Aerosol, Avignon, astronauts, and an ornery ornithologist under the U-Bahn feeding hundreds of pigeons, making threats toward a visiting photojournalist about revealing her identity — it’s all part of a typical sunny fall survey of Berlin as we track the streets under the U3 from Urban Spree to Urban Nation on foot. It’s a hike, but why not? You’ve got to burn off last night’s Schultheiss beers that add to your girth and your bleary, sun-streaked view of the streets. Keep your eyes darting across surfaces and you’re rewarded in this city: stickers, tags, stencils of owls and cats, and Haring and Frida, impossible Berlin Kidz pieces sliding down walls from high altitudes, and 1UP tags in nearly every possible — and impossible — location.
Closer to Nollendorfplatz station, the formal murals from UN mix with a kaleidoscope of local spray — a lively conversation about fame, the environment, politics, gentrification, fear, love, and the many Paradoxes of life (see what we did there?).. Alive and kicking, shall we say, in Berlin. Next stop; Prague.
This week’s interview with the streets includes: 1Up Crew, Berlin Kidz, Cartonneros, Dylan Mitro, Erka, Kranz, Media’s, Paradox, Phoebe Graphy, Push X, The London Police, Unplatonic, and Victor Ash.
Canadian artist Dylan Mitro collaborated with residents of the so-called “Omabunker”—a senior apartment building near URBAN NATION in Berlin—to create the community wall project “Love Letter from the Omabunker.” During his Martha Cooper Fellowship, Mitro invited the folks who live there to photograph one another and their surroundings, turning everyday snapshots into large black-and-white portraits now covering the building’s façade.
The project reflects Martha Cooper’s documentary spirit—finding beauty and dignity in ordinary lives—while reworking it into a collective, site-specific gesture. Here, the street becomes both subject and canvas: the photographers and the photographed are the same people, turning their home into an image of itself and making visible a community that often may be unseen.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week and to fall—officially here as of this morning in New York and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. The leaves are starting to pop with yellows, people are breaking out the wool turtlenecks and corduroy way too early, and somewhere under the bleachers at football games, a few sneaky kisses are being stolen. Meanwhile, students are finally settling into the grind of the school year. But flip it for the folks south of the Equator, where spring’s about to bloom. In both hemispheres, whether it’s fall or spring, artists and vandals will continue to tag the overlooked corners and forgotten walls, staking their claim in public space.
This week in the BSA book review department, we’re diving into a new scholastic tome from one of the few brilliant graffiti scholars out there—Rafael Schacter. You might remember him from his global street art compendium, his curated show ‘Mapping the City’ at Somerset House in London (yes, the one that included people like Brad Downey, Swoon, and Eltono), or even his early work at the Tate back in ’08 with artists on the façade of the museum like Faile, Blu, and Os Gemeos. His latest book, Monumental Graffiti: Tracing Public Art and Resistance in the City (MIT Press), just landed on our doorstep. We’re eyeing it with both curiosity and caution as he’s making some bold connections between monuments and graffiti—connections that are peculiar on their face. He’s digging into a secondary or even third-tier definition of ‘monument,’ so who knows, it might all come together in the end. But this is the same guy who gave us ‘intramural’ graffiti about a decade ago… and, that term hasn’t hit the streets, as it were.
Re: intramural – In his curatorial work Schacter sometimes argues that street art occupies a unique space that is neither fully embraced by institutional frameworks (like museums and galleries, the “inside”) nor entirely outside them (like illegal, unsanctioned art in public spaces, the “outside”). Intramural, extramural. Makes total sense. But aside with the confusion caused by the word ‘mural’ buried inside it, there is perhaps a ‘branding’ problem with the word here in the US. It sounds too much like ‘intramural sports,’ which were always introduced at grade school for both boys and girls to play together to foster team-building skills – right around the age when girls typically think boys are ‘gross,’ and boys think girls are ‘weird.’ So it feels awkward and frightful! I feel like my voice is cracking and I’m growing a very light mustache when I hear it. Let’s see how this graffiti/monument thing works out. If anyone can do it, Rafael can!
And here we go boldly into the streets of New York and Berlin this week with new extramural stuff from: Judith Supine, Crash, 1UP Crew, Homesick, Nespoon, Hera, Phetus, Atomik, Qzar, Wild West, Drew Kane, and Seileise.
