All posts tagged: Berlin

Various & Gould Go to Church to Spread Colorful “Strahlen” with Project “Startbahn”

November 30, 2023 Artists

In the heart of Berlin-Neukölln, the Genezareth Church, a neo-Gothic tower with a history as rich and intricate as the city itself, stands renewed and vibrant, thanks to the artistic duo Various and Gould. Their latest project, “Strahlen” (German for “rays” or “to shine”), was inaugurated in mid-September, almost 120 years to the day after the church’s foundation stone was laid in 1903. The installation heralds a new era for the church, which has been experiencing a revival under the Startbahn team, an open-minded group managing the church for the past few years.

Various & Gould. *“Strahlen”.* In collaboration with Startbahn Project at The Genezareth church on Herrfurthplatz in Berlin-Neukölln. (photo © Various & Gould)

Street artists and installation artists Various and Gould, known for their immersion in the context and history of their chosen sites, have transformed the church’s bricked-up windows into a dynamic visual narrative. “We were immediately struck by the church’s colorful redesign and open concept. Our design for the windows evolved into a dynamic, upward-striving bundle of rays, a lantern-like view into the church, reflecting its vibrant, multi-layered new program,” they shared. This transformation is particularly poignant, considering the church’s history of resilience and adaptation, especially during and after WWII when its proximity to Berlin-Tempelhof Airport necessitated critical architectural changes to work in concert with aeronautic needs.

Various & Gould. *“Strahlen”.* In collaboration with Startbahn Project at The Genezareth church on Herrfurthplatz in Berlin-Neukölln. (photo © Luis Limberg)

The mural, “Strahlen,” is not just an aesthetic enhancement but a symbolic representation of the church’s role in a changing neighborhood. Various and Gould observed, “The surrounding area, especially since the closure of the nearby airport, has been a juxtaposition of contrasts. Our mural mirrors this dynamism, serving as a beacon of diversity and plurality.” This is evident in the faces depicted in the mural, generated with AI and then artistically altered, representing the diverse community the church embraces.

Inside the church, artworks by other artists, like Polina Soloveichik’s Easter triptych, complement the external mural, creating a dialogue between the interior and exterior. The Startbahn team, according to their website, envisions the church as a space for artistic, spiritual, and socio-political projects, a vision embodied in Various and Gould’s “Strahlen.”

The installation of “Strahlen” at the Genezareth Church is a testament to the evolving role of public art in contemporary society. It bridges the free spirit of graffiti with the finesse of trained artists, creating a new paradigm in public art engagement. As Pastor Jasmin El-Manhy of the Startbahn initiative aptly says, “We aim to inspire and accompany people through life with a blessing, opening our doors to all walks of life.” One may say that this new project is not just a visual spectacle but a reaffirmation of the church’s commitment to inclusivity, diversity, and community engagement in a neighborhood rich with history and undergoing significant transformation.

———

The artists would like to thank Juliane Kownatzki and Tavar Zawacki for their spontaneous help.

See more images of the interior via the studio rlon HERE (© rlon)

Urban Spree: Photography “Lost In Time” In Berlin

February 23, 2023 Artists

Suspended time is the thematic thread that runs through an exhibition of six Berlin-based photographers on view at Urban Spree Galerie, itself a rare street adjacent respite balanced on the knife’s edge of renegade artistic autonomy and muscular steely gentrification.

Appropriate for an era when many in modern society feel unsteady and unsure of our collective direction due to shifting power centers, degraded institutions, unraveling capitalism, wars, and rumors of war, ‘Lost in Time’ presents “an eerie cartography of Berlin and beyond, encompassing emptiness, directionless pathways, time capsules, and social nature.”

Lukas K. Stiller. “LOST IN TIME”. Group Exhibition. Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin. (photo © Lukas K. Stiller)

Featured are photographic works by Anika Spereiter, Lena Lotte Agger, Lukas K. Stiller, Norman Behrendt, Olf, and Romeo Alaeff.

Included in the misty mix are surreal street photography nightscapes, misplaced Texan “cowboys”, a survey of the surreal emptiness in Berlin club culture when no one is there to bump and grind, wandering lonely through streets filled with strangers and ochre, emergency exits perplexingly ajar on the Ubahn, cloud-engulfed confrontations between police and protestors in the forest, and the immigrant curse of always feeling misplaced – a “haunting, cinematic, and evocative survey of Berlin as seen through the lens of an eternal outsider”

The combination of surrealism and ostracism creates a unique blend: irrational and unexpected surveys of the “normal” built city, amplified by feelings of ostracism and detachment. Together, these two elements can create a complex and thought-provoking atmosphere that challenges traditional ideas of reality and belonging. Time becomes malleable, unanchored, and suspended.

