11th Graders Go to STRAAT!
By Ark Avva
On the 29th and 30th of April grade 11 students had the opportunity to visit the STRAAT Museum in NDSM-Plein 1, diving into the bold world of graffiti and street art. The STRAAT Museum is a street-art museum built on October 9th, 2020. It was constructed from an old shipping construction warehouse and houses a diverse, unique collection of street art from widely recognized international and local artists.
The experience was largely driven by the Language and Literature department, as part of their unit on Street Art and Banksy. People who took both Language and Literature were allowed this one day off school to visit the museum. They would travel by tram, and then ferry to the museum before undertaking a tour, followed by lunch, followed by an interactive activity.
The museum itself was more than just an aesthetic experience, but a powerful lesson in the cultural history of street art and the creative freedom the museum offers to up and coming artists. Artworks are scattered throughout the museum and range from traditional paintings inspired by street-art elements to much more symbolic pieces involving more unique materials. STRAAT also has used old shipping containers in the lot outside the museum for artists to experiment with graffiti freely without having to avoid police patrols. Students also reported a live camera crew recording two artists working on a current installment in the middle of the museum. It was a small peak behind the scenes for those who went.
The guided tour they underwent during this experience explained the history behind street art and how such a relatively new art form holds so much power in urban environments like Amsterdam. Artists make their mark on the city, holding powerful symbolism to their own life experiences or to honor their friends, family who’ve passed.
The tour guide explained, street art has its own unwritten rules that every artist must follow, the consequences being possibly offending another artist and getting “beat up”.
The Three “Rules”of Street Art:
Artists must not put their own address - It invites people right to their homes…which can be dangerous.
Artists can only spray over another work IF they are positive they can do a better job. Generally, strong artworks are cherished in the street art community, and as a result they are respected and honored.
Artists cannot overlap another artist’s work IF that artist’s work honors a dead relative, or friend. The guide explained, with street art being a very urban and historically illegal art form, having works such as this allowed a moral code to flourish within the community. If you break it you’re practically asking for a black eye.
Students then experienced an interactive activity, in which they dressed head to toe in protective clothing before creating their own art by spray painting old shipping containers. They were instructed to “make their mark” on the containers and to work collaboratively with each other to create their piece. Students who attended say they ended the day with a newfound respect and understanding of street art, sparking thoughtful conversations about expression, ownership and public art. Many felt the experience was powerful, and very evocative for their class.
I personally went on the experience and I wanted to share my thoughts: The experience from 9-3 was beautiful. The museum was gorgeous and amazingly built with 20 foot tall paintings at the entrance. I recall a work in which a physical, actual car was hung from the ceiling, and a work in which an artist took a garage door from a war zone, and placed notes he received from refugees he had been in contact with inside the bullet holes. The graffiti workshop was fantastic as well. We divided into 2 groups and spray painted on these shipping container walls, with an instructor guiding us on only how to use the cans. We were allowed complete artistic freedom.
On the day I went, there was a second camera crew when we were doing our interactive activity that asked our supervisors if they could record footage of us spray-painting, so they could use it for a music video. It was a very unique experience–a win for all of us.
