Heritagization of street art as a theatrical performance: The case study of Dolk’s artworks conservation in Bergen, Norway

Abstract

In recent years, individual street artworks have been framed as cultural heritage. However, attempts to integrate street artworks and graffiti into formal heritage frameworks have not provided solutions to the philosophical and practical problems associated with their preservation. Rather than focusing on street artworks as passive objects to be conserved, preserved or managed, this research analyses the conservation of Dolk’s street artworks as an example of lively theatrical performance emerging from embodied actions, lived processes and social practices. Applying non-representational theory, heritage studies and cultural studies, the research argues that the conservation of street artworks is not passive, but active – a process in which humans, social media and artworks, themselves, are active, relational and equally important actors contributing to ‘heritagization’. The case illustrates that acts of destruction – as well as social media debates and street art performances that oppose conventional heritage practices and commodification – can serve as stimuli for not only reconsidering the meanings and values of street art but also protecting the rights of city commons.