Fascinate

{{Short description|Graffiti painting in Stockholm, Sweden}}

{{italic title}}

{{other uses|Fascination (disambiguation)|Fascinated (disambiguation)}}

File:Bromsten Fascinate målad 1989.jpg

Fascinate is a graffiti painting at an industrial park in Bromsten, Stockholm.

Fascinate was created by Circle and Tariq (Tarik Saleh),[http://www.fria.nu/artikel/8494 Fria Tidningen: Hög tid för en ny syn på graffiti] then 17 years old, in 1989 and was then the largest graffiti painting in northern Europe. It is painted on an outside wall of an industrial building and was made with consent from the property owner. Fascinate is one of the world's oldest extant graffiti paintings.[http://www.stockholmsfria.nu/artikel/86803 Stockholms Fria: Oviss framtid för väggmålning som skrämmer och fascinerar]

In 1989, graffiti was a relatively new phenomenon in Sweden. The Bromsten industrial area was reconstructed into a residential area starting in 2018.{{cite web |url=https://xn--vxer-loa.stockholm/omraden/spanga-bromstensstaden/ |title=Bromstensstaden - Stockholm växer |website=xn--vxer-loa.stockholm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029152421/https://v%C3%A4xer.stockholm/omraden/spanga-bromstensstaden/ |archive-date=2018-10-29}} A discussion took place about possible protection of Fascinate as the Stockholm City Museum considered it culturally valuable. In 2008, however, the center-right majority in the city planning committee decided that the painting should not be maintained, referring to the city's graffiti policy, which says that the city should not "participate in activities that in any way encourages graffiti".{{cite web|last1=Borg|first1=Kristian|title=Stockholms klotterpolicy förbjuder även laglig graffiti|url=http://www.stockholmsfria.se/artikel/79754|website=stockholmsfria.se|date=27 May 2009 |publisher=Stockholms Fria Tidning|accessdate=9 December 2015|language=Swedish}}

After a period of uncertainty regarding the future of Fascinate, the wall became the first graffiti work in Sweden to be officially protected in 2015. The rest of the building is to be demolished and the area around the wall transformed into a park.{{cite web|last1=Weibull|first1=Hedvig|title=Första graffitimålningen i Sverige skyddad|url=http://www.svt.se/kultur/konst/omtvistade-fascinate-officiellt-k-markt|website=svt.se|date=8 December 2015|publisher=Sveriges Television|accessdate=9 December 2015|language=Swedish}}