Public art in the urban landscape: The connotative use of public art in the urban space through the semiotic analysis of KAFAOS (cable distributor) in the urban space of cities: Milan, Florence, Athens, Thessaloniki

Abstract

This paper proposes a semiotic analysis of street artworks on the urban public space of cities. Street art works can appear as unimodal or multimodal texts, these latter activating multiple senses outside of vision. Works involved in this study are located on distribution cabinets, i.e., boxes containing thousands of telephone communications cables. An initiative launched in Toronto as a part of the STreetARToronto (START) program gave street artists the opportunity to transform distribution cabinets into artworks. The example of Toronto has been followed by some European cities. The result is a new aesthetic of public spaces, as well as a conception of public art tailored to social and cultural identity of cities and countries.

Keywords

• semiotics
• public space
• art
• public art
• street art