CSAB - Uniroma3

CENTRO STUDI ARCHIVIO BANKSY

Banksy, The Mild Mild West, 1999, acrylics and spraycan on brick wall

Intangible Cultural Heritage

The graffiti heritage of Bristol and its role in the identity of the city

Committee for recognition of the Bristol graffiti scene in the Unesco Intangible Heritage list.

Est. Jan 2025
Contact: stefano.antonelli@banksystudies.org

1. Goal

This self-appointed committee aims to bring together all those who have an interest in engaging in the activity of producing the required documentation to apply, by March 31, 2026, for Unesco recognition of Bristol graffiti scene’s contribution to the cultural identity of the city, by inscribing Bristol’s graffiti scene in the Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

2. Background

2.1 We all agree that Bristol’s graffiti heritage represents a significant contribution to the city’s cultural identity.

2.2 We all agree that Bristol’s graffiti heritage is endangered.

2.2.1 Bristol’s graffiti heritage is both tangible and intangible.

2.3 Promoter of this initiative is Stefano Antonelli. Why is an Italian promoting an initiative to safeguard Bristol’s graffiti heritage? Stefano Antonelli is an art curator and scholar in contemporary aesthetics at Roma Tre University in Rome. Interested in Banksy, his attempts to study this artist in a disciplinary way have highlighted the lack of scientific literature and verified information about the artist Banksy. Stefano founded a Banksy research group and archive (CSAB-Uniroma3) in 2019 as a research laboratory of Roma Tre University Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts dept, to start to collect and verify available data about the artist and its activity.

2.4 While Stefano was studying Banksy’s generative context, it became clear just how crucial the graffiti scene has been in shaping Bristol’s identity. Stefano’s attempts to recover and collect information, materials and documents in relation to the Bristol graffiti scene, from which Banksy’s imagery took shape, have highlighted the risk of disappearance of materials and documents capable of testifying, in particular, to the origins of Banksy’s work. Similarly, witnesses to the practices that were in use at the time, and to the relationships with the city and its institutions, are also at risk of disappearing.

2.5 Unesco, as an Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, recognises the importance of the contribution of intangible cultures to the identity of cities, such as graffiti, to the identity of the City of Bristol. By mandate, Unesco also recognises the endangered status of intangible cultures and offers solutions for the safeguarding of such ephemeral cultural heritage.

2.6 In 2024, the German Ministry of Culture and Unesco officially recognised the techno scene’s contribution to Berlin’s cultural identity.
For Bristol to have similar recognition will enable significant funding of cultural activities devoted to the conservation and promotion of graffiti’s intangible cultural heritage, through archives, education, exhibitions, libraries, art galleries, etc.

2.7 The research lab became a research foundation in November 2024.

2.8 Stefano Antonelli toghether With Gianluca Marziani, curated the first Banksy retrospective ever in a museum context in 2016 at Fondazione Roma Museo.
He is also co-author of a monograph on Banksy for Rizzoli International.
He has been in contact with Banksy through Pest Control Office Ltd. since 2014.

3. Organs of the Committee

If the establishment of the committee is successful, in order to pursue the association’s purposes, it will need to be structured into various bodies which will include management and operational entities. The process will also require the involvement of municipal institutions , as well as those at national ministerial level.

Hopefully, the committee will have a board of directors which will have the task of strategic oversight of the institutions, which will include financiers, a scientific committee and the operational offices necessary for the production of any documentation required by UNESCO.

The following is a proposed list of founding members of the Committee:

Stefano Antonelli – Scientific director, CSAB-Uniroma3
Laura D’Angelo (Phd) – Art historian, University of Arkansas Rome Program, Sapienza University, Rome
Elisa Francesconi (Phd) – Art historian, Catania University
Giovanni Argan (Phd) – Art historian, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice
Angelo Argento – Unesco delegate, President of Cultura Italiae
Christopher Chalkley – Founder of People’s Republic of Stokes Croft, Bristol
John Nation – Graffiti historian, Barton Hill Youth Centre, Bristol
Felix Braun – Artist, Bristol
Richard Jones – Publisher, Tangent Books, Bristol

4. What is Intangible Cultural Heritage? (ICH)

On 7 March 2024, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland deposited with the Director-General its instrument of ratification of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (Paris, 17 October 2003).

In accordance with the terms of its Article 34, the aforementioned Convention will come into force with respect to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland three months after the date of the deposit of its instrument, that is to say on 7 June 2024.

The above ratification will allow us to work with the Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage safeguard programme.
See below, the Unesco definition of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

5. Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Article 2 – Definitions

For the purposes of this Convention,
1. The “intangible cultural heritage” means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. For the purposes of this Convention, consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments, as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals, and of sustainable development.

2. The “intangible cultural heritage”, as defined in paragraph 1 above, is manifested inter alia in the following domains:
(a) oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;
(b) performing arts;
(c) social practices, rituals and festive events;
(d) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
(e) traditional craftsmanship.

3. “Safeguarding” means measures aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage, including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and non-formal education, as well as the revitalization of the various aspects of such heritage.

4. “States Parties” means States which are bound by this Convention and among which this Convention is in force.

5. This Convention applies mutatis mutandis to the territories referred to in Article 33 which become Parties to this Convention in accordance with the conditions set out in that Article. To that extent the expression “States Parties” also refers to such territories.

6. Understanding of Unesco ICH programme

Procedure to join Intangible Cultural Heritage list is described in this Unesco website page

7. UK Unesco commission

This is the UK Unesco commission we need to work with: https://icomos-uk.org/

Inside ICOMOS there is a specific committe for ICH here: https://icomos-uk.org/exploring-intangible-cultural-heritage-report