Vandalised facade and bicycle in Hamburg

Vandalism on a street sign

Vandalism

Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction ofor damage to public or private property.[1]

The term includes property damage, such as graffiti anddefacement directed towards any property withoutpermission of the owner. The term finds its roots in anEnlightenment view that the Germanic Vandals were auniquely destructive people.

EtymologyAs a crime

ExamplesPoliticalMotivesReaction of authoritiesCybervandalism

DefacementAs art

Graphic design

See alsoReferencesOther ReferencesBibliographyExternal linksSee also

The Vandals, an ancient Germanic people, are associated with senseless destruction as a result of their sackof Rome under King Genseric in 455. During the Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, while the Goths andVandals were blamed for its destruction. The Vandals may not have been any more destructive than otherinvaders of ancient times, but they did inspire English poet John Dryden to write, Till Goths, and Vandals,a rude Northern race, Did all the matchless Monuments deface (1694). However, the Vandals didintentionally damage statues, which may be why their name is associated with the vandalism of art. Theterm Vandalisme was coined in 1794 by Henri Grégoire, bishop of Blois, to describe the destruction ofartwork following the French Revolution. The term was quickly adopted across Europe. This new use of

Contents

Etymology

The Vandals sacking Rome

Vandalised park bench in Zarqa

Vandalized shooting stand inGermany

the term was important incolouring the perception ofthe Vandals from later LateAntiquity, popularising thepre-existing idea that theywere a barbaric group witha taste for destruction.[2]

Historically, vandalism hasbeen justified by painterGustave Courbet asdestruction of monuments

symbolizing "war and conquest". Therefore, it is often done as anexpression of contempt, creativity, or both. Courbet's attempt,during the 1871 Paris Commune, to dismantle the Vendômecolumn, a symbol of the past Napoleon III authoritarian Empire,was one of the most celebrated events of vandalism. Nietzschehimself would meditate after the Commune on the "fight againstculture", taking as example the intentional burning of the TuileriesPalace on 23 May 1871. "The criminal fight against culture is only the reverse side of a criminal culture"wrote Klossowski after quoting Nietzsche.[3]

In a proposal to the International Conference for Unification of Criminal Law held in Madrid in 1933,Raphael Lemkin envisaged the creation of two new international crimes (delicta juris gentium): the crime ofbarbarity, consisting in the extermination of racial, religious, or social collectivities, and the crime ofvandalism, consisting in the destruction of cultural and artistic works of these groups.[4] The proposal wasnot accepted.

Private citizens commit vandalism when they willfully damage ordeface the property of others or the commons. Some vandalismmay qualify as culture jamming or sniggling: it is thought by someto be artistic in nature even though carried out illegally or withoutthe property owner's permission. Examples include at least somegraffiti art, billboard "liberation", and possibly crop circles.Criminal vandalism takes many forms. Graffiti on public property iscommon in many inner cities as part of a gang culture, where theymight be used as territorial markers.[5]

More serious forms of vandalism that may take place during publicunrest such as rioting can involve the willful destruction of publicand private property. Vandalism per se is sometimes considered oneof the less serious common crimes, but it can become quite seriousand distressing when committed extensively, violently, or as anexpression of hatred and intimidation. In response, localgovernments have adopted various legal measures to prevent vandalism, but research has shown that theconventional strategies employed by the government in response to at least unapproved graffiti are not themost effective.[6]

As a crime

Vandalized seat inside a passengercar on a train.

Armand Călinescu'smemorial with the bronzeplaque stolen and the nameof the assassin written over.

Shopping cart, thrown into awaterway, Netherlands

Examples of vandalism include salting lawns, cutting trees withoutpermission, egg throwing, breaking windows, arson, spraying painton others' properties, tagging, placing glue into locks, tire slashing,keying (scratching) paint, ransacking a property, flooding a houseby clogging a sink and leaving the water running, and pulling upplants from the roots without permission.

In elections, opposing candidates' supporters may engage in"political vandalism" — the act of defacing opponents' political posters,bumper stickers, billboards, and other street marketing material. Althoughthe nature of this material is temporary, its effect can be long-lasting as itmay reflect both negatively and positively on the candidate whose materialis being vandalized as well as on the presumed candidate whose supportersare engaging in the vandalism.

In addition, activists may use the tactic of property destruction[7] as meansof protest, e.g. by smashing the windows of banks, shops and governmentinstitutions and setting fire to cars. This often takes place during riots butcan also happen as a stand-alone event, e.g. by animal rights activistsdestroying property owned by farmers, hunters, biotech companies, andresearch facilities and setting free animals (which is sometimes referred toas eco-terrorism by opponents). Vandalism is also a common tactic of blackblocs.

