe’re not some peasants: ‘cause we ceaseThe day, the history and moreWe come in deeds as well – folklore

Our history is full of namesOf heroes, as them country claims

BELARUS

- Nastia Yeremenko

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Who sacrifices their lives in warFor mutual peace and nation’s core.We struggle through science graniteAnd we succeed in all of itEspecially in IT techniquesWith geniuses who simply rock it.

But I myself is more inwardI cherish culture and the worldOf art and studies and ethnicsThat’s why I’ll mention some of this

Our nation is controversial We love to dance and sing, for sureBut out songs are sad and quite/like cryWhile dances make us feel alive

We jump, rotate, we bend and stepWe do the moves backward, aheadWe shake the shoulders, nod the head,We shout a lot. Like we’re mad

I love our culture, it’s off-streamIt’s funny, reckless, but worth seeingBut modern nation is a bitJust different, and even split

Because it’s what all people sayWe’re happy in the way we stayAnd it is mentioned on TVThat our country’s best and free

And that is where my doubt appearsBecause my eyes don’t trust my earsI see the people, I can feelThat’s something wrong, and it’s big deal

As the people we are uniqueWe build the nation that can’t speakWe’re quiet, sad and tolerantAnd we are not allowed to clap

Can you imagine? Just like thisThere’s no clapping in the streetsBut let’s not concentrate on worseLet’s state the things that make us worth

Take me as an example hereI’m typical and sincereI represent here BelarusI гэтым усё ж я ганарусь!

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a thouGHT ON freedom

It’s another day in Malnava, I’m sitting in front of a com-puter and thinking of freedom. This time ‘freedom’ is not meant as a moment when a slave is freed of his master. It’s meant as being free in your being, free in your mind, body and spirit. Gradually a thought rises - How does onereally step into the shoes of freedom?

Firstly, some knowledge and understanding of the term is needed before one can delve deeply into the path of be-coming free. When looking upon it, ‘Freedom’ in its essence is a very abstract word. In most cases it is quite unclear what kind of animal ‘freedom’ is and what it eats in winter. Browsing through online dictionaries, the Oxford one speaks to me the most in this particular case. One of the Oxford definitions: ‘Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.’

Now, some of you might see a contradiction here. “To act the way we want” would mean that our actions, spoken words and thoughts are constantly being held hostage by our emotions, so they are not actually free, right? It seems as a misunderstanding that arises too often, when thinking of the idea of freedom.

I view freedom as the ability to improvise, the chance to be creative and go your unique way in a certain frame. Yes, a frame, because without it, nothing would be achieved. You’ve probably heard the saying – „thinking out of the box”. There’s a reason why the box is mentioned and why the saying isn’t just „Thinking out of plain nothing”. The same way a house is built on a solid foundation, we think out of the box by using it as our foundation for thoughts. Therefore, ‘Freedom’ means not only the creative area out-side the box, but also the very box itself.

- Edga

rs Spud

iņš

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Once the idea of freedom is about the blank space in the frame, one should learn how to use the most of the space available. This can be achieved by simple, but often forgotten tips. Just be laid-back, relax and have as much fun as you can. Because only if the person is ready to use all of the space in a certain restricted area, feeling great and not restricted in the process, can he truly be called free.

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Did you hear that the Queen Elisa-beth II ordered Prince Harry's lordy parts to be cut off due to his recent naked dance in Las Vegas?

As scary and messed up as it might sound, that would be the reality in the 16th century. But to be honest, it is exciting to read about kings cutting off fingers or heads of their people. So, let’s have a short look at the most brutal rulers of history.

Let me first introduce you to Ivan IV, the tsar of Russia. Normally, only his enemies would be on the list of execution and torture. The only problem was that in his paranoid thoughts everyone was an enemy. What did Ivan do to them? Noth-ing much, really – boiled them, fed them to bears and wolves or buried them alive. At least he spent a lot of father-son time watching those executions. When Ivan was in a really good mood, he tortured the ''perpetrators'' himself. His ultimate hobby is said to be removing peo-ple's ribs with hot pinchers.

I personally find operating body parts with pinchers a bit nasty, but a countess who lived in the Car-pathian Mountains – Elizabeth Ba-

THE BRUTAL HOBBIES

OF THE ROYAL- Alise Golovacka

15

thory – would not even blink. Her passion was girls – especially their blood on her skin. She used to relax in blood baths having a small bite of a virgin‘s flesh. Elizabeth’s idea behind this was that blood makes your skin fresher and younger. She even made the girls bite themselves and eat their own flesh. Elizabeth is also famous for her invention – a cylindrical cage with spikes inside that is too narrow to sit and too small to stand in.