Culturally, artistically, and socially, Berlin never stops thrilling, surprising, and offering fresh perspectives. Though artists continue to discuss the rising cost of living and the slow disappearance of key clubs and cultural hubs, there’s still an undeniable fervor for new art and new participants are still shaking things up.
Witness the crowded museum and long lines of youth and middle-aged people, as well as some octogenarians at the Urban Nation opening here called “Love Letters to the City,” which is the main reason we’re here for a few days. The speeches, the beer, the energy, the high-quality installations and the questions they pose, the street fair with parkour and bBoys and bGirlz, rappers, kids tagging their names in aerosol at an open class, the exhibition boxing matches… It was a legit, diverse program, free of corporate overload, and with real talk on gentrification, the environment, and social and financial inequality. Once again, it proves that when art institutions take risks, they can give street art, graffiti, and urban art the respect they deserve.
While the debate still pops up about whether museums should even host street art and graffiti, there are smart and sharp pros teaming up with artists to push the conversation forward, broaden the topics, and bring more people into the mix. In the end, they’re archiving a small slice of this massive, chaotic global art movement – so future generations can get a glimpse of it, reflect on it, and maybe even get inspired.
While right-wing movements are reshaping politics here, leading to stricter border policies and longer lines at the airport, Berlin remains fiercely committed to its ragged, rebellious spirit of protecting individual liberties and free expression. The ironies are hard to miss: just two blocks from the Bulow Street Fair, a family-friendly block-long event celebrating what is officially illegal art on the street and political concerns may dominate conversations, Berlin hosts Folsom Europe, the largest festival for leather and fetish enthusiasts, raging freely for four days with five stages and a “puppy parade”. It’s a vivid contrast—on one hand, they’re tightening borders, and on the other, this is a celebration of personal freedom.
Also, it’s more entertaining than a boring football match. Thousands of (mostly) men parade down Fuggerstraße in neighboring Nollendorfstraße, stomping through the streets in various ensembles—militaristic oppressor, master and servant, or dog and owner themes. Regardless, most will be at brunch with hangovers the next morning. If a drunken one gets disorderly, the police are advised not to threaten with handcuffs. The festival attire may range from severe, almost fascist looks to outfits with a more playful fierceness, like brightly colored hazmat suits or firefighter uniforms. At the lower end of the fetish festival fashion spectrum are the guys who just threw on a leather vest or a pair of Doc Martens—and the “bought it at the mall” crowd are in one-piece leather or rubber jumpsuits with Hoxo sneakers, like race car drivers heading to the grocery store.
At Folsom, you can pick up everything from whips, paddles, original artwork, and adult toys to bratwurst, pretzels, beer, French fries (pommes), and meat skewers. There are also plenty of vegan and vegetarian options available. What’s most remarkable and admirable about the tough, perpetually unimpressed Berliners is that they’ve seen it all before and hardly take note. They go about their business—picking up Saturday groceries, maybe a bunch of flowers, or fetching their kid from Taekwondo class. They take their dog to the park to enjoy the sunny, chilly September weather. Everyday folks in the neighborhood wait patiently at the crosswalk, alongside a cluster of muscular men with mustaches and leather, sometimes greeting one another, but mostly unfazed by each other’s presence.
The current street art and graffiti—what’s been sprayed or pasted up recently—never fails to impress, even when you’re not entirely sure what it’s about. We’re happy to be here and to share some of it with you.
Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Invader, 1Up Crew, Hera, Pobel, Nat At Art, One Truth, Natrix, Roffle, LAYD, T Tan Box, Rise, Petite Agite, Maxim, and PZE.
This week we see a few new walls in New York mixed with images from Stavanger and Utsira, Norway that we caught a few weeks ago. Speaking of Stavanger, last night we had a Nuart reunion of sorts in New York as we saw the first solo exhibition of Norwegian Martin Whatson here at Harman Projects, and it was good to see the artist and many beautiful people from this scene that we love so much.
