Nuart Festival 2012, Stavanger, Norway - the Cannes of street art

Fromthe billboard hijacking activism of Ron English (US) and Jordan Seiler (US) to The Wa’s (FR) playful urban interventions, from Saber’s (US) uncompromising stance on the positive power of Graffiti to Aakash Nihalani’s (US) more concise and conceptual use of coloured tape, Nuart 2012 has brought together an unlikely group of ‘festival’ artists, whose diverse work and methods offer an authentic reflection on the real practice of Street Art. The UK’s globetrotting, ‘Obama gift-giving’, Eine and NY’s HowNosm are sure to set the standard for large breathtaking murals, whilst Dolk – Norway’s finest exponent of the genre popularized by Banksy – will produce some of his iconic stencil-work. Alongside the character-driven graffiti of Sickboy (UK), the calligraffiti of Amsterdam’s Niels Shoe Meulman and the text driven Mobstr (UK), Nuart is set to create an explosion of – ‘mostly legal’ –  works, both inside, and out.

Nuart2012 sees a conscious shift away from the ‘acceptable’ face of Street art that has become favoured by councils and municipalities around the world. Recognizing that there is a danger that this vibrant culture will become sanitized by a surfeit of oversized legal murals, Nuart 2012 will continue to take to the streets in new and more illicit ways. Alongside its exhibition at Tou Scene – which will host over half a kilometre of works along its 19th-century tunnels – outdoor landmarks and unmissable billboards will be re-envisioned as subversive pieces of striking art. And if this isn’t enough to excite you, sister festival Numusic will be providing the weekend’s entertainment, with bands such as Mad Professor, The Orb, Lindstrøm and many more performing.

Nuart  is set to break more than just boundaries in 2012.