Friday, May 02, 2008

The Cans Festival is this weekend

It's a neat pun as well as being accurate!

The Cans Festival - a street party of stencil art - is on in London this weekend (3rd, 4th and 5th May). You can find the graffiti in a tunnel in Leake Street - apparently loaned temporarily by Eurostar who've promised to leave the art alone for six months.

The website provides details of graffiti artists who have flown in from all over the world to come and party with Banksy - the anonymous graffiti artist who is now collected by Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera..

Here are some articles by journalists who have much more information about this festival than I have:

The elite of the London art world will convene in Lambeth tonight to examine graffiti in a dank railway tunnel.

It is not a location that has been listed among London’s main cultural attractions. In fact, it compares unfavourably with other dank tunnels in the capital.

From tomorrow, however, when the tunnel opens to the public, the graffiti are expected to attract thousands, because they represent the largest exhibition by Banksy, a determinedly anonymous British graffiti artist. He has gathered 40 of the chief proponents of the form to transform the tunnel into a showcase.
Times Online

and a blogger Art of the State Blog

These are the details
  • it opens tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.00am
  • it finishes on Monday 10pm
  • The Cans festival is open to the public
  • The venue is Leake Street. This is between York Road and Spur Road just south of Waterloo Station (train and underground - Waterloo and City Line is closed on Sundays) and just across the Thames, via Westminster Bridge, from Westminster Tube (District and Circle).
  • Banksy will continue to be anonymous!
And I loved the 'rules of engagement' on the website - so anarchic!
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

This is an open event and coming along with your own stencil is positively encouraged
  • This is a stencil only event, no freehand lettering or characters please
  • Report to reception on arrival and they'll show you where to paint
  • No going over other artists
Besides a video, Sky Arts also provide a rather good selection of The Best of Banksy.

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