VANDALISM

The Vandals were the members of a barbarian people of East Germanic origin that remained in history as a symbol of savagery and lack of civility . That is why the term vandal is used today to refer to the person who commits actions typical of wild people.

Vandalism, therefore, is a concept that can be used to name the destruction that seems typical of the old vandals. It is a destructive behavior that does not respect the property of others and that is usually expressed through violence .

Vandalism is seemingly unjustified hostility towards the possessions of others . It usually manifests itself in public space with attacks on monuments, benches, walls , etc., either with the intention of transmitting a message or for the simple fact of destroying what is foreign.

One of the most frequent forms of vandalism is graffiti , when it is painted on a private wall without authorization. The graffiti on the walls of a house or on a statue have victims (the owner of the residence, the State ) who suffer patrimonial damage. Those who express themselves through graffiti, however, argue that freedom of expression transcends private property or material objects.

Vandalism can also be carried out virtually through the alteration of Internet pages . An example of digital vandalism occurs when a site is intervened for the publication of a message contrary to the true spirit of the page in question (such as the inclusion of a proclamation in favor of abortion on a Catholic Church site, for example).

Sometimes acts of vandalism arouse mixed feelings on the part of unsuspecting admirers, as they contain humorous elements that are difficult to ignore, capable of drawing laughter from the most rigid faces.

One of these "charismatic" acts of vandalism took place in the Italian city of Rome, in 2008, when an individual named Graziano Cecchini threw 500 thousand colored balls down the stairs of the Trinidad de los Montes, in Plaza de España (one of the most characteristic and appreciated places in the center of Rome). This "joke", which generated a mixture of amazement and fun in passersby , had an approximate cost of 20 thousand euros, which its creator was very happy to face.

Another clear example takes us to Berlin, where in 2010 a group of German artists called IEPE decided to soak the wheels of more than 2,000 cars with paint of various colors to imprint their trajectory at an intersection in the city. It is worth mentioning that the drivers were not accomplices, but rather victims of this act of vandalism, appropriately titled "Reality Paint" (whose approximate translation is "painting of reality") and that it consisted of pouring around 500 liters of paint at strategic points in the streets. four streets that served as canvas.

In 2011, on the other hand, a Bulgarian graffiti artist who was never identified decided to apply his art to the statues of the Monument of the Soviet Army, which is located in the center of the city of Sofia, to turn its protagonists into superheroes such like Batman and the Joker, and characters like Santa Claus and Ronald McDonald. Among the most striking symbols is the transformation of the Soviet flag into the American one and the presence of Captain America. Needless to say, thousands of tourists come to the Bulgarian capital to take pictures of the new face of this monument, which is more than half a century old.

The list goes on and includes the construction of various figures and their placement in strategic locations to take the public by surprise, and the design of obscene images on bridges and monuments to express public discontent with certain government decisions.