All posts tagged: Leipzig

Lapiz: Being Part Of It, and Liberté

September 7, 2023 Artists

Lapiz is the Hamburg-based street artist whose practice involves handmade stencils to convey his message to the public. He places them in many cities around Germany and internationally and he says he has finally found a way to convey something that has been on his mind since China hosted the Winter Olympics Games in 2022. He says he has a preoccupation with being a part of a team in collaboration with other teams where something big and vital is created. This has brought him to expand on a popular sports slogan in Germany: “Dabei sein ist alles,” or “it is more important to take part in something big than anything else.”

For his participation in this year’s edition of Ibug 2023 in Leipzig, Germany, he decided to use the slogan as the genesis for his contribution by way of illustrating with his stencils the meaning of the slogan.

LAPIZ. *Dabei sein ist alles – It is all about being part of it*. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

“Coincidentally, Leipzig is very fitting, as the world’s most important chip company, Taiwan’s TSMC, is building a factory in Dresden (about an hour’s drive from Leipzig). It is heavily supported by the state of Germany (contributing up to 5 billion Euros). This is also interesting as Germany, just like the majority of the world, still does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state but plays into China’s interpretation of it being a separatist province,” says Lapiz.

“The central motif is China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping holding shackles; attached to his left are Tibet, the Uighurs, and most recently, Hong Kong. To his right, a shackle lies on the floor, waiting to catch the next “member”: Taiwan, which is depicted in the person of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.”

Lapiz says that he painted a second piece for the festival called “Liberté” (Freedom). According to the artist, freedom is one of the most pressing social and humanitarian issues currently occupying people’s minds on the world stage. He previously painted the female figure holding a brush with the word Liberté in Paris in 2017 in response to the attack on the Bataclan Theater, and in support of the victims and the survivors. So Liberté appears as a recurring theme for the street artist.

“More than a year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, which since then has fought for its freedom. For months, the people of Iran have been fighting in a new revolution for the rights and lives of Iranian women. Everywhere in the world, there is still much to do to get equal rights for all genders.” Lapiz

LAPIZ. *Liberté*. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

Denis Leo Hegic, Wishes And Hopes For 2019

December 23, 2018 Artists

As we draw closer to the new year we’ve asked a very special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2018 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for them. It’s a box of treats to surprise you with every day – and conjure our hopes and wishes for 2019. This is our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and of saying ‘Thank You’ to you for inspiring us throughout the year.

Today’s special guest:

Denis Leo Hegic, Curator, cultural manager, architect, Co-Founder of Monumenta in Leipzig, Wandelism in Berlin. Big talker, bigger doer.

You wake up one morning and snow has fallen on all the roofs – how can you not be happy?

This sharp rooftop bombing was created during my last exhibition “Monumenta” in Leipzig by SNOW21, an iconic writer known for his impressive large scale works.

I wish that SNOW21 will not remain the only snow in Germany this year and that we take responsible action for our planet in 2019.

Denis Leo Hegic

Location: Leipzig, Germany

Date: September 2018

Artist: Snow21

Photographer: Nika Kramer

BSA’s 15 Most Popular Murals of 2018: A “Social” Survey

December 13, 2018 Artists

There’s street cred, and then there’s social media credit. These are 15 of the latter, compiled by BSA by our own rigorous methodology.

Bears lead the pack! A monkey is here as well. Skulls and Biggie Smalls make it in again. Text wisdom also wins along with representations of the natural world like Pejac’s tree and Naomi Rag’s flower. And a rep for Game of Thrones and the horrors of Hitchcock as well – you knew popular culture would represent.

These are the top murals from 2018 via tabulations of our website, Instagram, Twitter, and two Facebook pages. In a thoroughly unscientific survey that calculates “likes” and “clicks” and “re-Tweets” and “impressions”, and every year we cannot predict which one’s are going to be popular, but sometimes you can guess. We don’t publish a lot of murals of cats, but if we did, they would probably win. Just guessing.

This year we’re drawn to the two written word pieces, likely because they are erudite and witty to some extent – and because it is good to see how smart BSA readers are. Brilliant, we say!

Welcome to your favorite murals of the year:

15 – Banksy.

A tribute. A plea. A denunciation. A well used example of the artist’s platform to bring awareness of the plight of artists who dare to set themselves free with their art. Depicted here is Ms. Zehra Doğan, an editor and journalist from Turkey. She is presently serving time in jail for painting Turkish flags on a painting showing destroyed buildings and posting the painting on Social Media. Marking the time with tick

Banksy. Free Zehra Doğan. NYC. Houston/Bowery Wall. March 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

14 – Sonny Sundancer.

Sonny Sundancer finishes his final mural for his #totheboneproject , a grizzly titled “Standing Tall” looking out over Greenwich Village.

“Standing Tall” was done in conjunction with The L.I.S.A Project NYC. May 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

13 – Axe Colours.

