All posts tagged: Jaime Rojo

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.23.25

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.23.25

Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week!

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week, to Spring, to the land of Hype and Hustle!

Down in D.C., it’s all smoke, mirrors, and sharp elbows. There’s a full-blown constitutional cage match brewing over deportation flights—judges say no, the President says yes, and now he wants the judge impeached. Meanwhile, Trump just yanked security clearances from a list of political enemies longer than a CVS receipt. And don’t worry about that secret Pentagon huddle with Elon Musk—apparently, it wasn’t about China. We all feel reassured, like the stock market last week.

Also on the mic: Bernie and AOC are hitting the road with an “Anti-Oligarchy Tour.” Get your T-shirt here. Not to be outdone, the new billionaire Commerce Secretary says seniors missing Social Security checks wouldn’t be a big deal. Because, of course, he does.

Back home in NYC, there’s a heavier police presence—more beat cops on the sidewalks, more boots on subway platforms, or at least it feels that way. Some say it’s about safety; others say it’s panic. And let’s be real: it often appears that this city still has no idea what to do with our mentally ill neighbors except push them outside and act shocked when they behave like they’re… mentally ill.

New polls say Mayor Adams is trailing Cuomo in the fall race, but honestly? Nobody’s exactly throwing block parties for either of them. There’s a leadership vacuum—and everyday people are concerned about who will fill it.

But hope blooms in strange places. Like car number five on the downtown number 1 train, where Miguel “Mike Plants” Andrade—aka The Plant Man—has been selling succulents and orchids a smile for few years. A. We’ve always liked the word ‘succulent’, and B. This guy proves that one human doing their thing with a heart can still shift the whole mood.

And in street art and graffiti? The walls are still talking—shouting, whispering, reflecting us back at ourselves. If the message feels messy, it’s because the world is messy. But there’s clarity in the chaos if you squint just right.

And we continue with our interview with the street, this week including Faile, Judith Supine, City Kitty, Lexi Bella, Werds, Turtle Caps, Zoot, Corn Queen, Klonism, Zero Productivity, Muska, Nice, Badlucao, LYFR, and Barb Tropolis.

Turtle Caps & Klonism (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Klonism & Turtle Caps (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Turtle Caps & Klonism (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Zero Productivity (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Barb Tropolis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
LYFR (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Corn Queen (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lexi Bella (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Badiucao (photo © Jaime Rojo)
NICE (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ZOOT MUSKA (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WERDS (photo © Jaime Rojo)
FAILE (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Spring sunset. Williamsburg Bridge. Spring 2025. NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Read more
Urban Nation Berlin, Situationists, and “Love Letters To The City” Part 3

Urban Nation Berlin, Situationists, and “Love Letters To The City” Part 3

First day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and what better sign of renewal than a fresh Urban Nation bloom—sprouting defiantly among the dried leaves, cigarette butts, and abandoned Berliner Pilsner bottles?

As part of an ongoing conversation with curator Michelle Houston about the latest show at Urban Nation, LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY, we find ourselves drawn to the echoes of the Situationists, those restless wanderers who believed the city wasn’t just a place but an experience—one that tugs at your emotions, plays with your psychology, and sometimes leads you straight to an impromptu picnic on Görlitzer Park’s slightly suspect grass.

The show isn’t just a tribute to urban spaces; it’s a love note, a protest, and a collection of insights into the streets that shape us and our experience.

Video credits: Commissioned by Stiftung Berliner Leben. Shot by Alexander Lichtner & Ilja Braun. Post-production, additional footage, graphics, and a final version by Michelle Nimpsch for YAP Studio/YES, AND… productions GmbH & Co. KG

Read more
“The People’s Art”: Taking It to the Streets for 10 Years

“The People’s Art”: Taking It to the Streets for 10 Years

For a decade, SaveArtSpace has transformed New York’s streets into open-air galleries, reclaiming advertising spaces as canvases for public expression. As jurors for The People’s Art, we’re proud to celebrate this milestone 10th-anniversary exhibition, continuing the tradition of putting art directly into the streets—where it has always belonged.

From the earliest graffiti writers to the street artists of today, creatives have long turned to public space, short-circuiting the existing system and taking their work to the streets. The billboards in this exhibition honor that history, bypassing traditional gatekeepers and giving artists a direct line to the city itself. No red tape, no VIP lists—just the raw, immediate impact of art in the urban landscape.

