Legal wall

Legal walls or open walls, are public spaces where graffiti is allowed by any member of the public.

Legal walls started in Scandinavia, and the first legal wall was likely the klotterplanket ("scribble board") in Stockholm which opened in 1968. The wall was repainted white every morning by a civil servant. They are still most common in Scandinavia, as well as Australia where there are over thirty legal walls in Canberra alone. However, legal walls exist around the world.

Legal walls are different from commissioned murals or commercial graffiti as writers and artists are given relative freedom in what they create, although hateful messages are often disallowed. They may be state-designated spaces or privately owned. Privately owned walls may need council permission to exist in some jurisdictions, where graffiti-style art is illegal in public even if done on personal property.