Joseph Kyselak (1798–1831)

the First Tagger and Local Patron of the Wiener Donaukanal Graffiti

Abstract

Joseph Kyselak (1798–1831) achieved fame during his lifetime on account of a strange habit: he left his name in huge black letters in many, perhaps hundreds of places. Since 2006, art historian Gabriele Goffriller and director Chico Klein have been collecting facts and figures on Joseph Kyselak. When we began, there were countless articles and stories about him, even novels and a play, but very few facts. After 16 years of research—what do we know about his aims? Is there a concept? Can Kyselak be seen as the first graffiti tagger in the world? In this paper, we want to give a short overview on the exquisite and endangered heritage of the local patron of graffiti.