SaveArtSpace co-founder Travis Rix has been a driving force behind this direction in the last decade, ensuring that artists—regardless of background or formal representation—have access to some of the most visible walls in the world. This year’s exhibition continues that mission, giving up to 50 artists the chance to showcase their work across New York.

We invite artists of all ages and talents to submit their artwork between March 3, 2024, and April 14, 2025. A $10 donation per image submission helps fund the project and is tax-deductible. Selected artists will be announced after April 28, 2025, and their work will go up on billboards starting May 30, 2025, staying on view for at least a month. The celebration doesn’t stop there—chosen works will also be exhibited at Satellite Gallery (279 Broome St, NYC) with an opening night anniversary party on May 30, 2025, from 6-9 PM.

This is a street-wise event, a New York tradition, and a tribute to the artists who take their work straight to the public. Below, we look at a few past billboards that turned the city into a gallery—proof that art in the commons isn’t just possible, it’s necessary.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

SaveArtSpace is proud to present our 10th Anniversary celebration The People’s Art, a group public art exhibition on billboard ad space in New York, NY, opening May 30, 2025, curated by Anne-Laure Lemaitre, RJ Rushmore, Zahra Sherzad, Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, & Travis Rix.

The selected artists will also be exhibited at Satellite Gallery, 279 Broome St, NYC, with a one-night opening reception anniversary party on May 30, 2025.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Read more
BSA Images Of The Week: 03.16.25

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.16.25

Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week!

Purim has wrapped up in Brooklyn after three days and two nights of exuberant revelry in Hasidic neighborhoods—a celebration that, at first glance, might seem like a fusion of Halloween and New Year’s, complete with thousands of costumed kids and exuberant teens, many of whom are noticeably inebriated, blasting music into the night from roaming RVs. Of course, this being New York, the city takes it all in stride—because if there’s one place that can handle a rolling, Yiddish-speaking Mardi Gras in March, it’s Brooklyn.

President Trump hosted a promotional event for Tesla at the White House alongside Elon Musk this week, amid ongoing debates over the company’s public perception, which has included incidents of vandalized cars and a street art sticker campaign referencing the controversy. Separately, a post on the president’s social media account featured a crossed-out pink triangle, a symbol historically used in Nazi Germany to mark gay men in concentration camps, raising concerns about its implications.

In NYC news, a new exhibition celebrates the 20th anniversary of those orange fluttering “gates” one winter in Central Park. Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City at The Shed is an immersive exhibition that includes an augmented reality component and rekindles memories for those who witnessed The Gates and unveils hidden stories for new audiences. Also, a shout out to the artist duo Zorawar Sidhu and Rob Swainston and their new show Flash Point at Petzel. In visually arresting large-scale woodcut and silkscreen prints that echo the chaotic energy of city streets, they examine the Anthropocene, forced migrations, and American civil unrest through layered compositions that slow down the rapid circulation of news imagery.

And we continue with our interview with the street, this week including Degrupo, Below Key, JerkFace, Roachi, BK Ackler, Denis Ouch, Manuel Alejandro NYC, ATOMS, Wild West, Helch, Sport, Zore64, Obek, and Soul.

Jerkface (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ROACHI (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ZORE64 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ZORE64 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
N.Y.C. 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
HOPE from Boorloo (Perth) paints a portrait of model Nina Stodden. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
It really feels like the WILD WEST out here. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
HOMESICK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Degrupo. Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)
BK ACKLER (photo © Jaime Rojo)
LOVE (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Denis Ouch (photo © Jaime Rojo)
HELCH (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SPORT (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ATOMS OBEKS (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Manuel Alejandro (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SOUL (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Golden hour NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Read more
ELFO Clarifies Artistic Stance on Fascism

ELFO Clarifies Artistic Stance on Fascism

About a hundred years ago “fascist” was commonly used to describe authoritarian movements, such as Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany and Franco’s rule in Spain. Mussolini was considered a socialist first, then a nationalist, and ultimately considered the founder of fascism as an ideology and political system. In WWII the term solidified as a general descriptor for ultra-nationalist, dictatorial, and militaristic regimes.