Her strange crave for blood was re-warded with a nickname – Countess Dracula. Stories tell that she actual-ly had an affair with the real prince Dracula who was not exactly inno-cent himself. Besides using people for bayonet practice, hanging them by their tongues on iron hooks, burning them or cutting, Vlad Drac-ula also loved to have a horse at-tached to each of the victim’s legs. Then, a stake was gradually forced into the body through the buttocks until it emerged from the mouth. The less sharp part of the stick was always checked twice so the victim would not die too soon, making it more fun to watch for Vlad.

Royalty can be fun and fancy, but in the aforementioned cases it rep-resented real hell for the people of the 16th century. I really hope Wim – the King of LNC’13 – prefers the more chill activities of today’s roy-al families – drinking tea instead of blood or riding horses instead of us-ing them as torturing devices.

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competitionBECOME A ROYAL

Peasants, this is your chance to gain fame within the session, be crowned a royal and become legendary within EYP!To gain such a spectacular reward you will need to complete a challenging task – solve this cryptic message:

R O _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ using the following letters: yctnlor!araooni

To make this task more fun – and in order to get to know the officials a bit more – there is another task below which shall help reveal the answer. Below there are 8 descriptions of officials and 8 pictures, all with a letter next to them. Pair them up in order to make the cryptic message slightly easier.

This blond, blue-eye

d

chairperson has a fetish

for stripy sh

irts and loves

anything about cycling

and motorbikes. This chair

once hitchhiked through

15 European countries in

14 days. The chair does

not fear danger; danger

fears him (or her).

This organiser is blessed with love-ly green eyes. Her nickname is Lass-ie the Dog and she is a great fan of beer.

With bla

ck hai

r, blu

e

eyes

- this

organi

ser

hasn’t

had cof

fee in

over a

decad

e, ins

tead

this per

son pre

fers a

nice b

lack t

ea with

lots

of sug

ar. Thi

s orga

niser

can als

o do s

ome w

eird

tricks

with her

thum

bs!This chairperson has

arguably the most

amount of facial hair

within the chairs’ team.

This person loves hik-

ing and used to be the

Vice President of the

Riga Student Parlia-

ment.

With brown hair and

hazel eyes, measuring

1m74, this chairper-

son cannot swim or

ride a bike. This chair

refuses to eat meat

and paints for a living

during the summer.

Armed with a smart

pair of glasses and

charm, this member of

the media team usual-ly sleeps with one eye

half open. This person

once laughed for 15

minutes due to a cook-ie falling on the floor.

This blond member of the

media team has relatively

short hair and green eyes.

This person is Swedish,

Italian, German, French

and used to live in Den-

mark. This official is also

the youngest among the

8 officials in this article.

This tall fair-haired person is arguably the most pow-erful person at the ses-sion – what he or she says always goes. This person used to sprint at the na-tional championships, and his or her burning ambi-tion is to become secre-tary general of the UN.

R

Y

L

O

I

A

O

N

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competitionBECOME A ROYAL The quickest way of completing the task is to look

at the pictures, find the officials and ask them all the questions you need to link them to their de-scription.

Remember, the first delegate to show Nathan Hunter (journo) the answer will be crowned a royal and will reach ultimate fame within the session.

O

A

C

R

N

T

O

!

- Nathan Hunter

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Ringolds

THE LIFE AND

LEGEND OF

- Edga

rs Sp

udiņš

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There once was a beggar named Ringold the poorHis face was as flat as a woodcutters boardDaily begging for money, despite being ignored

He had dreams of cheap pleasures he’d never afford

His father had been a drunkard before

His mother was a fan of mead too

So Ringold, without a drip of remorse

Thought that his parents footsteps are the right ones to use

Oh, yes, one more thing, he was not very wiseWhen some local drunkards threatened to beat him up

He thought that they’ll give him fresh beets as a prize Thus, the fact that the townsfolk wished for his demise

was not even close to being a surprise

As time passed by, Ringold got sick and died. No laughing stock left to increase our self-prideNo worries, in just a number of days

Some other lowlife will take on his place

As seasons change so do change the bumsThe march proceeds even without the drumsNatural rotation of scum is needed to be doneto further improve the ‘suave debonair’ slum

The bad marks of Ringold were easily inspected

I bet he had good ones too, but would someone be interested?

