Trashcans in Berlin

Trash cans in Berlin

Yes, indeed this is an article about trash cans in Berlin you can find in any corner of the city.

This article is dedicated to all cans that have to swallow our garbage. In Berlin you can find many special trash cans that want to transfer a message in a special way. The main aim of those messages is to keep our environment clean. The importance of keeping our cities clean is so self-evident that we often don't think about it when we throw our trash on the streets. Those special trash cans make clear that we are supposed to take care of our environment. The trash cans draw people's attention unknowingly to environmental protection. They want to express that we all should live consciously. So let's take care of our cities and they will be maintained for a long time.

Streetart in...

… Rio de Janeiro!

In March 2009, the Brazilian government passed a law which decriminalizes street art. In an amendment to a federal law that punishes the defacing of urban buildings or monuments, street art was made legal if done with the consent of the owners. 

So any owner who wanted to get a new style for his or her house is allowed to ask any street artist he wants to paint a owned wall. 

As progressive of a policy as this may sound, the legislation is actually a reflection of the evolving landscape in Brazilian street art, an emerging and divergent movement in the global street art landscape. 

In Brazil, there is a distinction made between tagging, known as pichação, and grafite, a street art style distinctive to Brazil. 

In 1999, there was a progressive policy project called “Não pixe, grafite”, meant that 35 graffiti artists came together to bring diversity to Rio's style. 

The unique thing about the graffiti in Rio is their style. Fluent blurred lines between formal and informal, always on the limit between legal and illegal. 

Legalizing this kind of art makes Rio even more different, authentic, and more alive. 

Graffiti are also defined by their conspicuous South American style. Graffiti exist everywhere. They can be found everywhere, from the favelas to Brazil's upper class neighbourhoods, from residential to institutional. Streets, museums, tourist attractions, everything is used for art. If the owner allows.

Streetart in...

... Berlin!

In no other town you can find such a variety in street art like in Berlin. The success of the streets art shows that you can succeed by art to reshape the image of a town. 

The tourists who come every day to the capital are not pulled along ago any more only by the places of interest, bars and clubs, but also the art which can be found there on the streets. 

The UNESCO called Berlin ‘town of design’. Berlin is one of the biggest art galleries of the world.

Artists from all over the world come to be realised in this town and to form a part of the artistic scenes. 

Berlin offers for artists whether young or old, an amount of clearance and promises above all inspiration. Everybody can find his place in Berlin, 

because this town simply offers everything what the artist heart desires, mainstream or an illegal action.

Who wants to see art in Berlin, but got no money for museums and galleries, you should not search only on the streets of Berlin, 

big treasures are often found behind fences and walls in old buildings.

Berlin is international, you can feel this quite clearly if you look at the works of the artists from all over the world. Especially at the East Side Gallery.

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Streetart in ...

... Los Angeles!

Three years ago, Los Angeles lifted the ban on public murals. Previously, in the 1960s and ’70s, the “mural capital of the world” hadn’t had a public mural scene due to the law. Now, a group of young Latino muralists is chasing after a mural renaissance. That might be one of the first big steps towards Los Angeles' bright future of street art. Laws that will be passed and bans that will be lifted do not only open new opportunities, they also boost the development of entire scenes.

As a nice example is a mural painted by Kristy Sandoval. She turned a barred window into an opened cage with parrots and butterflies. She said that her mural art is a kind of feminist activism. The owner of the house wanted her to paint a black woman, that shows how people's minds work there.

Streetart in...

... São Paulo!

São Paulo is worldwide known as a city full of Street art.

Anyone walking through the town with open eyes can discover real treasures between the house walls.

The city of São Paulo in Brazil is home of over hundreds of museums, galleries, one Street-Art-open-air museum, a paradise of urbane culture and it is almost undiscovered despite the millions tourists who fly to Brazil year after year.

Graffiti culture in the Brazilian city is breathtaking, adding color and simultaneously staying in context to the city. Artists use the walls to present all forms of art, including abstract, portraiture and artwork with strong political statements.

In this metropolis there seems to be not even a single wall that is not covered with graffiti, wall paintings or smearings. - What are smearings and what is art, lies in the eye of the beholder.

In 2005 mayor Gilberto Kassab put through a ban of advertising. In one fell swoop millions of banners and signs disappeared. Graffiti artists from the subsoil rushed at the resulted free surfaces.

Beyond these streets, graffiti artists like Os Gêmeos, Nexus, Cadumen and Cranio can be found everywhere you look.

"Os Gêmeos" are worldwide famed superstars, called "The twins". You can admire their surreal masterpieces in the whole town. Gêmeos are represent from one of the most distinguished galleries of the town. You can also find our article about them here!

Once the urban cleaning would have nearly removed one big mural of the twins - „by mistake“ - which applies more than 700 square meters next to the highway.

People  stuck in the traffic jam can rejoice in fantastic beings, yellow bodies with thin limbs or a seated man who holds his own face in his hands far away from himself. 