These days Fascism is often described as the merger of state and corporate power, and is sighted in a growing number of countries and cities. It’s also used as a way to attack in political discourse. The term “fascist” has been used as a pejorative in U.S. politics for decades. For instance, during the 1980s, critics labeled President Ronald Reagan as a fascist, and later the term has been applied to figures like George W. Bush and Donald Trump, reflecting its persistent use as a political insult, including last fall when Kamala Harris referred to Donald Trump as a ‘fascist’.

ELFO. Somewhere in Italy. (photo courtesy of the artist)

Today, far-right ideologies continue to resurface across Europe in various forms, from political leaders embracing nationalist and authoritarian policies to movements drawing inspiration from historical fascism. Although fascism originated in and is primarily associated with Europe, it crossed the Atlantic and has also influenced South American politics in recent decades.

Nowadays it’s a popular reflex to call someone with authoritarian impulses a fascist,” says the Churchhill Project at Hillsdale College. Truthfully, they seem to be popping up all around like cats in a canned tuna factory. So, it is a great comfort that the Italian graffiti humorist plunges into the heated melee to clarify where he stands with his “Artista Antifascista” piece on dilapidated remains of architectural ruins. He tells us, “Usually my art works do not have an explicit political message but the global situation requires a clear position.”

ELFO. Somewhere in Italy. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Read more
“Warmioptikum” – A Dialogue Between Art and Nature, by Arek Stankiewicz & Bartek Swiatecki

“Warmioptikum” – A Dialogue Between Art and Nature, by Arek Stankiewicz & Bartek Swiatecki

Interpreting Warmia’s Hidden Patterns from Above and Within

Bartek Swiatecki’s latest book, Warmioptikum, is a striking fusion of abstract painting and aerial photography, capturing the landscapes of Warmia, Poland, from a new perspective. Featuring Swiatecki’s expressive, in-the-moment paintings set against Arek Stankiewicz’s breathtaking drone photography, the book transforms familiar rural scenes into an evolving conversation between art and nature.

Arek Stankiewicz & Bartek Swiatecki. WARMIOPTIKUM. Warmia, Olsztyn. Poland. 2024

Swiatecki, known for his roots in graffiti and urban abstraction, takes his practice beyond the cityscape and into open fields, painting directly within the environment. Stankiewicz’s aerial lens frames these artistic moments, emphasizing their relationship with the land’s patterns, textures, and rhythms. As noted in the book’s foreword by Mateusz Swiatecki, Warmioptikum is a  documentation and an exploration of how we perceive and engage with landscape, helping the reader see Warmia through “extraordinary perspectives and new, nonobvious contexts.”

The book is an invitation to slow down and look closely. Stankiewicz’s photography captures the shifting light, subtle variations in color, and natural formations that seem to echo Swiatecki’s brushstrokes. As described in the foreword, the process is intimate and universal. Where nature offers a near-boundless source of inspiration, the artist’s hand responds in a personal and deeply connected way to the land. The artist emerges from the context; his abstract forms divine hidden landscape structures, reminding you how street art transforms overlooked corners of a city. Therein lies a harmony, each informing and amplifying the other.

For those familiar with Swiatecki’s past work, this project marks a compelling evolution that expands his dialogue beyond walls and into the vast openness of Warmia’s fields, redefining both place and perception.

Arek Stankiewicz & Bartek Swiatecki. WARMIOPTIKUM. Warmia, Olsztyn. Poland. 2024

©Miejska Bliblioteka Publiczna. Olsztyn, Poland. 2024

Read more
BSA Images Of The Week: 03.09.25

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.09.25

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. The attack on the poor and the middle class continues nonstop with the imposing of tariffs that will jack up inflation, the attempts at cutting Medicaid, the tens of thousands of layoffs, and the dismantling of the Department of Education. 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, according to Senator Bernie Sanders in his response to Trump’s speech this week. It is essential to recognize that this statistic didn’t just occur this year, regardless of the political party in power.

This week, we have new stuff from New York and Miami, in our visual interview with the streets, featuring Homesick, Smells, SRKSHNK, Crisp, Dr. Revolt, TBanbox, Urwont, OSK OSK, ASIK107, Man in the Box, Dam Crew, Stef Skills, COF Crew, Danny Doya, JAYDEE, Cinco, and WKS Crew.

