Tres Xemeneies | Tres Chimeneas | Three Chimneys
Graffiti along with street art has always been a relatively underground artistic form of expression, despite also being one of the most accessible forms to the public. For so long, people have associated graffiti with vandalism and crime, not realising that it can be so much more. Fortunately, the Parc de Les Tres Xemeneies in Barcelona is at the forefront of adapting its social perception to modern times.
Tres Xemeneies, translating to The Three Chimneys Park, is dedicated to the 1919 La Canadenca workers strike, serving as an emblem to the Catalan Labor Movement of the time. The resulting industrial elements can still be seen in the area today. The park also remains a social and cultural hub for neighbourhood events and popular pastimes such as skating, biking and musical performances. As well as Spanish and Catalan locals, the area also attracts a diverse immigrant population from the local Pakistani community who often play cricket, Africans who frequent a particular spot to sit and chat and Latin Americans who come to paint, dance, skate and picnic.
The park is located near Parallel Avenue, bordering Raval and Poble Sec. This vicinity is already steeped in history and is now looking to make some more by taking part in a legal painting walls initiative.
Graffiti is banned in Barcelona and artists can face a fine of up to 3,000€. The urban art initiative aims to give artists greater access to walls and more time to paint, allowing them to do so in broad daylight without any risk of criminal action and limited chances of law enforcement interference. Three large walls between the park and the social area have long since sported incredible graffiti artwork. However, back in 2006, the then Mayor Joan Clos backed a movement to stop such activity. These bans remained until 2012 when Wallspot managed to free some of the walls from these City Council constraints. Wallspot is an organization dedicated to managing legal walls for artistic creation and expression in a professional manner. This concept is similar to that of the iconic 5Pointz in NYC.
In 2017, the park gardens started to host various events revolving around the legal graffiti walls, thus increasing its exposure to global artists and admirers alike. Through Wallspot, artists are required to book a spot via a website or app of their desired wall before turning up to paint. Various walls are offered throughout the city. Artists from all over the globe are known to book their walls while overseas and even fly over specifically to paint on these walls. There is a very high turnover of artworks, while Wallspot endeavours to keep the artworks up for as long as possible, due to high demand (over 5,000 wall requests a year) a piece may stay up from as little as hours, days or weeks at best. This ephemeral nature leads to an understanding that the pleasure is in the process of painting and interacting with the public and other artists with a token photo of the completed work at the end.
The park is typically referred in 3 languages, Catalan, Castellano and English- Jardines de les Tres Xemeneies, Parque de las Tres Chimeneas or Three Chimneys Park
