Street Art Berlin

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Art vs. Vandialism

What do teenagers think? What does the law say?

2GO!

A guide on some of the greatest places to experience the art of Berlin’s street

“He is such a bomber!” Learn how to speak graffiti. Understand and communicate with street artists. Yasmin Al-Modhwahi

No. 1 February 2011

Street Art BERLIN



content

Street Art in Berlin

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2GO!

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Art vs. Vandialism

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Street Art > Graffiti

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“I speak Graffiti”

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STREET

N I L R E B n ART i

People with some idea of the term street art would agree that the streets of Berlin are covered with artistic expressions. Walls, pipes and roads have turned into a canvas and the canvases have turned into a great public exhibition with free admission. Meanwhile the citizents have become the artists. People from all over the world have come to Berlin to leave their

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stamp on this beautiful city. Berlin’s street art is characterized by the latter, but also by the critical, contemporary and yet colorful history of Berlin. There is no doubt that Berlin has become the capital of street art in Europe. You can not walk in the city without running into some marvelous piece of art in the street.


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2GO! 3 places 1 city

1 2 3

from our hotel

HOW 2GO

Our Hotel

1:Walk to U-Bahn Wittenbergplatz, take U1 in direction S+U Warschauer Str., get off at U-Bahn Schlesisches Tor, walk to The East Side Gallery. Duration: 0:34

2:Walk to U-Bahn Wittenbergplatz, take U2 in the direction S+U Pankow, get off at

U-Bahn Stadtmitte, take U6 in direction U Alt-Tegel, get off at U-Bahn Oranienburger Tor, walk to Oranienburger StraĂ&#x;e 54. Duration: 0:25

3:Walk to Breitscheidplatz, take bus 200 in the direction Michelangelostr., get off at Friedrichshain. Duration: 0:39


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THE EAST SIDE GALLERY

After the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989 people crowded to the wall and destroyed most of the 165 km wall. A 1.3 km long section of the wall was however preserved. The west side of this section had been decorated with colorfull paintings throughout the Cold War. The east side, however, had stayed white and untouchable since the construction of the concrete wall in 1975. In 1990 hundreds of artist from all over the world went to Berlin to decorate the naked East wall. The Gallery had its official debut on 28 September and was named The East

Side Gallery. The Gallery consists of 106 motives that express the feelings and thoughts of Berliners in the time following the fall of the wall. That is to say euphoria, freedom and hope for a new and a better future. The East Side Gallery is an open air gallery. Therefore it has been severely damaged by vandalism, pollution and erosion. Most of the paintings were in such a bad condition that the colors and the motives had almost vanished. Thanks to restoration and repainting, which has been going on since 1996, the Gallery is still a popular tourist attraction.

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2 TACHELES

Tacheles is an art centre situated in a ruin in Mitte, Berlin. The building itself has a very interesting history. The five-story building was constructed in 1907 and used to be a huge shopping mall. During World War II the Nazi’s used the building as an administration department as well as a place for French prisoners. Part of the building was severely damaged by the allied air forces between 1943 and 1945. After the war the east side of the building slowly fell apart, because the government of DDR had no wish nor money to preserve the building. After the Berlin wall came down the building was going to be demolished. However a group of artists occupied the building claiming that it was a historical site. They named the building Tacheles. Today the building functions as a nightclub, a music scene and an art centre with a range of art types. It has become a tourist attraction and cultural hub.

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FRIEDRICHSHAIN-KREUZBERG

Most people in Friendrichshain-Kreuzberg are young, alternative and left wing. This district of Berlin has turned in to a heaven for those who admire street art. The street art is not concentrated in a specific area in this district. The best way to experience the art here is a walk through Friendricshain-Kreuzberg.

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ART

vs

VANDALISM


teena

Name: Rikke Age: 15

Name: Martin Age: 16

Name: Ida Emilie Age: 17

“In my opinion you can’t just say whether street art is art or vandalism. As long as the artist has permission from the owner of e.g. a wall and the artist’s intention is to create then it is art.“

“In order to brighten up the city the street needs colors. It needs street art. If young people’s art was accepted and legal, they would also respect the guidelines they receive.“

“Tagging is terrible! I don’t see any point in that form of graffiti. If the work, however, is somewhat interesting or pleasing to the eye yes then it is art.“

gers

’ view

aw

l the

Vandalism is defined as destruction of or damage to the property of another. Whether another is the state or your neighbor does not matter. Whether the street “art” is interesting and beautiful does not matter either. What matters is that the owner of the property, whether it is a wall, a pipe or a bus, gives the artist permission to carry out his or her creation on the given object.

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“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they’re having a piss.”

- Banksy

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Street art

> Graffiti

MULAR Artwork that has been painted, sprayed or rolled directly on surface without template. - by BLUS

MOSAIC A big image created of smaller pieces of e.g. stone or glass.

- by “invader� STENCIL A template is used and thus the motive itself can be easily reproduced. The motive is usually sprayed on a wall. - by victor ash

STICKER Art form where stickers are used to promote the message of the artist. - by unknown artist

INSTILLATION In contrast to traditional street art, which is 2D art, installations are 3D objects. - by mentalgassi

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“I speak GRAFFITI” Did you ever pass by a group of grafitti painters? Did you understand what they meant, when they said “He’s a bomber”? Like all other languages street art has its own vocabulary and slang. Back to back → a wall has been covered with grafitti from one end to the other Bomber → someone who covers as large a surface area as possible with tags Burner → an extraodinary and time-consuming piece of graffiti Hat → stands for honor-among-thieves, you are a hat if you know who is behind the (illegal) graffiti, but you do not report it to the authorities Hollows → graffiti that is hollow, it has no fill only the outline Insides → when the graffiti is done on the inside of e.g. a bus or a train Safe wall → the graffiti artist has permission from the owner to paint Tag → the artist’s signature, is considered the simplest form of graffiti Up → to be up is to be well-known for your graffiti work Wildstyle → graffiti writing that is hard to read because of its complexity

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Street Art BERLIN


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