During 2009 and 2010, construction sites in Helsinki area began to have plywood walls around them, to make the city look nicer. These plywood walls, again, drew the attention of visually oriented people. The question arose: what could they be used for?
Helsinki’s policy has been very strict for polishing graffiti and other street art, illegally made, immediately away off its surfaces when it appears. While, this has made the environment more pleasant in many ways, the city still lacks the visual multidimensionality and existence of different visual voices and styles, that strong street art culture can bring to a cityspace.
Multicoloured dreams is a voice for developing creative visual culture in public space, but not illegally and by damaging property. Instead of demanding these walls to be opened to all possible visual markings, a procedure that can be accepted by all parties, including city authorities and owners of the construction sites, was developed. Permission for use of each wall are sought from both of these parties, and artists are first asked to make a sketch of their work, before implementation on the wall.
Although less free than usual street art culture, it is still hoped for that Multicoloured Dreams can inspire many kinds of artists into thinking about novel and inspiring ways of using public space.