Romeo Alaeff. From the series “In der Fremde: Pictures from Home”. “LOST IN TIME”. Group Exhibition. Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin. (photo © Romeo Alaeff)

Lena-Lotte Agger. From the series “Sleeping Beauties”. “LOST IN TIME”. Group Exhibition. Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin. (photo © Lena-Lotte Agger)

OLF. Dannenrod Forest. “LOST IN TIME”. Group Exhibition. Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin. (photo © OLF)

Norman Behrendt. From his new series EXIT. “LOST IN TIME”. Group Exhibition. Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin. (photo © Norman Behrendt)

Anika Spereiter. From the series Lone Star. “LOST IN TIME”. Group Exhibition. Urban Spree Gallery, Berlin. (photo © Anika Spereiter)

Lost in Time: A Photographic Exploration. February 24th – March 19th, 2023. Urban Spree Galerie Revaler Str. 99. Berlin.

Photos Of BSA #9: Keeping it Small and Contextual

December 22, 2022 Artists

Happy Holidays! We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA readers, friends, and family for all of your support in 2022. We have selected some of our favorite shots by our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo, and we’re sharing a new one every day to celebrate all our good times together, our hope for the future, and our love for the street.

In an era where the monster mural can envelop an entire building or set of grain elevators, we are reminded that placement is everything. This year the UK street artist JPS left a number of small pieces in Berlin – just in the right place to catch your eye. This ingenious miniature box truck with a KLOPS tag appears on the riser of some steps in the Schöneberg neighborhood. It is evocative of a child’s imagination, which leads them into all sorts of adventures.

JPS – Klops. Urban Nation Museum Berlin. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Photos Of BSA #11: War is a Racket

December 20, 2022 Artists

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

~Major General Smedley D. Butler

The Haus der Statistik. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

*From Wikipedia:

Butler confesses that during his decades of service in the United States Marine Corps:

“I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.”

Berlin Diary. Day #1 / Stop Wars

GERA1 Spreads “Affection” in Berlin

October 8, 2022 Artists

Berlin is possibly most famous among the youthful demographic for the organic illegal graffiti and street art that covers entire neighborhoods – something that has stayed true for decades. Additionally, real estate companies and private curation groups have been sponsoring large murals on housing buildings throughout the city for the last decade.

Gera1. *“Affection”.* Organized by No Unicorn Yet. Berlin, September, 2022. (photo © Million Motions)

Today we have the new one in Marzahn-Hellersdorf on Stendaler Straße by the artist Gera 1 from Athens, Greece. A graffiti writer since 2009, Gera 1 graduated with a Fine Arts degree in Thessaloniki, and has painted large-scale works in Paris, Milan, and elsewhere in Europe. The multilayer image features a female form awash in a dream of CMYK, the principal colors used by printers everywhere. The color palette is a signature of the artist, who favors “glitch art”, realistic portraits, and abstract forms.

Our thanks to Moritz at Wandelism.

Berlin Diary. Day #4 / Berlin Visuell

April 28, 2022 Artists, Berlin

Imagine landing in a new city where you don’t know the language. Signs make no sense, people speaking around you are a puzzle. Looking out the window of the bus or plodding along the sidewalk you see posters, ads, and graffiti. Look for the expressions on faces, body language, and interrelationships. These are the visual clues that may tell you about the culture you have just landed in.

Berlin Visuell / April 2022 (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Berlin Diary. Day #3. Putin in Berlin

April 27, 2022 Artists

European sentiment toward their neighbor to the east is nearly unanimous right now due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russians. As usual, the art on the street reflects society and based on the number of works we have seen these last few days on walls here, there is a lot of dislike for Vladimir Putin.

A very cursory survey of the art in the streets yesterday turned up a multitude of small street works that mock, insult, and protest Putin. Expect many more politically charged portraits if war continues like this, and if inflation persists, and if fuel and food shortages begin in earnest….

Unidentified artist. Berlin, April 2022. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Berlin Diary. Day #2. JPS

April 26, 2022 Artists

JPS is crashing again here in Berlin – this time we found him on the steps of the Urban Nation museum with his miniature stencil works that are tragicomic. The UK street artist planted many of these throughout Berlin as a kind of egg hunt, but we only caught these four as we toured the Schöneberg neighborhood – often just big enough to fit in your hand, there is no question that they fit in the street.

