Street art in Berlin

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A tour through some highlights of Berlin's public art.

In 2006, UNESCO made Berlin the first continental European city to be named a City of Design as a part of the Creative Cities Network. The title City of Design encompasses all aspects of the arts—fashion, design, architecture—but even just a quick stroll through Berlin’s vibrant Prenzlauer Berg or Kreuzberg neighbourhoods will convince any casual observer that creativity not only exists here in the more traditional forms of art, but that the city’s public spaces, too, are alive with art. Some particular neighbourhoods are absolutely pulsing with creativity.

Street art, or graffiti, took off in Berlin in the 1980s as a reaction to the sprawling, repressive, blank canvas that stretched across the city (better known as die Berliner Mauer, or the Berlin Wall). Through artists’ work, the wall transformed from a symbol of repression into one of freedom—it provided a canvas for artists to express themselves, and a free art gallery for all to visit.

Today the East Side Gallery is the largest (at over one kilometre in length) open-air gallery, and features works such as the iconic Mein Gott, hilf mir, diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben (My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love), which as a legitimate art piece has inspired derivative works elsewhere in the world. 

The Gallery undergoes frequent changes and restorative efforts, so it seems that by the time a visitor can stroll from one end to the other, something on the wall will probably have already been modified!

Much of Berlin’s street art is done by well-known artists, some of whom are commissioned and some who provide designs of their own volition. One famous artist, Shepard Fairey, perhaps better known as OBEY (or as the creator of the iconic Hope image used in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign) was commissioned by Urban Nation, a Berlin-based company focused on bringing in international talent to adorn Berlin’s building façades, to create this mural:

Across Mehringplatz from Fairey’s work is another Urban Nation-commissioned work for the One Wall project, an initiative with the goal of solidifying Berlin as a recognized art destination.

By the time this photo had been taken, this work by the Danish artist Don John had already been modified and tagged by another artist.  

This transient nature of street art (as well as of human life) is a theme that the Belgian artist ROA features in his works through the portrayal of death and decay of animals. ROA’s work, Nature Morte, in Oranienstraße is another work that was commissioned by Skalitzers Contemporary Art:

Another ephemeral installation throughout Berlin was a collection of black and white photo murals featured on various building facades; JR’s Wrinkles of the City  project depicted older people with the intention of inviting comparisons between the aging of the city and the aging of these people. However, only a handful of the original 15 remain, including this one near Alexanderplatz. As a respected artist, JR has also had exhibits in art museums throughout the world.

Even in Berlin, however, not all street art is legal or commissioned. Many surfaces throughout the city are littered with various graffiti tags, and (as in the case below) even the request for mehr Knoblauch (more garlic).

Street art varies between neighbourhoods; in Kreuzberg, artists express their distaste for gentrification.

The writing on the pink building asks for the abolishment of servitude and that people live freely, while a building nearby…

…parodies a Monopoly board in a statement that Berlin ist nicht for sale. 

While a significant amount of Berlin’s street art is intended to spark discourse, or to convey a poignant message to a mass audience, some doesn’t seem to have any express purpose other than for the sake of art and beautification.

Street art adds such a charming aspect to Berlin. It rebels against the oppression in the city’s past, provokes thought and questions, and brightens up what would otherwise be fairly dull buildings. Walking along the streets of Berlin is as artistically satisfying as visiting any other European art gallery, as far as this appreciator is concerned!