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In Europe’s colourful history, royalty has played a big part. Seeing as royalty is a theme of the session I wanted to tell you a bit of about Europe’s rich past. Did you know that there were four consecutive British kings named George? Well, neither did I. Let us take a look at what has shaped our conti-nent.

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages saw many kings and kingdoms. At one point Ireland had 150 kings of various importance. It was in the beginning of the period that a rift between the west-ern and eastern parts Europe, previously united by the Ro-man Empire, was created. When Christianity started to spread throughout the ‘Old

World’, the eastern part used Greek as the language for re-ligion whereas Latin was used in the west. Later, differenc-es between the two branch-es became greater than the similarities. The religion split into Roman Catholic (Western Europe) and Orthodox (East-ern Europe) churches. Charle-magne (or Charles the Great) was a French king who, after inheriting the throne under un-conventional circumstances, in the early Middle Ages created a great empire. He is also the most recent common ancestor to all Europeans. You heard it here first, folks!

During the Middle Ages there was also something called feu-dalism. Kings and Lords could give some of their land and protection to someone in ex-

change for military service. This person was called a vas-sal. The king or lord could thus call his vassals to a council before making important de-cisions. The feudal times also saw a lot of political instability. Lords would lose their land to others in fights for power and vassals would have more than one lord.

The Elizabethan era

The Elizabethan era is what is often referred to as the golden age in English history. This was the era when national pride was born, when Shakespeare was still composing and peace pre-vailed. The Church of England, independent from Rome, was established, temporarily calm-ing the waters between Cath-olics and Protestants. During

THE TIME OF

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this period England sought to establish colonies around the world. The Queen sent out ships to Africa in order to seize treasure from Spain - England’s enemy at the time. Later she also overlooked the establish-ment of the colony of Virginia. Queen Elizabeth, after whom the era is named, was quite the talk of the town during this period. She was never married, and later in life she bragged about “living and dying a vir-gin”. She would say how she was married to her kingdom and her subjects as a reason for staying unwed. The long peri-ods of stability under her rule of England made it possible for the English to be introduced to foreign goods. The potato, for example!

The Enlightenment

Ever picked up an encyclopae-dia? Well the man who had the idea was called Denis Diderot and he got arrested because of it. His work was so contro-versial that the court banned it in 1752. Although Diderot was experiencing troubles because of censorship, political turmoil would soon change that. The church, which promoted cen-sorship, was getting weaker. Many new books with different views on humanity, freedom and politics were printed. Just like the encyclopaedia, they stirred the pot and brought forth new ideas.

England introduced parliamen-tarism around the year 1710 and Sweden subsequently circa 1720. During this period peo-

ple’s views on kings changed. The feudalistic “divine rights of kings” changed into the philos-ophy of “consent to be gov-erned”. The philosophy was outlined by another big name, John Locke. He presented the idea that humans were born as blank slates (crudely trans-lated from “Tabula Rasa”) and that life then shaped them. By saying this he was questioning an old royal tradition, namely the birthrights that the royals enjoyed.

Though this was but a small peek at the monster that’s hid-ing under the weathered sofa of Europe, I hope it has left you slightly curious and with a greater understanding of the history behind you.

- Isabella Leandersson

THE TIME OF

LORDSKINGS f

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Crimin

ally

Imagine going to the London Zoo and entering the penguin enclo-sure. And then imagine painting “We’re bored of fish” in seven foot letters on the wall. Or think of swimming towards a bridge pillar and stencilling a portrait of yourself on it saying “Stony”. As unreal-istic as it may seem, it is possible if you’re a graffiti artist.

The man behind the penguin-stunt is a mystery. Nobody knows his real name or age. Nearly no one has ever seen him in person. But his art is sold for up to a million Euros and is visible all over the world. The artist is called Banksy and a favourite of Boris (19), who’s an art student and the creator of Stony-portrait. “Banksy really shows that graffiti is a serious form of art. He makes political statements, provokes people and brightens up ugly walls.”

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creative

But Boris also sees the ugly side of graffiti. “A lot of teens consider themselves artists by making an ugly tag and randomly spraying it everywhere. Believe me: you’re not. Being a graffiti artist means that you pick the right place to paint on and make a creative, new concept. Randomly writing your name on a wall is not art, dude.”These so-called tags are also the main reason of the negative pub-lic attitude towards graffiti. People mostly associate graffiti with failed tags and single-coloured words sprayed on concrete. Yet, if the artist makes an effort to create something new, graffiti can ac-tually improve the environment. “Graffiti should be taken seriously, for it is becoming a real form of art.”

- Merel

Blok

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ORGANISED WITH SUPPORT OF:

VSK.5.