Street Levels Gallery: contemporary urban art initiatives

Well known in the urban art environment, his stick figures brought him national renown, as well as his personal interpretations of places, such as this cover dedicated to Florence. Keen to know more about the gallery and the urban art movement, we spoke to the co-founder and director of Street Levels Gallery, Sofia Bonacchi, to find out more.

How and why did Street Levels Gallery come about?

The name Street Levels intends the levels of interaction between art, public spaces and exhibition spaces. The idea came about when the artists of 74artistsstudio conducted a kind of experiment in 2017, creating half gallery and half art studio and calling it Street Levels Gallery. For the first two years, they had a lot of exhibitions and began the first murals. I then joined in 2018/19 and by 2020 there was a lot of hype around the gallery in Florence. After the pandemic, we decided to rebuild everything. We restructured the gallery and started again from zero. Now, it’s been almost 5 years since we restarted with a new team, and we have many urban art projects not only in Florence but in all of Tuscany and also outside the region. More than 50 murals have been carried out over the years, with 25 exhibitions, not only in the gallery, but also in various museums such as Museo Novecento, and in Venice, Follonica and Grosseto.

Street Levels recently opened a second space on via Melegnano. What are the hopes for the new space, and does it differ from the gallery on via Palazzuolo?

They are very different spaces, but they are also closely linked. When we opened the first gallery, we were all emerging in the sector, and it reflected what we were doing at that time. Now, the space is restrictive, because it’s low and narrow, so we needed a new exhibition space that better reflected the heights Street Levels has now reached. We didn’t want to abandon underground art, however, and so we chose this second location close to the first in order to show our public the two sides of the coin: the underground scene and a more traditional gallery dedicated to upper bracket art in a venue that’s suited to exhibitions and also private events, while via Palazzuolo is a showcase for emerging and experimental artists.

What was the impact of the Palazzuolo Strade Aperte project?

When we arrived in via Palazzuolo 8 years ago, we realized that it was a street with many problems. The opportunity came about to take on the Palazzuolo Strade Aperte project in 2023, and it was something that we had always wanted to do. We began by asking local artists to create artworks on 10 shutters on stores along the street. The idea was, and still is, to use the shutter as a canvas and transform the whole Palazzuolo area, creating a corner of the city dedicated to urban art. Our intention was that it would incentivize locals, residents and tourists to come to via Palazzuolo and create a new beginning for the area. The first project was a great success, and so we decided to make it an annual festival. This year, we will bring forward the date – usually it’s September – starting in June. We’ll transform more shutters than previous editions and also carry out the project over a longer timeframe, with new works continually added, so there’s a reason to return.

What was the intention behind the Sauro Papini Primary School project in Galluzzo?

It’s an example of a truly successful regeneration project. The Sauro Papini building dates to the 1970s, and it was full of grey, cement blocks and not suited for young people. When asked to take on the project, we thought of Nulo, a Hungarian artist who works a lot with colour. He filled the entire façade with warm colours like purple, orange, red and fuchsia. For me, it was surprising to see the reactions of the students—their happiness and pride to say that this is their school. It showed me, as it always does with murals, how artwork can completely revolutionise a space.

Tell us about your upcoming projects.

Something we’re very proud of is our upcoming project in Montespertoli, a village in the province of Florence that up until now has been well known for wine and olive oil but less visited from an artistic point of view. It’s a village that has dedicated itself to becoming a centre for urban art in Tuscany and has entrusted the project to us. Just 20 minutes from Florence, you’ll be able to visit a little village where over 20 murals will transform the main two streets over the course of a number of years, in addition to the reconstruction of a public space that will be used for exhibitions, workshops, live painting and everything to do with contemporary arts.