Saturday, October 6, 2007

A more lenient London council?


Someone from London sent Wooster Collective this scan of a survey that is currently being conducted amongst local residents by Tower Hamlets (Brick Lane's and most of ESP's) Council.

It looks as if the Council is considering keeping and preserving some of the iconic street art that graces the walls of London's East End. Clearly all of this is a reaction to the growing acceptance of Banksy's work that lead to the Bristol City Council holding a public debate and asking residents to determine the fate of a prominent Banksy piece in Bristol.

It's an interesting approach that certainly shows a shift in how cities are now dealing with the public's growing acceptance of street art. However, if you look closely at the small thumbnail images the Council provides in the questions, you can see a nicely painted door by Eine, followed by a door full of tags. If you ask me, of course tags are gonna be found to be offensive to local residents. They should have showed more murals/pieces instead. A great example of how the government only seems to do things in half-measures.