Bristol Brings Street Art Decisions to the People

Published: September 2, 2009

Photo by Richard Cocks, courtesy Flickr

This Banksy mural, painted on a Bristol city council-owned building in 2005, sparked an online poll to decide whether or not it should be removed; 93% of respondents voted to keep it.

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BRISTOL, England—The Bristol City Council has decided to let the people decide what is art and what isn’t. From now on, instead of removing graffiti immediately, the council will allow the public to take a photograph of the work, then upload it to its Web site, where citizens can vote on whether or not to keep the street art.

The new policy is likely a direct result of the Bristol Museum’s “Banksy Vs. Bristol Museum” exhibit, which closed on August 31 and brought in record numbers of visitors both to the museum and the city. Bristol also faced public scrutiny in March 2007 when the city painted over a Banksy mural valued at £100,000 ($142,108).

Read more at the Telegraph.

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