Actions of this kind can be ascribed to anger or envy, or tospontaneous, opportunistic behaviour, possibly for peer acceptanceor bravado in gang cultures, or disgruntlement with the target(victim) person or society. Another common motive is to seekattention, and for personal gain. Opportunistic vandalism of thisnature may also be filmed, the mentality of which can be akin tohappy slapping. The large-scale prevalence of gang graffiti in someinner cities has almost made it acceptable to the societies basedthere, so much so that it may go unnoticed, or not be removed,possibly because it may be a fruitless endeavour, to be graffitied ononce again. Greed can motivate vandalism as can some political ideologies, wish to draw attention toproblems, frustration, even playfulness. Youngsters, the most common vandals, frequently experience lowstatus and boredom. Vandalism enables powerless people to attack those above them, take control andfrighten others. Unpunished vandalism can provide relief which reinforces the behaviour. Vandalism by oneperson can lead to imitation.[8] Teenage boys and men in their 20s are most likely to vandalize, but olderadults and females are also known to sometimes vandalize, with young children occasionally vandalizing,but in a much smaller form, such as making small crayon drawings on walls.

Examples

Political

Motives

Modern graffiti on the Achaemenidera rock relief of Rawansar tomb,Iran

Headless statue in ElyCathedral; ideologicalvandalism during theEnglish Reformation.

Two billboards with the same original content, thebillboard on the right being an example ofsubvertising — vandalizing with a politicalmessage.

Criminological research into vandalism has found that it servesmany purposes for those who engage in it and stems from a varietyof motives. Sociologist Stanley Cohen describes seven differenttypes of vandalism:[9]

1. Acquisitive vandalism (looting and petty theft).2. Peer pressure – Teenagers spend more time away from

home with peers whether they act constructively ordestructively can depend on the contacts they make.Disobeying authority can appear cool.

3. Tactical vandalism (to advance some end other thanacquiring money or property – such as breaking awindow to be arrested and get a bed for the night in a policecell).

4. Ideological vandalism (carried out to further an explicitideological cause or deliver a message).

5. Vindictive vandalism (for revenge).6. Play vandalism (damage resulting from children's games).7. Malicious vandalism (damage caused by a violent outpouring of

diffuse frustration and rage that often occurs in publicsettings).[10] Cohen's original typology was improved upon byMike Sutton[11] whose research led him to add a seventh sub-type of vandalism – Peer Status Motivated Vandalism.[12]

In view of its incivility, punishment for vandalism can be particularly severein some countries. In Singapore, for example, a person who attempts tocause or commits an act of vandalism may be liable to imprisonment for upto 3 years and may also be punished with caning. Vandalism in the UK isconstrued as an environmental crime and may be punished with an ASBO(Anti-Social Behaviour Order).

In the 1990s, former New York City mayor RudolphGiuliani cracked down on "quality of life crimes",including graffiti. NY Parks Commissioner Henry J.Stern described graffiti as "a metaphor for urban decayperhaps best shown in 'A Clockwork Orange'" addingthat "New York City will not be like that".[13]

Cybervandalism is vandalism on the internet. Forexample, vandalism on Wikipedia involves addingquestionable content, removing content, or changing content in order to make it questionable, generallywith the objective of harming Wikipedia's reputation. Forms of online vandalism have been recorded, themost common of which is website defacement. Vandalism on web maps has been called "cartographicvandalism".[14]

Reaction of authorities

Cybervandalism

People defacing the walls ofthe Golconda Fort inHyderabad, India

Defaced coat of arms (probably ofEmmanuel de Rohan-Polduc) inSanta Venera, Malta

Another form of cybervandalism is the creation of malware such as viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware,which can harm computers. A particularly virulent form of cybervandalism is ransomware, which is used toextort money from computer owners, and can even go so far as to carry a destructive malware payload thatharms the system if payment isn't forthcoming within a certain time limit.

Cybervandalism could be said to be a form of creativity and artistry. An example of this was when theCheltenham paint festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, and artists still proceeded to celebrate theirartistry virtually.[15]

Defacement is a type of vandalism that involves damaging the appearanceor surface of something. The object of damage may be architecture, books,paintings, sculpture, or other forms of art.[16]

Examples of defacement include:

Marking or removing the part of an object (especially images, bethey on the page, in illustrative art or as a sculpture) designed tohold the viewers' attentionScoring a book cover with a bladeSplashing paint over a painting in a gallerySmashing the nose of a sculpted bustDamaging or chiselling off sculpted coats of armsAltering the content of web sites and publicly editablerepositories to include nonsensical or whimsical references

Iconoclasm led to the defacement of many religious artworks.

