Disentangling city tagging

Abstract

Public spaces are a medium of communication, not only verbal, but also visual. Since the beginning of abstract thinking, humans have tagged walls and other surfaces with different motives and expectations. Nowadays, old and new tags coexist in our streets, telling us all about daily life. Be they official, commercial, informal, radical, on poster, neon lights or paint, they all reflect a voice and serve as a medium of expression and communication that we could disentangle from an archaeological approach. During Archaeological Dialogues 2018 in Athens, we conducted a pilot mapping to develop the methodology of this experience that we want to share, and possibly extend. Therefore, this paper will show the methods and results of a preliminary mapping of tags in several Athenian streets, with an aim to demonstrate the value of this approach to better understand social dynamics within cities and the reality/-ies of contemporary (and past) citizens.