EuroWars: A street art battle

The Dutch team with their black marker mural. Photo Credit: Johannes Ledel Karreskog

Graffiti has a different reputation everywhere you may find yourself in Europe. It’s everything from a crime to the next big thing in art – but one common theme is that it is often inaccessible.

Artists often deface/reclaim public space in the dead of night, and aside from the work of Banksy and the token community mural, it is not often something that the average person gets to interact with on the creative level.

Terry Guy and Ben Smith of Secret Wars are trying to change that. Their EuroWars league (a branch of the larger Secret Wars) brings together the best graffiti talent from across Europe, and if the organisers have their way – the world.

The events are treated like underground parties, complete with DJs and beatboxing. A recent battle between London and Amsterdam at Islington’s The Book Club was far from your average night out.

The showmanship (read: drunken dancing) of Team Amsterdam was no match for the diligent concentration of team London, who won over the crowd with their sardonic triptych of “Amsterdam’s Finest Secret Whores.”

Over the course of 90 minutes, the teams drew, conceived, danced and drank. One part performance art, one part nightclub – these Secret Wars will surely not remain so for long.

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Guy started the league in Shoreditch as a way to bring live art into a club atmosphere, and three years on, the tour features 17 international cities. They have even begun taking on sponsorships from brands such as Casio.

The Secret Wars team isn’t stopping there, though, with an eye to the world. According to Terry Guy: “Next year, we’re talking to the Olympic committee about doing a world championship like an Olympic sport. That’s a dream but you know hopefully we can make live art into sport.”

He sees timed drawing as requiring more skill than say, darts, which is slated to be in the 2012 games.

Big dreams aside, the artists and teams still assemble though word-of-mouth networking, with February 19th’s Book Club battle being the first three-on-three event.

The eventual winners of the tournament, which is arranged with points like the Champions League football tournament, will receive packs from sponsors which will include Flip! Cameras, Reeboks as well as trip to New York City.

The team hopes to expand the event to 40 countries in the next year.

Looking for your odds at the next international graffiti competition? Londoner and organiser Ben Smith gives an unexpected hint: “When it comes to the World’s, I’m pretty sure Rio will kill everyone, because when it comes to live art, Brazil’s the place to be.”

Maybe a 2016 showing isn’t such a pipe dream after all.