THE GRANITE City will get a taste of the European Capital of Culture when acclaimed Estonian street artists takeover a Union Street gallery during Nuart Aberdeen.
And a leading voice in the north-east arts community hopes the groundbreaking 11-day visit by the Stencibility street art festival from Tartu – named as European Capital of Culture for 2024 – will give Aberdeen an appetite for securing similar prestigious titles for itself.
Four Estonian artists will stage an exhibition at The Print Room at 252 Union Street from June 7 to 17 as well as spilling on to surrounding streets to create unique pieces of art for people to discover, during their stay which is partnered by Aberdeen arts organisation, Peacock and The Worm.
Kadri Lind, one Stencibility’s organisers, said they were excited about coming to the north-east as part of their European tour and being part of Nuart Aberdeen, the award-winning street art festival staged by Aberdeen Inspired and running from June 8 to 11.
The road trip is to spread the word before Tartu – a small university town known as the street art capital of Estonia – becomes the official European Capital of Culture.
“We are trying to give the audience a taste of Tartu,” said Kadri, adding the exhibition had been in Berlin last year and will be going on to Estonia’s capital Tallinn next year.
“We are excited about creating more art in public spaces in Aberdeen as well as the exhibition. We’ve heard from local people that Aberdeen might be a bit grey and from our perspective that’s great, because we can make a bigger change,” said Kadri.
She said the exhibition, called Hello Mister Police Officer, is a humorous look on working on the streets illegally and getting caught in the process.
“The concept is a bit like a police investigation for the local artists from Tartu and why are they on the streets, what are their reasons and the agendas behind it,” said Kadri, adding the four artists – KAIRO, Stina Leek, GUTFACE and Edward von Lõngus – would also be taking to Aberdeen streets to create smaller pieces.
Behind this is Stencibility’s driving principal that public space is for everyone and it is also for everyone to take care of. The festival sees the purpose of street art as to enrich, not ruin, public space.
“Our mission at Stencibility has been to create a new model of how to organise and curate street art in a formal festival while still maximising the creative freedom of the grass roots street art movement,” said Kadri.
David McCracken, arts business manager of Peacock and the Worm, said he was looking forward to welcoming Stencibility to Aberdeen during Nuart and to Peacock’s Print Room gallery on Union Street.
“It was interesting Kadri mentioned Aberdeen as being grey. We hear of Glasgow being a dear, green place and I think Aberdeen is actually a dear grey place,” he said.
“We have to reclaim the beauty and the subtlety of that colour, because it belongs to granite that built the city. That is the fabric of Aberdeen.
“The reason I think Nuart has been so successful is they help to brighten up a grey town. But as every Aberdonian knows, the grey on a sunny day when it sparkles is the most beautiful colour.
David said Stencibility’s visit and Tartu’s status as European Capital of Culture could act as an “exemplar model” for the Granite City’s own ambitions as a city of culture, driven in part by festivals such as Nuart Aberdeen.
“Aberdeen as a city is aspirational and it has everything in place. Fundamentally it’s about civic pride at the heart of it. With a collective effort and love Aberdeen could, if wanted, revisit the possibility of being a city of culture,” said David.
“We have just celebrated that 40 years ago Aberdeen FC beat Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup. If you had told the Aberdeen football team five years before that they were going to beat the world’s most successful football team it wouldn’t have seemed possible.”
It is now 10 years since Aberdeen’s unsuccessful bid to become UK City Of Culture for 2017. Asked if the drive to be a city of culture needs an Alex Ferguson, David said such ambitions are often led by individuals.
“We have many remarkable artists, musicians, filmmakers, artists and writers who are part of an Aberdonian diaspora as well. You could throw out the net and pull these people in to do something truly remarkable. I can see that happening.”
David said Stencibility’s principles that street art is for everyone and there to enrich public space chimes with both Peacock and Nuart Aberdeen.
“We, along with Nuart, are enjoying this very rich conversation about art that is happening and I think it has been embraced by Aberdeen and the globe. It has become omnipresent on social media across so many cultures and platforms.”
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said he was delighted that Stencibility would be adding to the rich programme and vibrancy offered by Nuart Aberdeen, not only over the festival itself, but also in the days after with the exhibition running to June 17.
“It really is quite a coup to have artists from the European Capital of Culture sharing their vision and talent here in Aberdeen. Not only will they add their own unique artwork to our streets, they will also demonstrate how art and ambition can truly put a city on the cultural map,” he said.
“Nuart Aberdeen is already doing that, while attracting thousands of visitors to our city centre, boosting local businesses and the economy, while leaving a legacy of stunning artworks in our public spaces.”
Nuart Aberdeen, now widely seen as the best street art festival of its kind in the world, has become a major tourist attraction, bringing tens of thousands of visitors and locals into the city centre. It is a not-for-profit event supported by partners Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen City Council, delivered by Reed Projects.
For more information about Nuart Aberdeen 2023, visit https://www.aberdeeninspired.com/festival/nuart-aberdeen/nuart-aberdeen-2023