Though vandalism in itself is illegal, it is often also an integral partof modern popular culture. French painter Gustave Courbet'sattempt to disassemble the Vendôme column during the 1871 ParisCommune was probably one of the first artistic acts of vandalism,celebrated at least since Dada performances during World War I.The Vendôme column was considered a symbol of the recentlydeposed Second Empire of Napoleon III, and dismantled as such.

After the burning of the Tuileries Palace on 23 May 1871,Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche himself meditated about the "fightagainst culture", wondering what could justify culture if it were to be destroyed in such a "senseless"manner (the arguments are: culture is justified by works of art and scientific achievements; exploitation isnecessary to those achievements, leading to the creation of exploited people who then fight against culture.In this case, culture cannot be legitimised by art achievements, and Nietzsche writes: "I {also} know whatit means: fighting against culture". After quoting him, Klossowski writes: "The criminal fight againstculture is only the reverse side of a criminal culture".[3]

As destruction of monument, vandalism can only have sense in a culture respecting history, archeology -Nietzsche spoke of monumental history. As destruction of monumental history, vandalism was assured along life (as Herostratus proved): Performance art could make such a claim, as well as Hakim Bey's poetic

Defacement

As art

A sticker reading "The HELLwith SHELL" photographedin Michigan in 1973

Traffic signal light vandalismportraying cannabis inBogotá, Colombia

terrorism or Destroy 2000 Years of Culture from Atari Teenage Riot.Gustave Courbet's declaration stated:

Attendu que la colonne Vendôme est un monument dénué detoute valeur artistique, tendant à perpétuer par son expressionles idées de guerre et de conquête qui étaient dans la dynastieimpériale, mais que réprouve le sentiment d’une nationrépublicaine, [le citoyen Courbet] émet le vœu que legouvernement de la Défense nationale veuille bien l’autoriserà déboulonner cette colonne.[17]

('As the Vendôme column is a monument devoid of any artisticvalue, whose expression tends to perpetuate the ideas of warand conquest from the imperial dynasty, but that reject thesentiment of a republican nation, citizen Courbet declares thatthe government of National Defense should allow him todismantle this column.)

Hence, painter Courbet justified the dismantlement of the Vendôme columnon political grounds, downgrading its artistic value. Vandalism poses theproblem of the value of art compared to life's hardships: Courbet thoughtthat the political values transmitted by this work of art neutralized its artisticvalue. His project was not followed; however, on 12 April 1871, theCommune voted to dismantle the imperial symbol, and the column wastaken down on 8 May. After the assault on the Paris Commune by AdolpheThiers, Gustave Courbet was condemned to pay part of the expenses.

In 1974, Norman Mailer glorified the art of vandalism in his essay "TheFaith of Graffiti", which likened tagging in New York City to the work ofGiotto and Rauschenberg. New York Authorities responded by coatingsubway walls with Teflon paint, jailing taggers and requiring hardwarestores to keep spray paint under lock and key.[18]

Tags, designs, and styles of writing are commonplace on clothing, and are an influence on many of thecorporate logos. Many skateparks and similar youth-oriented venues are decorated with commissionedgraffiti-style artwork, and in many others patrons are welcome to leave their own. There is still, however, afine line between vandalism as an artform, as a political statement, and as a crime. Bristol-born guerrillaartist Banksy's claim is that official vandalism is far worse than that perpetrated by individuals, and that heis decorating buildings of no architectural merit.

Defacing could also be one of the techniques that many graphic designers use, by applying their own handwriting on a graphic itself. Sometimes the use of this technique might be mistaken as vandalism to theoriginal work, as exemplified by the work of Stefan Sagmeister, including his Lou Reed CD cover. Aunique use of the defacement technique is the CD cover for A.P.C. by Jean Touitou, where the designerwrote the title, volume number, and date with her own hand writing on the pre-print blank CD. Creativevandalism of this sort is not limited to writing and sketching. For example, the spraying on the KPIST

Graphic design

album Golden coat for MNW Records by Sweden graphic uses gold spray, which may be considered anact of vandalism, but the customer may also appreciate the unicity of each cover that had been sprayed goldin different ways.[19]

Vandalism of artWebsite defacement

1. "Oxford English Dictionary" (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/vandalism). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

2. Merrills and Miles 2010, pp. 9–10.3. See Pierre Klossowski, Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle, first Chapter: What is the value of

culture if those who are exploited by it destroy it? "En sorte qu'il nous faut être bien loin devouloir, du haut de notre sentiment de nous-mêmes, imputer le crime d'un combat contre laculture exclusivement à ces malheureux. Je sais ce que cela veut dire: le combat contre laculture. (...) je me campronnai avec une conviction sérieuse à la valeur métaphysique del'art, lequel ne saurait exister à cause des pauvres gens, mais doit accomplir des missionsplus hautes. Mais, en dépit de mon extrême douleur, je n'étais pas en état de jeter lamoindre pierre à ces profanateurs qui, pour moi, n'étaient que les suppôts de la culpabilitéuniverselle, sur laquelle il y a beaucoup à méditer!" Nietzsche quoted by Klossowski pp.29–30 French edition, who adds: "Le combat criminel contre la culture n'est lui-même quel'envers d'une culture criminelle" ("The criminal fight against culture is only the reverse sideof a criminal culture")