Here is our regular interview with the street: this week featuring 1Up Crew, Martin Whatson, Helen Bur, Carrie Reichardt, M-City, Ardif, XSM, JPO Art, the J0N, Never Satisfied, StayOne, SynSynerSynet, HOPES, SHIE, Ban Box, Dr. AW, John Fekner, and La Staa.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! This week we have a stunning array of street art pieces in Norway, from small detailed stencils to sweeping murals, figurative to conceptual to heroic. We’re in Stavanger for the Nice Surprise festival. Naturally, our own Jaime Rojo also had to strike a pose atop Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), which takes all the stamina and courage you can affjord. We are also seeing pieces and installations from previous Nuart festivals all over the place in Stavanger, many of which we’ve published previously but have not seen in person. Of course, not all of these shots are from Nuart and one is in Flekkefjord – a storied town that looks like it is frozen in time. And by frozen, we mean, well…
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: 1UP Crew, John Fekner, HYURO, Add Fuel, EVOL, Snik, Jaune, JPS, Pøbel, Ammparito, Nuno Viegas, Vlady Art, Slava Ptrk, Toddel, Mendioh, and STRØK.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! This week we have some great stuff from Norway for you.
The southern tip of Norway, graced by picturesque towns like Flekkefjord, Obrestad, Bryne, Sandnes, and Stavanger, is imbued with a rich tapestry of history, culture, and breathtaking natural beauty. Nestled along the summer coastline, these towns stand as a testament to Norway’s maritime history and heritage.
As you are driving and winding through the green rolling countryside and into quaint old idyllic towns countenancing picturesque harbors, waterfronts, wooden buildings, cobblestone streets, boat parades, seafood-focused cuisine, towering cliffs, and steep mountainsides plunging dramatically into the deep, serene waters below that, produce and interplay of light and shadow and a mesmerizing tapestry of colors, you think “Where did all of these sheep come from?” At first, during our two days of driving the south Norwegian countryside, we thought we had stumbled into a unique town with those puffy white animals dotting the green hills, constantly chewing, but they would soon disappear. Little did we know.
In the US, there are 16 sheep per person in the country. In Norway, it is 463.
And they are all freaking adorable—also rams. Rams are very adorable but might knock you on your rumpa if you get too close.
Also, there was a very modest amount of street art among all the natural beauty and stunning architecture. Still, with our expert guides, we found surprising occurrences of stencils and murals and the occasional tag while traipsing through places like Flekkefjord, Sandness, and Obrestad (in a lighthouse!).
Our sincere thanks to Tor and Marie for showing us the sights and the beautiful fjords. Hey, did you hear about the musical fjord? It’s quite a harmonious inlet!
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Isaac Cordal, 1UP Crew, David De La Mano, Said Dokins, Ethos, JPS, Pøbel, Hama Woods, Smug, Jofre Oliveras, Helene Norkildsen, Nimi, RH-74 Renate, Pablo S. Herrero, Juan Fiveliner, Skrue, Anette Moi, Ugly Logo.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. 1UP – ONE WEEK WITH 1UP – THE SHORT FILM
2. 5 MINUTES WITH: MADC in the Maldives
3. Liberation for Black Trans Women / CANS Can’t Stant / The New Yorker
BSA Special Feature: 1UP – ONE WEEK WITH 1UP – THE SHORT FILM
Global brand 1UP continues to build their mountain of exploits and is smart enough to engage the premiere film director Selina Miles to tell the story. “I loved seeing so many people rushing into action all at once,” says veteran graffiti documentarian Martha Cooper as she relates the adrenalin rush of highly planned aerosol operations on the U-Bahn that she and Ninja K captured for this book/short film entitled “One Week With1UP”.
The risks are measured in the duration of rapid heart rates, multiplied by the long slow burn of anticipation and divided by the dull hours of strategizing, discussion, and planning. Cooper says she’s fascinated by the persistence of the graffiti practice over 50 years, and she should know because she’s shot the evolution of this youth-centered practice since she was a cub photographer for the New York Post in the 1970s. Miles captures the prevalent sensations of the cat-and-mouse adventurism running through this hormone-fueled grey cloud that floats somewhere between art, self-expression, pranksterism, and straight-up vandalism. By leaving the area grey, the viewer is pushed to draw their line about privilege, propriety, and its additive/subtractive relationship with the cityscape.
“It takes community and camaraderie, and skills and experience, and preplanning and all of that,” says Martha.
Big up to Spray Daily and Ilovegraffiti.de for sharing this.
5 MINUTES WITH: MADC in the Maldives
“Painting in these surroundings is unbelievable,” says graff writer MadC as she marvels at the natural beauty she is working in tandem with in the Maldives. “You are right there on the water, there are eagle rays right under you, fish everywhere, flying foxes coming…,” she explains. “I don’t think while I’m painting. It’s on an emotional level.”
