An Aesthetical and Problem-Plagued Orientation of Street Art in the Perception of the Urban Population (on the Example of Yekaterinburg)

Street art is a global socio-cultural phenomenon and an integral part of many present-day cities. Despite the variety of characteristics of this phenomenon, such a feature as a combination of esthetic and problem-plagued components is significant for this study. Researchers note that street art is both a means to aestheticize and humanize urban space and a tool to translate urgent social problems and express the protest of the artist through his/her works. On the example of Yekaterinburg street art, the author reveals how the local population perceives these two components of street art. The paper specifies that Yekaterinburg is a unique case of Russian and world street art. It is due to the active development of various practices associated with street art and the participation of the local population in them. Both the results of an online survey with Yekaterinburg residents and the material of a series of interviews with experts on local street art provided the empirical data presented in the article. An author attempts to compare data reflecting the perception of the phenomenon by ordinary residents and the community of experts. The author concludes that in the experts’ perceptions of street art, the problem-plagued side of the phenomenon dominate, whereas in city residents’ perceptions aesthetic component is of greater importance. The analysis of the perceptions of Yekaterinburg street art also indicates the same trend: If experts describe it as topical and relevant, completely ignoring its aesthetic component, then ordinary residents note its decorative function to a greater extent. Finally, residents note the most acute political problems raised by the works of local street art as being the least important. It indicates quite a low value of one of the essential structural elements of the symbolic capital of street art — to be a means of protest and reflect the political agenda − for the Yekaterinburg population.