The surprise of turning onto a street to see a vibrant mural—or the joy of viewing several in progress during popular festivals like Nuart Aberdeen—is essentially an ephemeral experience. Murals may be designed to last several decades, or they may be temporary installations that address a particularly interesting bit of local history or urgent social issue, but either way, the experience is brief as we walk by. Always vulnerable to the elements and new development, these pieces don’t always last long. That’s where Art UK’s archive comes in.
As a digital platform, Art UK connects viewers to public collections around the nation. There are about a million artworks on the site, drawn from around 3,500 collections, including museums, libraries, hospitals, town halls, and more. The organization also recently reached a significant milestone in its ambition to map and catalogue street art and murals across the country. Just a little more than two years after launching the initiative, Art UK has added more than 6,600 new works to its database, bringing the total number of public artworks to well over 21,000.
Ranging from small, spray-painted pieces by the notoriously enigmatic Banksy to large-scale compositions by Rogue-one, The London Mural Company, and more, the scope is daunting. “Our initial aim for the project was simple: we wanted to record 5,000 murals and wall-based artworks from across the U.K.,” says Art UK’s Public Art Manager, Tracy Jenkins. “The artworks would date from A.D. 1000 to the present day and include wall paintings in historic churches, post-war ceramic and concrete works, and contemporary painted murals and mosaics.”
Volunteers dedicated more than 5,000 hours to locating and photographing the works. The database includes many that are decades old at this point, emphasizing their sites and condition in case they’re ever threatened by future redevelopments. Most of the works are relatively recent, but Art UK doesn’t discriminate based on date or even if they’re outside. A series of otherworldly paintings inside of St. Thomas’ Church in East Shefford, Berkshire, for example, are centuries old.
Jenkins notes that the project launched at a time when street art and mural-making in the U.K. were experiencing a boom, and the addition of these aesthetic installations within an urban context “has been shown to significantly reduce the instances of unsightly tagging graffiti,” in addition to boosting visitors and local economies. She also acknowledges “public art in any form can be contentious, sparking debate and strong emotion… Street art and muralism is in many ways the most democratic genre—it is not created in a faraway studio, it is not locked behind closed doors, and it does not require prior expert knowledge.”
Creating an archive of street art and murals is a way to build engagement and also understanding of the medium, promoting a feeling of what Jenkins calls “community ownership and pride,” where moments of artistic, informative, playful, and celebratory work delight around city corners. See a handful of additions below, and explore the database on Art UK’s website.
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