Youth solidarities in graffiti tourism

Abstract

The study was performed using the solidarity approach proposed by E. L. Omelchenko. The term "solidarity" is convenient to study the contemporary developments in youth culture as it does not require a direct interaction of subjects, the unity of time and space in which they act. The aim of the work is to study the features of solidarity formation among street artists in graffiti tourism. The empirical material is the case study of Samara street artist Art Abstractov, who has many years of experience in graffiti tourism.

The author identifies two stages in the organization and implementation of graffiti tourism: on-line and off-line stages. Considering the first stage, the author describes the role of electronic resources in the development of the street art culture: blog electronic databases, specialized sites such as Art Crimes, 149 St., graffiti.org, Ekosystem, ViVaCity.ru, Petrograff.ru, Vltramarine, social networks such as Livejournal, VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, image hosting sites such as Flickr, Pinterest, etc. The paper examines the specifics of social networking among street artists at the international level and the nature of solidarity in the virtual space between the street artists not personally known to each other.

The second stage of graffiti tourism is considered as a form of consolidation of solidarities among street artists from different countries. The author describes the role of the host and the benefits that the tourist gets from such trips. The author comes to the conclusion that solidarity is transformed into other forms of social communities over time and helps to enter a new social environment.