Another form of the street art in São Paulo is "Pixação", translated with "smearing" and is valid for many inhabitants as crude disfigurement of their town. The world of the "Pixação" originates from an angular alphabet, which can be hardly deciphered. In monotonous black writing, different groups attach their name on different walls and mark their area.

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Streetart in...

... New York!

Nowadays New York belongs to the biggest streetart-hotspots in the world.

New York is the city, where the whole story of streetart started in the 60s: Teenagers wrote their names on walls, just with pens. That´s all. 

Whereas this kind of „art“ seems very unspectacular, there was a big hype around it. 

Today this kind of „Nickname writing“ is called „Tagging“. It is still a important component in the streetart scene.

Later on the tags got bigger, more creative and more colourful. The artists tried out how to draw their name even fancier than before and so the „piece“ was born. That´s what we see as a „real graffiti“: writing your name or any word in big and entwined letters on a wall.

Despite being illegal, nowadays Streetart is a part of everyday life in New York. Graffiti is painted everywhere, in every size, colour and sense. Posters and Stickers are fixed on signs, buildings or just on the street (which is usually not exactly illegal, but let´s say it´s at the edge of legality).

Many artists exhibit their art in New York. Even Banksy has been there to present some artworks and the people loved it.

But spraying isn´t illegal everywhere: there are some places like the corner Bowery/Houston Street where the graffiti has been legalized and people can meet in order to spray. 

Another way to do graffiti in a legal way are the containers that got provided by the city. At so called „block partys“ these containers were painted and everyone can take part or just have a look.

Below you can see some pictures taken in New York. 

Sources: https://www.facebook.com/StreetArtNYC/ 

Streetart in...

... Madrid!

 

Madrid is known to have some of the world's best street and urban art. There are some places where you can find and see a lot of streetart:

Lavapiés is the area where very different cultures and traditions meet. Originally the Jewish getto, it's now home to people from all over the world. It serves as inspiration for plenty of artists, actors, writers and musicians who are all in search for a place to practice their art. Lavapiés is where you will find a lot of interesting graffiti art and an ‘artfull’ atmosphere. You'll find pictures of street artists from all over the world, like these two:



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Or these works which were made by an artist called Belmondo, from Madrid:

Artist: Alice Pasquini from Rome (go to source)

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There are a lot of others, too! You can check them out here.

Streetart in...

...Tokyo!

For every Japan fan out there! If you have at least a tiny little heart for (Street-)art, you might have to visit Tokyo at least once in your life!

Tokyo's streetart is somehow different on its own way, unique like this one right here: 

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One of the places that is definitely worth a visit is the neighborhood of Daikanyama, it's like a giant "art exhibition minus the entrance fee" (taken from the same source as the picture), quite literally! 
The entire area of Daikanyama is more or less covered in graffiti and stencils! And they're not only there because some Japanese guy was particularly bored, this one proves that those graffiti are supposed to make your triste daily life in a mega city like Tokyo a little more... vivid. 

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Who would NOT want to look at THAT every day instead of at a plain, concrete wall?

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The entire area around Daikanyama (and around Shibuya station too) is basically covered in graffiti and stencils so that everybody will certainly find something they like and find impressive.
There are even some 3D works!








However, you won’t ONLY find graffiti, there are also artists who decide to just leave their tag all around the area, like these ones:


(credit to the artist KNEE JERK, found here.)

 

 

If you'd like to have more visual references, click here to watch an awesome video we found on YouTube or here to find a more detailed information about where to find street art in Tokyo!

Streetart in...

...Athens!

 Another new series that we're planning to elaborate in the near future: Bringing you impressions from different cities all over world!

The Epplehouse Tübingen

A German boy has become a time-historical figure.
By complete accident. 
Richard Epple, born on the 2nd of August 1954, died on the 1st of March 1972, shot by a policeman. 
At that time fear and hysteria ruled on all sides. 
The Baader-Meinhof-Gang bombed and shot itself through the country, their victims being  exclusively police officers. 
The state went over to hunting the terrorists with a gigantic contingent in security forces.
„Who shoots first, survives“, a detective superintendent described the mood inside the police department at the time. 
17-year-old Richard Epple simply made one silly mistake - driving his car drunk and without driving licence.
His case hit headlines.
Epple drove his car, then was controlled by a police officer.
He fled, and during the car chase, the police officer received permission to shoot, and so he killed Richard Epple.
The same week, the youthclub in Tübingen was captured by people who protest against the power of police and their capriciousness.
After that the House was called (Richard-) Epple-House. 
On Richard Epple's thirtieth day of death, his older brother Erich Epple was asked for a conversation about the events from back then:
„Do you know what happened to the policeman who shot your brother that day?" 
He didn’t. 
The young police officer, married, father of a family, committed suicide after a few years as he was unable to live with what had happened.
„This is dreadful,“ Erich meant. He wouldn’t say anything else.
The Epplehouse is like a memorial place for Richard. 
Today it’s a youthclub for everybody, where kids can get help to prevent themselves from going the wrong way and end up like Richard Epple. Dead. The Epplehaus is completely painted in streetart.