JPS at Urban Nation Museum. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JPS in Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Berlin Diary. Day #1 / Stop Wars

April 25, 2022 Artists

A highly effective work of political street art in the heart of Alexanderplatz, Berlin, this enormous blood-red “STOP WARS” slogan has been recently refreshed after fading. The message was undoubtedly on the minds of the hundreds who were gathered here in the plaza yesterday to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Abstract, it is not.

The eight letter scream hovers above the corner of Otto-Braun-Strasse and the cars, bicycles, trams, and pedestrians who course by in this commercial and governmental district. Unpolished and urgent high above on the top 3 floors, no message could be clearing, or more of a draw for tourists who snap it and share.

Stop Wars. Haus der Statistik. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The former Haus der Statistik (House of Statistics) between 1968 and 2008, it has been abandoned ever since, according to locals. Naturally it has been a magnet for urban explorers and graffiti writers – even though its proximity to the police station is close. Now a consortium of public and private interests are supposed to be conjuring plans for the 65,000 square meter building that will engage the arts, culture, social, and housing needs, but you know how long that can take in Western societies.

The sentiment that roars across the top of this gleaming white modernist box is as timely right now as ever. An urgent response to this modern era of continuous wars bolstered by a profitable war industry, the danger here on Berlin streets feels more palpable as well.

Photos Of BSA 2021: #13: Waving the White Face Mask Flag

December 18, 2021 Artists

We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family for your support in 2021. We have selected some of our favorite shots from the year by our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo, and are sharing a new one every day to celebrate all our good times together, our hope for the future, and our love for the street.

It’s the elephant in the room at every social gathering, turning each store, restaurant, studio, living room, museum, pool hall… into a mental jail of some sort. Will this be the holiday office dinner that kills me? Will this be the graffiti jam that jams my lungs? Will this be the Christmas cashier who makes me finally cash out?

Probably that is why this diminutive statue in prison garb waving the white face mask flag high above the sidewalk, over our heads, ever-present, unmoving, – captures a moment that we are living in, courtesy of artist Styro in Berlin.

Berlin’s OKSE 126 Brings His CMYK DOTS Campaign to Walls in 103 Cities

November 18, 2021 Artists

Wading and wandering through the late autumn sunlight dappling the graffiti and street art near Alexanderplatz in Berlin, we noticed periodic dotting of the wall above the chaotic visual fray at eye level.

The four dots are a clear, crisp distillation of color that every graphic designer since the print age is well familiar with: CMYK. Expressed in 3-D sculpture dots with a variety of techniques and glued to the wall above us, we were reminded foften during our walk that all colors are a combination of these four.

A one-person mission by Berlin graffiti writer and street artist OKSE 126, the CMYK Dots campaign has traveled across many German and European cities and actually has a map for you to track them down. In addition to prodigious dots on the street, he’s started a line of clothing and art products and has shown his work in galleries like Berlin’s Urban Spree and this month at Hamburg’s Urban Shit Gallery “URBAN ART EDITION 2021” group show. The street art project, which OKSE 126 refers to as a modern technique of pointillism, has exceeded his goals, totaling 1,113 dots, 104 cities, and 16 countries.

CMYK Dots collaboration with Nat At Art. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.14.21

November 14, 2021 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

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Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! We’re thrilled to see you – you look marvelous!

The blustery cold snap outside today follows the mercurial mashup of winds, rains, thunder, and hail that shook our streets and darkened our skies yesterday – denting some cars, pummelling leaves downward. Ah fall; it feels like you are a couch and someone is taking out your stuffing.

The art of the street is indicative of the surreality of our times – a compression of days that also stretch like pumpkin taffy, wrapping around street lamps and fresh new Christmas light displays in Brooklyn. Everything, it would appear, is a dreamland of crisis; the economy, the environment, the bond crisis, the supply chain crisis, growing inflation, an impending food crisis, our faltering belief in institutions, our increasing distrust of each other, the police, the government, corporations, our currency, the medical profession, the church, and certainly our banks, the stock market, and Wall Street – these all define our times. Thankfully we have each other, friends.

Thank God for street art – the tea leaves of our time. Here’s a jolly mix-up of recent work found on the streets of two of our favorite cities – New York and Berlin.

Our interview with the street today includes Chris Jarosz, David Flores, Early Riser NYC, El Toro 215, Kiez Mie, Niko, ONI, Praxis VGZ, Rabea Senftenberg, RAMBO, Sara Lynne Leo, T.B.O.N.S., and Tianoo the Cat.

Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Flores for Goldman Global Arts- Houston/Bowery Wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rabea Senftenber tribute to David Bowie for Urban Nation Museum in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kiez Mie in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tianooo The Cat in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

T.B.O.N.S. in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. LES, NYC. November 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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