Axe Colours goes GOT and the question going into 2019 in many people’s minds is: Will she or won’t she?

The Mother of Dragons on the streets of Barcelona as interpreted by Axe Colours. This photo was taken on November 2017 but shared on Instagram on February of 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

12 – Owen Dippie.

New Zealand artist Owen Dippie is known for pairing pop characters in his realistic large scale work. Here’s an odd couple of film director Hitchcock and Brooklyn rapper Biggie Smalls.

Pigeons, Ravens, Cigars, Mystery and Music on the streets of Brooklyn. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

11 – Kobra.

Brazilian artist Kobra gave himself a residency in NYC this year with the goal of painting as many murals as time and available walls would permit him. He succeeded by painting 18 walls throughout NYC – mostly the top level easy to identify icons found on t-shirts, posters and postcards for decades here. One of his portraits of Amy Winehouse proved to be hugely popular.

Kobra. Amy Winehouse. Manhattan, October 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1o – Disordered.

Anxiety rings true when the giveaways to business interests for nearly four decades under both dominant parties have gradually placed folks like these in this neighborhood constantly in fear of missing the rent, the grocery bill, the car payment, the cost of providing for their kids. Disordered is right.

#DISORDERED. Done in Welling Court, Queens for Welling Court 2018. July 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

9 – Kaos.

The KAOS Factory, colloquially named because the German graffiti artist by the same name has slowly taken it over with his work during the last few years, by default converting the former steam factory into his de facto “residency”.

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. October 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

8 – Naomi Rag.

Not specifically a Street Artist, Naomi Rag crochets her favorite things and puts them up mainly on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. This simple rose on a school yard fence steadily garnered attention throughout the year – and reminded us of this song from the 1960s.

“There is a rose in Spanish Harlem
A red rose up in Spanish Harlem
It is a special one, it’s never seen the sun
It only comes out when the moon is on the run
And all the stars are gleaming
It’s growing in the street right up through the concrete
But soft and sweet and dreaming…”

Jerry Leiber & Phil Spector

Naomi Rag. Red Rose in Spanish Harlem. March 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

7 – GlossBlack.

New York is a constant source of inspiration for countless artists of all disciplines who have made a home and hopefully a career in this dynamic city of endless serendipity and challenge. GlossBlack hit the mark with this tough and tumble tribute to the city.

GlossBlack in collaboration with Klughaus in Manhattan. March 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

6 – Bordalo II.

Bordalo II has evolved a spectacular practice of creating street works from our refuse that shock and thrill many a passersby with his ingenuity and evocative image making – while raising our collective consciousness about our responsibility to the earth.

Bordalo II. Lisbon, Portugal. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

4 – BKFoxx.

With a commercial eye toward the natural world and larger societal issues BKFoxx chooses subjects for their emotional impact and their ability to translates easily for an image-savvy audience whose endless hours of personal screen entertainment has produced an expectation for a big budget Hollywood and consumer culture slickness with high-production values.

BKFoxx in collaboration with JMZ Walls. Bushwick, Brooklyn. April 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

3 – Terry Urban.

Inspiration to create flows from many rivers and tributaries. Many times that inspiration comes from a fellow artist as is the case here. Art is for everyone, and the street is more than ever a perfect place to see it.

Terry Urban channeling Basquiat in Manhattan. January 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

3 – Egle Zvirblyte.

Egle’s feminism is abundantly clear on her work. A mixture of pop and riddles and unabashedly self assured.

Egle Zvirblyte. A project curated by BSA with the production assistance and wall access from Joe Franquinha / Crest Hardware and paint donated by Montana Cans. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2 – Pejac.

The Spaniard Pejac came for a few weeks to New York this spring and left this piece in Bushwick. The wall is a brick façade typical of many Brooklyn neighborhoods, but this one appears to have grown a tree this week. Perhaps he chose to paint this tree because the promise of spring had inspired him, or because this neighborhood remains industrial and could benefit from some more of nature’s influence. For us it’s all about context so it is good to see that a tree grows in Brooklyn.

Pejac. The Bushwick Collective. Brooklyn, NYC. March 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1 – Adrian Wilson

Just in under the wire and straight to number 1, this cleverly turned phrase and hooded ideogram is an ironic amalgam of Banksy and Warhol that hit the nerve of readers who are becoming acutely aware of us all slipping into a surveillance society. Also, it’s funny.

We only published this mural in December but the number of hits and comments across social media indicated that it resonates strongly across a wide demographic. Photographer, videographer, former gallery owner and infrequent Street Artist Adrian Wilson clearly is not shooting for anonymity.

Top image: Adrian Wilson plays with words to reflect our pop culture trolling both Warhol and Banksy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Discovering “The Kaos Factory” in Leipzig

October 2, 2018 Artists

The Industrial Revolution ushered in miracles of production, mechanics, engineering, speed, ease of global distribution – possibly the most important event in human history. It also killed cultures, decimated families, poisoned the Earth, air, water, radically changed civil society, enslaved people in dangerous conditions and caused workers to unite as never before.

