Shepard Fairey is a graffiti artist from Los Angeles best known for "Hope", a poster of Barack Obama that coincided with the US presidential election of 2008. In the summer of 2011, Fairey (by now a very mainstream "street artist") travelled to Copenhagen to launch an exhibition of his work. Whilst there he painted a large public mural featuring the word "peace" plus a dove and the figure "69". This appeared on the gable-end of a house adjacent to Ungdomshuset (the youth house) that once stood at Jagtvej 69 in Nørrebro. It was there that left-wingers used to gather - until, that is, it was demolished by the local authorities. This event is documented in Recent Danish History (2008) by the artist, Jens Haaning. It consists of eight postcards, the final one of which shows police attacking a group of demonstrators alongside a text that reads: "1st of March 2007: The police clear the Youth House at Jagtvej in Copenhagen and the building is demolished."
It seems that Fairey's work has been interpreted by some as a piece of official propaganda in support of the demolition, not least given that the artist received payment from the city council. This led to a very hostile reception. Fairey and his assistant were physically attacked and the mural they had produced was vandalised: paint bombs were thrown at it and the phrase "No peace!" was added. This has prompted Fairey to allow the work to be altered: the word "peace" has been replaced by a text reading "Intet glemt, intet tilgivet 69" (nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven 69). In addition, the lower register now shows protestors being confronted by riot squads whilst the blades of a police helicopter whirl overhead.
All this is a far cry from the habitual link between the Nordic countries and peace. It is therefore fitting that I should have found out about the erasure of that very word - PEACE - from Fairey's mural on the day that I gave my paper, "Banal Nordism: Recomposing an old song of peace" at the Nordisk historikermøte 2011 conference currently taking place in the Norwegian city of Tromsø.
Sources
Stanners, Peter (2011a) "Street artist's work opens old wounds", The Copenhagen Post, 03/08, accessed 13/08/2011 at, http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/122-culture/51955-shepard-fairey.html
Stanners, Peter (2011b) "Controversial street artist assaulted after exhibition opening", The Copenhagen Post, 11/08, accessed 13/08/2011 at, http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/122-culture/51980-controversial-street-artist-assaulted-after-exhibition-opening.html
It seems that Fairey's work has been interpreted by some as a piece of official propaganda in support of the demolition, not least given that the artist received payment from the city council. This led to a very hostile reception. Fairey and his assistant were physically attacked and the mural they had produced was vandalised: paint bombs were thrown at it and the phrase "No peace!" was added. This has prompted Fairey to allow the work to be altered: the word "peace" has been replaced by a text reading "Intet glemt, intet tilgivet 69" (nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven 69). In addition, the lower register now shows protestors being confronted by riot squads whilst the blades of a police helicopter whirl overhead.
All this is a far cry from the habitual link between the Nordic countries and peace. It is therefore fitting that I should have found out about the erasure of that very word - PEACE - from Fairey's mural on the day that I gave my paper, "Banal Nordism: Recomposing an old song of peace" at the Nordisk historikermøte 2011 conference currently taking place in the Norwegian city of Tromsø.
Sources
Stanners, Peter (2011a) "Street artist's work opens old wounds", The Copenhagen Post, 03/08, accessed 13/08/2011 at, http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/122-culture/51955-shepard-fairey.html
Stanners, Peter (2011b) "Controversial street artist assaulted after exhibition opening", The Copenhagen Post, 11/08, accessed 13/08/2011 at, http://www.cphpost.dk/culture/culture/122-culture/51980-controversial-street-artist-assaulted-after-exhibition-opening.html
