A city panel will answer a question that has eluded art critics for a century

Toronto’s so-called “war on graffiti” has taken a turn for the philosophical, with more talk of what constitutes art and fewer photo ops with power washers. Come September, the city will have a newly minted Graffiti Panel, consisting of three or more city bureaucrats who will judge pictures of markings on walls. They’ll have the final say on whether a given work is in fact art (and can stay) or graffiti vandalism (and will have to go, at the cost of the property owners). A bunch of bureaucrats deciding what art is via committee doesn’t sound very art-friendly, but the city’s manager of beautiful streets—could that be Toronto’s best job title?—Dave Twaddle insists panel members will have urban design or public art chops. [National Post]