“The special magic that comes from our cities is germinated in the mad sum of their improbable juxtapositions and impossible contradictions,” says curator Carlo McCormick when talking about the new show opening in Dresden, Germany this week in a former engine factory called Magic City : The Art of the Street.
AIKO at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Along with curator Ethel Seno and a creative team (full disclosure, BSA is part of it) McCormick is evoking an interstitial city that rises from the streets in many urban centers globally. Whether it is graffiti, Street Art, urban interventions, detournement, adbusting, or myriad cultural refinements, artists and activists are commonly, sometimes radically, altering the city and our experience of it.
Mad C at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
By engaging some of the best visual and intellectual examples of the whole current scene with a full knowledge of our recent past, Magic City lays out a route for you to appreciate the individual and a sense of the cumulative. It’s bold and somewhat romantic move to look for magic in the Graffiti / Street Art / Urban Art scene. Some may argue that it consists of nothing less.
Over the last few weeks about 40 artists have been installing brand new pieces and environments in the long wide factory space in advance of the grand preview this weekend. Here are some process shots of the building of a Magic City.
OLEK at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
OLEK at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
ROA at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Ernest Zacharevic at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Benuz at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Qi-Xinghua at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Replete at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Ori Carino and Benjamin Armas at work on their piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
WENU at work on their piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Jens Besser at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Leon Keer at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
SpY. Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
“He’s pissed off. He’s like… he has an attitude. He’s ornery. In my work I’m always looking to relate my own feelings to the images that I see and try to express them through painting.” Chris Sta...
"Dog is man’s best friend," goes the colloquialism attributed to Frederick II, King of Prussia. Rabies is friend to neither. Louis Masai for Mission Rabies. Blantyre, Malawi. May 2016. (photo © Lo...
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. If you are not seeing opinions and theories being expressed on social media or raging cable, you can always go to the streets today, as the voice of the peo...
This week in Berlin we had the chance to meet so many great folks as a result of the final Urban Nation events before September's opening of the museum. All the curators were in attendance, incl...
Artistic Routes Through and with Public Spaces The month long 4th Edition of Bien Urbain just wrapped in Besançon, France and the results are predictably rather awesome due to the quality of the work...