Berlin, Friedrichshain: graffiti walls
Berlin is plastered with graffiti. And I love it.
Despite a recent crackdown, a decades-long history of (ahem) ‘public self-expression’ can be be read on walls all over the city, from ’80s wild-style to left-wing squatter provocations to the artsy paste-ups of the newly bohemian-chic Prenzlauerberg and Friedrichshain.
Though some of it would have been better off left inside the spray can, a few pieces are amazing — and the atmosphere created by the chaotic visual density of it all is (to me, anyway) extremely inspiring. I honestly can’t imagine a Berlin without it.
I’ll toss up a few snapshots in the coming week or two, and to start it off, here are a couple of beautifully textured samples from somewhere in the vicinity of the Simon-Dach-Strasse.




And there’s more … check out the second installment.

July 17th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
[…] Another generous helping from Berlin’s graffiti/street art scene, a kaleidoscope of ornamented walls from (at least) three eastern ‘hoods — Prenzlauerberg, Freidrichshain and Kreuzberg. The first Berlin graffiti post befindet sich hier. […]