Graffiti Exchange: Activities
We came to Metz to meet new people from different European countries and get to know something about their cultures and of course to learn about graffiti. Everything was so nice there, much better than we expected. The atmosphere was amazing; we’ve got new friendships with people from all over the Europe.
Ice-breakers & energizers
Every day we hade ice-braking games - for example Fruit Salad, in which everyone is some kind of fruit and the first person says a name of some fruit – an apple, for example, and all apples must change their seats very fast because the person who will not find a seat is a looser. In the afternoons learnt some theory about graffiti and also practised.
Workshop about European graffiti – drawing
All of us were very interested in making a graffiti, we wanted to know how to do this, what to use, and where we can do it because you are not allowed to draw graffiti wherever you want to. This was also an important point in our discussions, what is vandalism, why it is realized and why would anyone want to illegally destroy some public property. Those workshops were very interesting because they were performed by professionals.
Workshop preparation & making your own graffiti
We had a chance to make our own graffiti, but first we were supposed to prepare a big piece of paper, than paint it in white or orange color, after this put some plastic on the wall so we didn’t cause any demage and put that paper on the wall in the end.
Finally everything was ready and so we started to draw our own graffiti. It was such an interesting experience, especially for people who did graffiti for the first time.
If you are interested in how a real graffiti is actually done, we recommend you to read an article on this topic that we have prepared as well.
Reflection groups
Every day, in groups consisted of four or five participants, people from different countries talked about the new things they have learnt, what they liked in a previous day and what still needs some improvements so that everyone had the possibility to take the most from this exchange. It was very useful because we could share our opinions with others, understand them and become more experienced.
Contest in Metz
On 26th of July we had a graffiti contest at plan d’eau in skate park of Metz. There were two groups from our exchange that also participated, Estonian and Czech. For more information about this international challenge see Graffiti Contest in Metz.
Cultural nights
Every night we had a presentation of each country. They showed us PowerPoint presentations or some movies which helped us to get to know something about their culture and habits. We could also taste some of their traditional dishes and drinks, which was a very welcomed opportunity to eat something you have never tasted before.
Some countries taught us their traditional dances and many other interesting things like sketches of various games to help us remember some facts about their country. It was very useful part of the day because it gave us a great possibility to discover plenty of new information about all presented countries.
