REBECCA JANE HACKETT

The Platform – Combatting graffiti stigma with a multi-use expressive base, bringing together Dundee locals and creatives.

Street Art is a rapidly growing trend within Dundee and already booming in the rest of Europe, however credit for graffiti artists seems to have gone a miss. This subculture has grown from graffiti and local artists struggle to gain recognition or positive exposure due to the stigma still attached to the art, hence fewer spaces for artists to use etc. Lack of understanding plays a massive part in the issue so if the public can be encouraged to expose themselves to the process and possibly try it for themselves, they will discover that is is a massively expressive art form filled with skill and technique.

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Redesigning the District 10 site on Dundee’s waterfront as a multiuse expressive space that encourages interaction and collaboration between graffiti artists, locals and general creatives in Dundee. The Platform focuses on two key zones, Free Space and Skill Sharing. Free space is created for the mind at the top of the structure with a relaxed social space for people to recharge, as well as mental health drop-in support services, and creative free space is achieved through a free rentable exhibition space on the ground floor for anyone to use. Skill sharing is created? Through workshops and collaboration spaces, both with flexible furniture layouts to suit the activity or group of people using them.

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Themes of contrast, transparency and balance are focused on within the project. Due to the vast mix of people using the space there will be contrast present in their views, values etc. and it is important to celebrate the differences and create a balanced platform for all. Transparency is an important theme as graffiti artists receive a skewed element of fame as their faces are rarely beside the name. The layers of the artists, and also the transparency of people in the community themselves, and how open they are to others, is a focal point within the concept.