Animal Shelter (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Looks like Spring is already in the air. CINCO (photo © Jaime Rojo)
OSK OSK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JAYDEE in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Is she gambling with the future? Danny Doya in Wyndwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SMELLS (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kings and Queens take over in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
DR. REVOLT (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ASIK107 / COF CREW in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
UWONT (photo © Jaime Rojo)
DAM CREW in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Simply HOMESICK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
CRISP has something against selfies. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
CRSHNK expresses a similar sentiment (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TBnaBonx and friends. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Man In The Box. We showed you the work in progress last week. Here’s the completed mural. Originally taken by photographer Warner Jesse from the image shows Taylor Armstrong, best known from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, messily eating spaghetti, this absurdist meme mimics the glut of low-value filler, calling itself news and entertainment. Is she shoveling it in or expelling it out? After seeing the stickers all over NYC (can you spot the sticker in the image above?) (photo © Jaime Rojo)
STEF SKILLS in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WKS CREW (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Spring is just around the corner. March 2025. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Read more
Bordalo II’s IRRÉVERSIBLE: When Trash Talks Back

Bordalo II’s IRRÉVERSIBLE: When Trash Talks Back

Bordalo II is back in Paris, and—spoiler alert—so is our garbage. The Portuguese artist, known for sculpting animals from our collective waste, is launching IRRÉVERSIBLE. This new exhibition hits like a manifesto against overconsumption, environmental destruction, and humanity’s inability to pick up after itself. From May 24 to June 28, 2025, in the 13th arrondissement, the artist will transform a raw 300 m² space into a shrine of ecological reckoning, complete with his signature endangered species portraits made from salvaged plastic. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be judged by a looming panda constructed from discarded bottle caps, now’s your chance.

Bordalo II. Plastic Monkey Junior. São Paulo, Brazil. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

Bordalo II has made a career out of reminding us that the garbage belongs to us and we’re all complicit. “Bordalo II has created a spectacular practice of creating street works from it that shock passersby with his ingenuity – while raising our collective consciousness about our responsibility to the earth,” we once noted. The shock factor is real—his oversized trash animals are both majestic and damning, forcing us to see the wreckage of our habits in 3D.

Bordalo II. Baby Rabbit. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

But this time, he’s taking it further. IRRÉVERSIBLE introduces Provocations, a more personal series that subverts everyday urban objects, stripping them from their usual context and throwing them back at us in a way that makes the familiar feel foreign. It may be an unsettling yet oddly satisfying confrontation—like seeing a McDonald’s sign in an art gallery and suddenly feeling existential about a Big Mac.  

With IRRÉVERSIBLE, Bordalo II makes a case that we’ve pushed past the point of no return. And while his work has always blurred the line between activism and street spectacle, this exhibition leans even harder into the uncomfortable truths about how we live, consume, and discard. Mathgoth Gallery is hosting, but make no mistake—it’s a call-out, a last warning, and maybe, if we’re lucky, an invitation to change before it’s too late.

Bordalo II. Plastic Gorilla. (photo courtesy of the gallery)
Bordalo II. Detail. Nuart Festival 2015. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bordalo II. Nuart Festival 2015. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

IRRÉVERSIBLE de BORDALO II

1, rue Alphonse Boudard – 75013 Paris

Du 24 mai au 28 juin 2025

Read more
Books In The MCL: “Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora”, Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón.

Books In The MCL: “Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora”, Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón.

Books in the MCL: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón. Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora

Reprinted from the original review.

Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” by Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón provides an insightful look into the world of women graffiti artists, challenging the perception that graffiti is a male-dominated subculture. This book highlights the contributions of over 100 women graffiti artists from 23 countries, showcasing how they navigate, challenge, and redefine the graffiti landscape.

From the streets of New York to the alleys of São Paulo, Pabón-Colón explores the lives and works of these women, presenting graffiti as a space for the performance of feminism. The book examines how these artists build communities, reshape the traditionally masculine spaces of hip hop, and create networks that lead to the formation of all-girl graffiti crews and painting sessions. This aspect is particularly useful in understanding how digital platforms have broadened the reach and impact of women graffiti artists, facilitating connections and collaborations worldwide.

MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION⁠

📖 | Title: Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora
📚 | NYU Press. June 2018. Softcover.
🖋 | Author: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón
💬 | Language: English

CLICK URBAN NATION BERLIN TO CONTINUE READING

Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo Fotos: Sebastian Kläbsch

Read more
BSA Images Of The Week: 03.02.25

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.02.25

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week and to the madness of March. Also, we extend warm wishes to our Muslim brothers and sisters for a peaceful and blessed Ramadan.

If it’s not dicks, it’s birds—either way, graffiti artists keep finding new ways to ruffle feathers and raise eyebrows. Not sure who Waldorf is, but it looks like he has freed himself on the roof top of a school in Berlin – big enough to make Google Maps blush apparently. In Melbourne, a 21 year old man found guilty of 50 times painting his “Pam the Bird” graffiti has been a sensation in the news there, finally ending with his release from police to live with his grandmother in Geelong, who has warned it is “my house, my rules”.

Closer to home, the NYC Mayoral stew continues to bubble and boil, with our current Mayor Adams pulling out of this week’s debate at the last minute. Yesterday, the previous state Governor, Andrew Cuomo, threw his hat into the ring for the race after being drummed out of the governorship in August 2021 following accusations of sexual harassment from multiple women. With Robin Hood’s newly released report saying that there is a 25% Overall Poverty Rate in New York City, many hope the next mayor focuses on tackling the city’s deepening economic crisis.

Finally, in what feels like another chapter of America: The Farewell Tour, the President and Vice President delivered a masterclass in diplomatic self-sabotage on Friday. The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said ‘the free world needs a new leader’ and that it was up to Europeans to take this challenge. The reaction on Twitter/X has been swift and voluminous—disgust, condemnation, praise, and fresh declarations that the global order is tilting yet further away from a U.S.-led unipolar world. Others say that one shouldn’t give Trump that much credit.

In week number five of the new administration, Freelance temp consultant Elon Musk keeps dismantling the administrative state, eroding the barriers between citizens and autocracy. There is no word yet on lowering inflation so you may need that second or third job. Also, granny (or mom) may be moving in!

Meanwhile, here’s our interview with the streets this week, including City Kitty, Homesick, Eye Sticker, Miki Mu, JEMZ, Steve the Bum, NYC Kush Co, Quaker Pirate, DARA, ROS, and Man in the Box.

Appleton Pictures (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Eye Sticker elicits different opinions about Lugi on the streets of NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Eye Sticker (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Man In The Box. Work in progress. Originally taken from a still image of Taylor Armstrong, best known from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, messily eating spaghetti, this is an absurdist meme that mimics the glut of low-value filler calling itself news and entertainment. Is she shoveling it in or expelling it out? After seeing the stickers all over NYC we are excited to see the completed mural soon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Miki Mu (photo © Jaime Rojo)
We can read the artist’s signature on this piece. Let’s know if you can. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
“Rest in Peace Mom”, from HOMESICK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
HOMESICK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steve The Bum (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ROS (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Quaker Pirate (photo © Jaime Rojo)
“Rescue Me!” Quaker Pirate (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Canvases (photo © Jaime Rojo)
DARA (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JEMZ. NYC KUSH CO. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. March 2025. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Read more
Borondo’s “Chrysalis”: A Veil of Transformation at Villa Stuck, in Munich

Borondo’s “Chrysalis”: A Veil of Transformation at Villa Stuck, in Munich

“CHRYSALIS” Installation by Gonzalo Borondo

Spanish artist Gonzalo Borondo is again blurring the lines between architecture and illusion, history and reinvention. With Chrysalis, his latest large-scale intervention, Borondo reskins the façade of Munich’s Villa Stuck into a luminous, multilayered vision of shadows and figures—tapping into a historical subconscious that reveals, conceals, and questions all at once. He covers over 600 square meters of mesh that are stretched across the museum’s scaffolding, his white and gold imagery a tattooed second skin, a veil that is both ephemeral and commanding.

Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)

Villa Stuck, once the home and studio of the German Symbolist painter Franz von Stuck, is in the midst of renovation. Rather than treating the construction as a disruption, Borondo makes it a canvas—an opportunity to engage with the site’s history. He draws selectively from von Stuck’s iconography, reinterpreting figures of fauns, centaurs, and Dionysian revelry with a contemporary eye. Here are the rigid dualities of von Stuck’s world, now proposed with a more fluid, layered masculinity reflective of contemporary conversations and study. The result is a work that shifts between past and present, tradition and transformation, and new narratives within an established visual language.