Liberation for Black Trans Women / CANS Can’t Stant / The New Yorker
While there is greater support for trans people today, in the end its usually trans people and their closest allies who still do all the work of creating a safe, just world. In this film by Matt Nadel and Megan Plotkawe, we gain a greater understanding of the insidious nature of transphobia as we see a group of Black trans women fighting to repeal a law used to target queer locals.
In Miami’s Wynwood District for a handful of days, we weaved through the humid, hot, dirty streets. We captured the chaos of new graffiti bombing, street art murals, stickers, commercial commissions of street artists, bland abstracts on massive facades, billboards posing as street art, and even some yarn-bombing. Every retail store is selling products that have been spray-painted with non-descript cheerful, sticky, drippy, stenciled, ironic messaging.
The construction cranes that soar overhead are nearly grazed by the low-flying 737s streaming to and from the airport, reaching ever higher, foretelling of higher rents and luxury condos. Meanwhile, a guy is pissing on the sidewalk behind a dumpster.
Nighttime escapades include chock-a-block clubs with big-gunned men and ropes out front and hostesses in bras and thongs, teetering on high heels. Because competition among these clubs is thick, they are yelling to you over the gut-thumping Shakira-Bad Bunny-Meghan Thee Stallion remixes blasted out to the street, “No cover charge! 2 for 1 drinks!” and other come-ons. The lines queue for the door with IDs in hand while a police cruiser lurks on the corner, throwing blue and red lights flashing across murals and dazed passersby.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: 1UP, Blade, Sac Six, Maxi Bagnasco, Terra Armstrong, NB Artistry, XIK, Resko-CMA and VHILs.
Today we have part two of our coverage of the MEMUR Festival in Oldenburg, Germany. More than 30 regional and international artists painted a 280-meter-long wall of the railway elevation on the Oldenburg federal railway path – street artists on one side, graffiti artists on the other. In addition to the aerosol action, there was a photo exhibition featuring our featured documentarians, Martha Cooper and Nika Kramer, film screenings, photography and art workshops, and an educational program in cooperation with the Oldenburg City Museum and the Oldenburg Prevention Council.
Organizers say they needed 500 liters of wall paint just to prime the walls, and probably 1000 spray cans were used during the 3-day event. The 3D style is ruling the moment, but you can see bubble style and semi-wildstyle, some neofuturism, – as well as introductions of characters and brief fictional scenarios. Most importantly, most of the pieces get ample space to breathe and to stand on their own.
The sheer number of organic and community walls in Berlin means that you are exposed to a great variety of styles and opinions and perspectives through art daily on the street. There is a sense of pride about this as well – and we’re pleased to see free speech here while privately held social platforms are growing tumors of censorship. Long live the contradictory opinions that challenge our minds and our assumptions.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: 1UP, Dave the Chimp, Lacuna, Anne Bengard, Murad Subay, Caro Pepe, Sam Crew, Dafne Tree, Little Ms. Fierce, Emily Strange, Anne Baerlin, Kiexmiezn030, Cippolini187, Artmos 4, Juliana Zamoit, Paris, Urteil, and Mate X.
It has been a somewhat delirious spring week in Berlin-town as we cope with that special blend of bliss and dysphoria that envelopes you – mixing intercontinental jet lag, blooming cherry blossoms, birds chirping, aerosol spraying, and the chaos and grief of war at the doorstep. The shadow of war was never far from conversations.
All week we have been gratified, elated, to see the spirit of creativity everywhere- murals, tags, stickers,pop-up gallery show; but friends and colleagues speak of institutional failures, inflation, and fears of war spiraling. Notably in three conversations Berliners told us they expect America to re-elect Trump and that the US will soon be convulsed into war.
But the art! The streets! The spring! The murals in the rag-tag parks here that are dotted with skater half-pipes and blooming lilac bushes, the smell of piss and marijuana and cherry blossoms – it is all here in gritty and eclectic Berlin. People help point you in the next direction, and you discover more. The new real estate developments tend toward towering glass, and some previously artist neighborhoods are decidedly gentrifying, but the balance with the creative sector is still healthy, or so we think.
Today we are back in dirty old Brooklyn, but we already miss our sister-brother Berlin and the beautiful people we spent time with.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: 1UP Crew, Nafir, CMYK Dots, Anchor, Emikly Strangre202, Andrea Villanis, Andioh, Liz Art, Tobo Berlin, Devita, and Mash.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
