CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Beard, Maud |
|---|---|
| Title | When Walls Remember: Public Space Democracy and Commemorative Muralism at NOVA FCSH University Campus in Lisbon, Portugal, 2008-2023 |
| Summary | This thesis critically examines commemorative muralism and its potential role in the democratization of public space. Contemporary manifestations of muralism in Portugal can be considered to have originated from the 1974 Revolution that overthrew the Portuguese Estado Novo dictatorship (1933-1974). During the revolutionary period that followed (1974-1975), a wave of anti-fascist and revolutionary murals emerged, reshaping the visuality of urban spaces and reflecting a democratic reassertion of freedom of expression. Since this democratic transition, political and cultural shifts have introduced diverse forms of urban interventions into Lisbon’s public spaces, including graffiti, political posters, monuments and commemorative murals. As a result, Lisbon’s public spaces make for particularly compelling sites to explore the potential for pluralistic and agonistic democracy as embodied in physical space and artistic interventions. By examining the long-term transformation of a single public space (Lisbon’s NOVA FCSH university campus between 2008 and 2023), this thesis argues that commemorative muralism can contribute to public space democracy in four distinct ways. First, its capacity to operate as a counter-monument while simultaneously exceeding the boundaries of the concept. Second, its rootedness in the traditions of graffiti and street art. Third, the different possibilities afforded by the use of paint and colour. And fourth, its ambivalent position between permanence and ephemerality. In this way, this research aims to contribute to the flourishing scholarship on public art and democracy, especially in contexts with important traditions of muralism, street art and graffiti. |
| Supervisor | Laranjeiro, Catarina |
| Department | Historical Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/beard_maud.pdf |
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