“I don’t give a shit”, this sounds kind of very strong sentence, unmistakably true to those who said it out loud. I don’t care at all, I don’t give a shit about all the people trying hard to stop me, about the consequences of what I’m doing, and about what could actually mean my act and what people could think and even say about it. This statement has

much more sense in a context like the Bronx in the ‘80s, at the time when the phenomenon of writing was raising up in the ghettos of New York.

The project “I don’t give a shit”, which takes its name from this status, is directly inspired by the times when grati writing became more widespread.

Moreover, nowadays still grati writing is on the go and it is recognized an artistic expression, practiced and sperimented in many dierent countries.

The concept refers to the teenager’s rebellion, the need to claim with absolute fervour, they used to take by storm every inch of urban land in order to witness their presence in one of the areas considered most dangerous and infamous of the city. On the other hand, they did it fullling an instinct of repulsion against repressive campaigns against writing. The subway cars were cleaned, bus depots were fenced, they put a price on writer’s heads, and patrols were placed. Nevertheless, the writers were

not appeased; indeed, their tenacity led to the evolution and expansion of the phenomenon.

They just do not give a shit.

The project by Giuseppe Santoro and his Associazione Vroots focuses on this scene. The project has been approved at rst glance and was immediately shared with a few writers of the contemporary street art scene.

During the week before the nal exposure (to be held in a location to be determined yet) the artists, actually guests in the city of Bari, will carry out

works on car bodies and on parts to be scrapped. This is the symbol chosen on the occasion of this event, in order to recall the original aspects of writing.

Once again, Vroots Association plays an important role in bringing urban culture close to the everyday life of Bari, involving artists of international renown for a new wide-ranging project.

The intent is twofold, on one hand, it’s about a glance at the past, an evocation of several elements which made the world history of writing and of this culture and, on the other hand, it is also a reection on current aairs and on the creative power of writing in the twenty-rst century.

Urban art, in recent times, is expanding in various sectors, from fashion to automotive. The so called “culturalization of the economy” concerns the phenomenon of writing, which nowadays is far from the illegality of the last thirty years. Consider, for example, the case of Niel Shoe Meulmann: in 2010 the artist worked with the company Mercedes-Benz. In Holland, the company has supported the Pink Ribbon’s campaign for breast cancer by sponsoring a special machine for the Pink Ribbon Foundation.

The white Class B Mercedes, then used for sponsor visits, TV shows and gala evenings, has been customized by the artist Shoe. He wrote hundreds of names of women on the car body and that Mercedes itself became a symbol of all women for whom the foundation works tirelessly. The work has been turned into an advertisement in the magazine Pink Ribbon.

“Companies who were being deluged with talk now we want to know what to say. For years they have dened our identity (children GapKids, the Marlboro Man), but now they ask us to dene them “(Chris Anderson, The Long Tail, 2008). Researches and new forthcoming projects are the bases for the qualication of the city and culture is here the social integration that enables the interaction between dierences: this is the highlight of the

Vroots team and carried out by the logic design team for the rst appointment of Vroots “I don ‘t give a shit”.

Ass. Cult. VRoots

Via Gen. C. A. Dalla Chiesa 14a, 70124 Bari (Italy)

Giuseppe Santoro

M (+39) 339 124 33 65

T (+39) 080 698 67 22

E vroots@vroots.it