TOP 5: GRAFFITI FESTIVALS
Writers coming together. Exchanging knowledge. Showcasing their style. Our Top 5 Graffiti festivals.
As long as graffiti writing existed, people came together to celebrate this art! Today there are numerous festivals all around the world - the best of which are collected in our TOP 5 Graffiti Festivals.
Roskilde
This well known festival, located on an island in denmark, is not only one of the biggest arts and music festivals in northern europe, it also probably is the oldest, dating back to 1971! It has an extra area dedicated to the arts, called “Art Zone”, where visitors can enjoy arts,installations, performances, literature etc. For graffiti writers, the festival provides walls all around the area, which are seen as a highlight of the festival by many visitors.
Meeting Of Styles
Started in the mid-90´s in the german city Wiesbaden, the “Meeting of Styles” since then has organised more than 400 events, with thousands of visitors and active artists. Today, there are MOS events all over the world, and artists and locations are invited to submit for more upcoming meetings! Although the whole organisation is still non-profit based, the MOS is a huge success, and hopefully will continue to be so in the future!
Upfest
Originally founded as a come-together for 20 like minded artists in 2008, today the “Upfest” is the largest street art & graffiti festival in Europe, with over 4000 artists painting live in front of up to 50.000 visitors. Because it is hosted in a residential area, the festival also offers a very special and familiar atmosphere and an authentic urban experience!
Wynwood Walls
“Wynwood Walls” was conceived by the renowned community revitalizer and placemaker Tony Goldman in 2009. He saw the huge warehouse buildings in Wynwood as canvases for the arts, and also saw the great potential for pedestrians to explore the area. Since then, over 50 artists representing 16 countries have covered over 80,000 square feet of these walls. It can be visited all year, so it is more an area than a festival with a time limit.
Together Jam
This is a very young festival - but after the huge success of its predecessor in 2020, it was clear that the “Together Jam” was meant to continue! It is located in the austrian city Wels, and features artists from all over europe, who are invited to redesign some spots of the city. The festival attracts visitors with a unique feature: they can observe all this for free - which surely helps to spread the enthusiasm for graffiti to those who maybe never came in touch with it before!