Amateur graffiti contest at Metelkova Mesto, Ljubljana

Metelkova Mesto happens to be one of my favourite places in this town. For those of you who are not familiar with Ljubljana, until 1991 Metelkova Mesto was the location of military barracks of the Yugoslav People's Army. After Slovenia declared independence and the Yugoslav army left, the place was squatted by several artists, musicians, students, etc. and became somewhat of a centre for underground/alternative culture. It is also the location of a wonderful youth hostel called "Celica" (The Cell), which is a former military prison (each prison cell was converted into a bedroom-- you can read more about the place here.)
Anyhow, I won't get into anymore of the place's history in this post, as you can all see by the title, it's supposed to be about a graffiti contest...
I saw some posters announcing this contest that was organized by a secondary school students' association. I wasn't quite sure exactly what to expect as I've never attended a graffiti contest before.
I arrived there a bit late, the contest had already started. From what I found out, each contender was given 8 cans of spray paint and 3 hours time.
Well, I'm not an artist, nor am I an art critic, but I'd have to say, that some of these young artists have a lot of potential. Here are a few shots of them at work:








While this was happening, some other kids tried to demonstrate their breakdancing skills (or lack thereof) to various rap and hiphop tunes....




Finally, the 3 hours were up... The judges walked around, rated the work and made their decision....

Here are the winners :


First prize




Second prize




Third prize


Oh, and here is a possible contender for the 2016 contest, getting an early start! ;)





These and the rest of the pics from the contest can be seen here.

As it is Metelkova is already the host of lots of interesting and unusual graffiti and other works of art... I'll end this post with some examples...