About

Dr Rafael Schacter is an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London. Working on both public and global art, Schacter has both an academic and public practice and writes and curates widely in both these areas. Having completed his PhD in Anthropology at UCL in 2011 and receiving a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at the same institution from 2014-2017, today Schacter heads the world leading Material Culture section within the department. For his most recent academic CV please click here.

Schacter has recently completed his fourth book, Monumental Graffiti, published by MIT Press in October 2024. He previously published Street to Studio with Lund Humphries in 2018; Ornament and Order: Graffiti, Street Art and the Parergon with Routledge in 2014; and the award-winning World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti with Yale University Press in 2013. Alongside his books, you can also find a range of academic articles, book chapters, artist essays, and other assorted writings on this website.

Schacter also has a wide-ranging curatorial output. Amongst other global projects, Schacter curated the Walking Tour at the Tate Modern’s Street Art exhibition in 2008, Futurismo Ancestral, Mapping the City and Venturing Beyond at Somerset House in 2014, 2015, and 2016 respectively, and Silver Sehnsucht in London’s Docklands in 2017. His most recent project, Motions of this Kind, took place at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, from April 11 – June 22 2019. He also recently completed a four-year public art project in Heerlen, the Netherlands, entitled Regrowth Degrowth.

Together with his academic teaching at UCL - in which Public Art and the Anthropology of Art are his specialities - Schacter has given keynote lectures at institutions such as The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Tate Modern in London, Green Papaya in Manila, The Frei University, and the Genshagen Foundation in Berlin. He has been interviewed for BBC News, the BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, BBC London Radio, and his work discussed in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Guardian, Reuters, the Huffington Post, and numerous other global press outlets.

Schacter also acts as a consultant for numerous projects, working on creative direction, curatorial guidance, and general art / anthropological related advice. He has and continues to undertake this for organisations such as the Barbican, Somerset House, .ART, Diageo, and M.C.Overalls, amongst many others.

In a previous life, Schacter was one half of the production and DJ duo Ill Logic & Raf. Producing Jungle / Drum & Bass for some of the most acclaimed record labels of the genre (Metalheadz Platinum, Bingo Beats, 31 Records, Ebony, Liquid V, Emotif), as well as DJing internationally and on pirate radio (most notably appearing weekly on Rinse FM from 1999-2005), this immersion in the London underground music scene has remained a key influence on all Schacter’s latter creative projects. For those interested, please find 3 recent mixes for NTS Radio here.