The Berlin Street Art

  The first thing that strikes a man came to Berlin for the first time is a huge number graffiti on walls. Almost all available surfaces in the city are painted. There are different types of graffiti: from a dull vandalism to playing runes, from commercial works to works of art. Berlin spends about 30 million euros per year to clean itself of vandal graffiti.

The annoying theme of the Berlin Wall, which is consumed by Western tourists with pleasure.

It is a work in Kreuzberg. Best nightclubs in the world are nearby.

These are also graffiti in Kreuzberg. That work was done for several nights, but in the morning of every day it represented a complete work. And then, the next night, it was completely repainted. The story may be interpreted this way: modern attributes of success, as a tie or clock, do not make a man free, he is still constrained, although sometimes by gold chains.

These are commercial graffiti. Most likely it is an attempt to decorate the facade, in order not to have unexpected vandal paintings.

"The border is not between the top and bottom, it is between you and me." This is an updated graffiti after a facade repair. The original one was: "The border is not between nations, but between the top and bottom."

Mediaspree is a megainvestment project created for a building of the river Spree embankment with business centers and expensive realities. The population is against the building, sometimes even protests may occur or conflicts with police and so on.

There are dozens of abandoned bridges at the Yorckstraße station. This inscription says: "We do not want a piece of a pie, we need the whole bakery!".

A blue baby by Wolfgang Auer.

Paintings on the wall of the squat Bethanien in a former hospital, Kreuzberg.

Gates to the legendary squat "Cap". It is famous because of effective fights for its life during a long time. And for the present the success is on its side.

The popularity of graffiti in Berlin is due to two factors: many of destroyed buildings formed side facades that are attractive to artists, and Berlin is the city of artists.

The club "Cassiopeia". There is a rock for alpinists, the area Warschauer Strasse, a very popular place for parties. In addition to the club there is a partially abandoned repair depot where writers practice.

Many of "street" artists work for glossy magazines, for example, XOOOX. Playing runes is a competition between teams of writers organized to see whose creations are cooler. The inaccessibility of surfaces is highly appreciated. For example, a paint on a facade of an abandoned building is easy, but if it is on a facade of an apartment, it is more complex and dangerous. To paint a train is especially difficult and dangerous, but generally it is a separate category of crazy artists.

This fresh picture is updated rather regularly. Generally speaking, graffiti is short-lived. Berlin is always transformed due to the activity of artists. Paintings in popular places such as Schwarzenberg or Tacheles are changed approximately once a year.

Graffiti through a stencil. They can also be painted in the form of paper applications, with paint sprays or with brushes. A stencil and paper applications are the fastest ways: all ingredients are prepared at home, and you paint under cover of night, then move quickly before tenants call to police.

The remained parts of the Berlin Wall were also given to artists. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing interesting. Only one popular work of Dmitry Vrubel can be marked: "My God! Help me to survive among this death love, or so called "brotherly kiss" that depicts a kiss of CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Honecker, the head of the GDR, E. It is one of the most famous graffiti in the world.

All walls are painted and pastered with works of tenants.

Since there is an opinion that today Berlin is the most attractive city in Germany for investments in real estate, the number of "vacant" surfaces becomes less and less every year.

via zyalt