The title, Chrysalis, signals metamorphosis— with hints at something concealed yet in motion, a museum in flux, a city in transition. Borondo’s materials are chosen with purpose and maximize the possible options: paint applied to industrial netting, breathing with its environment, changing with light and weather, a living composition, shifting with each viewer’s angle.

Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)

Borondo’s practice has frequently sought and embraced the ephemeral. Known for his experiments with glass etching, shadow play, and interventions in urban spaces, his work defies easy categorization. Through monumental installations or delicate scratches in glass, he navigates the material and the immaterial, permanence and impermanence. In Munich, that approach finds a striking expression—an urban altar towering over Prinzregentenstrasse, honoring the Gesamtkunstwerk ethos that von Stuck championed while pushing its boundaries forward.

Chrysalis will remain in place through June 2025, a temporary presence that lingers in the mind long after it disappears.

Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)
Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)
Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)
Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)
Gonzalo Borondo. Chrysalis. Villa Stuck Museum of Munich. Germany. (photo © Roberto Conte)

The installation CHRYSALIS will be exhibited on the main façade of the Villa Stuck Museum of Munich (Prinzregentenstrasse 60) from February 8th until June 2025. Helena Pereña, Curator.

Read more
The 2026 Martha Cooper Scholarship At Urban Nation, Berlin

The 2026 Martha Cooper Scholarship At Urban Nation, Berlin

We are thrilled to once again announce the Martha Cooper Scholarship, in partnership with Urban Nation. This scholarship offers a promising photographer the chance to spend 10 months in Berlin in 2026—fully supported and immersed in the city’s dynamic creative environment.

This extraordinary opportunity provides not only free accommodation in an artist residence and full coverage of travel and living expenses but also regular mentorship, collaboration with artists across disciplines, and participation in Urban Nation’s projects and partnerships.

Now in its second year, this scholarship continues to celebrate the vision and legacy of Martha Cooper, who remains an integral part of the selection committee. Berlin is a global epicenter of urban contemporary art, where history, rebellion, and creative experimentation collide. Its streets are an open-air gallery, layered with decades of graffiti, murals, and artistic interventions that reflect the city’s ever-evolving identity. A magnet for artists, Berlin fosters a culture of artistic freedom, collaboration, and innovation, making it one of the most dynamic places for street art, photography, and contemporary expression. As the first recipient fo the Martha Cooper Scholarship embarks on their journey in Berlin right now, we are eager to welcome the next photographer ready to explore and capture the spirit of Berlin.

Applications for 2026 are now open—we look forward to seeing your work!

Read an excerpt from the official Call below:

The Martha Cooper Scholarship (MCS) offers a unique opportunity for an individual from Africa or Latin America to dedicate themselves for eleven months to an artistic project through the medium of photography. With the newly announced MCS, the Foundation Berliner Leben acknowledges the importance of documentary photography and purposefully offers a production scholarship for documentary photographers with an ethnographic focus to apply for this scholarship, seeking projects that critically and thoughtfully engage with the places, communities, and social realities they document. Prioritizing work that captures the context between people and their environments, we support projects that reflect everyday life, shifting cultural landscapes, and the ways communities adapt and change. The scholarship encourages applications from photographers whose work offers fresh, honest perspectives on lived experience, community, and identity with depth and optimism. The scholarship is based on the annual topic of Fresh A.I.R., the scholarship programme of Stiftung Berliner Leben. It addresses social and political developments that affect us in the present and highlights the diversity of human experience and perception of the world.

The scholarship is based on the annual topic of Fresh A.I.R., the scholarship programme of Stiftung Berliner Leben, which addresses social and political developments that affect us in the present, and highlights the diversity of human experience and perception of the world.

The chosen photographer will be invited to live and work in one of our Fresh A.I.R. residencies in Berlin Schöneberg.

The current call is for the 11th class starting in February 2026 and ending in November 2026.

Application for a scholarship in 2026

Application deadline: Sunday,16th March, 2025

Applications are only accepted via Email: FreshAIR-office@stiftung-berliner-leben.de

For a successful application please hand in the following documents:

• Curriculum vitae

• Project outline/description

• Budget plan

FOR MORE DETAILS, HOW TO APPLY AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION CLICK HERE

Read more