4. Raphael Lemkin: Akte der Barbarei und des Vandalismus als delicta juris gentium (http://www.preventgenocide.org/de/lemkin/anwaltsblatt1933.htm), Anwaltsblatt Internationales(Wien), November 1933.

5. Ley and Cybriwsky 1974.6. J. Scott Armstrong (1978). "The Graffiti Solution" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100620204

806/http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/ideas/pdf/armstrong2/graffiti.pdf) (PDF). TheWharton Magazine. Archived from the original (http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/ideas/pdf/armstrong2/graffiti.pdf) (PDF) on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2012.

7. Is it OK for protesters to damage property? (http://www.newint.org/argument/2011/03/01/is-property-damage-in-protest-justified/), New Internationalist Magazine, issue 440

8. "Psychological Analysis of Vandalism" (https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=70758).

9. Cohen 1973.10. "The Psychological View of Why Children Vandalize" (http://abercia.com/Psychological%20

View.htm).11. "Center for Problem-Oriented Policing | Biographies" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100621

211116/http://www.popcenter.org/bios/Sutton). Popcenter.org. Archived from the original (http://www.popcenter.org/bios/Sutton) on 21 June 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2012.

12. Sutton, Mike (1987) Differential Rates of Vandalism in a New Town: Towards A Theory ofRelative Place. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, October

See also

References

Ballatore, A. (2014), "Defacing the map: Cartographic vandalism in the digital commons",The Cartographic Journal, 51 (3): 214–224, arXiv:1404.3341 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.3341), doi:10.1179/1743277414y.0000000085 (https://doi.org/10.1179%2F1743277414y.0000000085), S2CID 1828882 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:1828882)Cohen, S. (1973), Ward, C. (ed.), Property destruction: Motives and meanings, London:Architectural Press, pp. 23–53Goldstein, A. (1996), The Psychology of Vandalism, New York: Plenum PressLey, D. & Cybriwsky, R. (1974), "Urban Graffiti as Territorial Markers", Annals of theAssociation of American Geographers, 64 (4): 491–505, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1974.tb00998.x (https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1467-8306.1974.tb00998.x)Merrills, A.; Miles, R. (2010), The Vandals, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-1-4051-6068-1Williams, M. (2006), Virtually Criminal: Crime, Deviance, and Regulation Online., Abington,UK: Taylor & Francis

Chris Hammond. Bank (https://web.archive.org/web/20151224065925/http://www.motinternational.com/artists/bank/). Retrieved 9 March 2016

Media related to Vandalism at Wikimedia CommonsThe Free Dictionary: Vandalism (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vandalism)Merriam Webster: Vandalism (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vandalism)

The dictionary definition of vandalism at Wiktionary

13. Hicks, Jonathan P. (17 November 1994). "Mayor Announces New Assault on Graffiti, CitingIts Toll on City" (https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/17/nyregion/mayor-announces-new-assault-on-graffiti-citing-its-toll-on-city.html). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 8 May 2018.

14. Ballatore 2014.15. "Cheltenham Paint Festival goes virtual during lockdown" (https://creativefolk.co.uk/cheltenh

am-paint-festival-goes-virtual-during-lockdown/). 12 May 2020.16. Library of Congress; Library of Congress. Cataloging Policy and Support Office; Library of

Congress. Subject Cataloging Division; Library of Congress. Office for Subject CatalogingPolicy (1996). Library of Congress subject headings (https://books.google.com/books?id=snIqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1430). Library of Congress. p. 1430. Retrieved 17 November 2012.{{cite book}}: |author2= has generic name (help)

17. "La Colonne Vendôme déboulonnée" (http://www.histoire-image.org/site/etude_comp/etude_comp_detail.php?analyse_id=60) (in French). Retrieved 4 August 2007.

18. "Fine Art, Sí, Vandalism, No" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110514130339/http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/fine-art-si-vandalism-no). Archived from the original (http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/fine-art-si-vandalism-no) on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2008.

19. Odling-Smee Anne (2002) the new handmade graphics: Beyond digital design. RotoVisionSA

Other References

Bibliography

External links

AbuseBroken windows theoryCriminal mischiefGraffitiIconoclasmLibrary book vandalismMalicious mischief

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