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University of Strasse — Fall 2025 Syllabus
Course Title: Graffiti Studies 183
The serious study of graffiti is a young and developing field, built by practitioners and
independent scholars often working in the shadows. This collection is a contribution to that field—a syllabus for a discipline that is still writing its own curriculum. It is the product of a single, decade-long doctoral journey through the history, theory, and soul of the tag.
The Syllabus: Four Texts, One Intellectual Journey
This package is not just a collection of books; it is an artifact of the doctoral process itself. A doctoral journey is about contributing to a field and breaking down walls, but what happens when that field has no formal home? You build one and tear down the walls yourself. As part of this research, the author founded the Tag Conference, creating the first dedicated academic space for this work and inviting scholars from all over the world to help build the discipline from the ground up. This syllabus, therefore, contains not just the final dissertation, but the "failed" attempts, theoretical detours, and collaborative foundations that were essential to the journey. It shows the work, not just the result, arguing that the journey was more important than the destination.
1. Subway Art(efact) by Edward Birzin.
The dissertation. (Abridged and repackaged, i.e. more readable.) This is the core academic work that challenges the dominant narrative of Subway Art. Through a close reading of the movement's foundational texts, Birzin proves that the myth of graffiti being constructed only by children is a fantasy, uncovering the crucial and often hidden role that adults played in shaping the art form.
2. What Do One Million JA Tags Signify? (2nd ed.) by Dr. Dumar Novy
The philosophical heart. This book was an early, aborted attempt at the dissertation, deemed "not academic enough" for a PhD, but too important to discard. It is a poetic exploration inspired by the work of philosopher Jacques Derrida, wrestling with the meaning of a tag that blankets a city.*
3. Kilroy's Conformity by Antny Kreeg 47.
The necessary detour. This second aborted dissertation attempt started with a simple question: "How is Kilroy Was Here the precursor to NYC graffiti?" The research led to a surprising conclusion: it isn't. In fact, this book argues that Kilroy was an expression of military might and group conformity, making it the ideological opposite of the individualistic, rebellious spirit of New York tagging. It is a critical work that defines graffiti by proving what it is not.
4. The Tag Conference Reader (Compiled by Javier Abarca, Edward Birzin, Matthias
Hubner).
The field's foundation. This reader collects the groundbreaking texts from the first-ever Tag Conference, hosted at Freie University Berlin. It proves that Graffiti Studies is a global discipline, with essays exploring the human impulse to tag across all of human history—from Ancient Egypt, Pompeii, and Chinese mountain poetry to hobo monikers, skywriting, and beyond. An Invitation to a New Field.
All books signed by NOV. This is from a small and otherwise sold-out run of Subway Art(efact) printed by NOV in collaboration with Ruyzdael Publishing. These are the last copies from NOV's personal archive.
These four books are offered together to demonstrate the winding path of real research. They are a contribution meant to be built upon, argued with, and expanded. Graffiti Studies needs more books, more theory, more practitioners, and more nerds to get involved and push the conversation forward. This collection serves as a challenge.
Do More. Be Better.
- Dumar Bebetta
*A Note on Derrida: The book on Ja-ism was inspired by Jacques Derrida's famous essay, "Signature Event Context". Derrida argues that for a signature to function, it must be repeatable. It has to be recognizable every time. Because it can be repeated, it can also be separated from its author and its original context. A signature on a check works even if the person who signed it is no longer there. Derrida found a beautiful paradox in this: a signature is most powerful in the absence of its creator. This is the essence of a graffiti tag—a name that builds its power by being repeated everywhere, completely detached from the physical presence of the writer.
About the Author
For years, the author of these texts worked under various names, a necessity in a culture where anonymity protects the work. He is the writer Nov York, who once said: "I lost like 3 or 10 fights in my life"; He is the theorist Antny Kreeg 47 and the poet-philosopher Dr. Dumar Novy. Now, as King Dr. Edward Birzin 149 All City One, he is sharing the complete intellectual record of his work, open to the world without fear of repercussion or concussion. These books are the different facets of one long, solitary investigation.