The flight of industry has now given us incredible relics to explore and create art inside of or upon.

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As industrial production migrated away from so-called Western societies in the last four decades we have been gifted the glorious and treacherous legacy of the factories in our cities. Urban explorers are now nearly legion on some cities, graffiti writers and Street Artist part of the mix. While the goals are often at odds – with explorers wishing only to preserve and archive and urban artists interested in finding new canvasses or installation environments – no one denies the sense of wonder and discovery wandering these carcasses of production in preservation or dilapidation.

If you have the luck to explore the steel and broken glass and possibly toxic materials sprayed with names and characters and patterns or adorned with sculptures of found materials spotlighted by natural beams of luminous fine matter, it can all present itself as a splendid chaos.

Or KAOS.

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Whenever we travel to a new city as guests for academic talks on Street Art, art curating, or just seeing festivals and exhibitions we make it our priority to visit the forgotten margins of the industrial environs; spots where creativity and loose talk can happen uncensored, without permission and absent considerations of financial gain. The abandoned, decaying buildings like this one serve as a laboratory for many artists around the world, presenting an unintended studio environment and university function for artists who are experimenting, discovering, refining their skills.

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We had the good fortune to visit one such place during our most recent trip to Leipzig, Germany on the occasion of our participation in the first edition of Monumenta Art. With our friend and colleague, photographer Nika Kramer we visited the KAOS Factory, colloquially named because the German graffiti artist by the same name has slowly taken it over with his work during the last few years, by default converting the former steam factory into his de facto “residency”.

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

He gave us a tour of the sprawling compound and told us about how much he loves coming here to paint. He told us stories about how young writers come to the factory to paint and due to their lack of experience or knowledge of “street rules” go over his work or his friends work and how he has to confront them and inform them that it may look like chaos to some, but there is actually an unwritten set of guidelines of respect that graff writers show for one anothers’ work – usually.

Similarly these young, inexperience writers take unnecessary risks while walking through the occasionally dangerous factory ruins, he says, with sometimes disastrous results. Today we share with BSA readers some of the many KAOS rooms here where the hospitable graffiti writer has done installations, finding a certain joy when he sees people who have managed to break in to enjoy the works – or to add their own.

Our thanks to KAOS for sharing with us the glorious chaos.

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Plotbot Ken. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Atomic Ant. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ixus. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reve. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Benuz. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KAOS. The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The video shows the attempt to implode the smokestack in the factory in 1995. While the implosion was somewhat successful it didn’t go as planned and it could have been a fatal disaster for the community around the factory. The photo below the video shows the very bottom part of the smokestack as it currently is and to the left it shows the potential damage to property and most likely fatalities as well should the stack have fallen to the left.

The Kaos Factory. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Monument-Of-Many” Installation at Monumenta Leipzig

September 13, 2018 Artists

An unusual exhibition that combines works from the established to the newcomer, Monumenta was mounted by a team of about 25 people in only five weeks inside this cavernous former metalworks factory in Leipzig, Germany and now on display through mid-October for the public. A grandly soaring gesture that welcomes visitors to an austere modern re-use of the cavernous industrial hall, the space is now referred to as ‘the church’.

Flanking its grand red staircase are 100 monuments hanging on swings, a literal interpretation of the thematic “Intelligence of Many” called “Monument-of-Many”. We asked Antoine Te, who organized the monuments portion of the exhibition, to speak to BSA readers about his experience with the show, specifically what his observations have been of how people interact with the works in this unique space.

– Antoine Te –

The Monument-of-Many is a beautiful installation that consists of one hundred aerated concrete blocks that are transformed by 100 artists in the fields of visual, street and urban art to create their vision of a future city: an alternative urban space for a iconic installation.

The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

I love watching visitors’ facial expressions when entering the hall…. their eyes widen and the eyebrow rises. Then you see the head tilt slightly back to they begin looking up, with Victor Fresco’s Angry Man sculpture staring back down. It is a grand space but each concrete artwork has an intimate feeling as it appears to levitate in front of and around you, giving you room to contemplate or confess which artwork you may like or dislike, or to simply experience the old factory in a new context.

The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This creates an interesting atmosphere in which to observe and speak to the visitors – which has been an amazing part of the exhibition. Even though all artists shared the same starting point not all have treated their monument equally. For example the artist Bea Puschkarski’s monument titled ‘reflexion’ and she covers her block with reflective mirrors, making it a piece that is frequently used for selfies.

As the hundredfold monuments quietly sway on red platforms beside the angry man, I also noticed that visitors tend to whisper as they walk around the hall, adding to the calm environment. Some visitors choose to photograph the original Pittlerwerke machinery, the halls, the oiled rope or the yellow crane hook. However my favorite is when I hear visitors hum ‘I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the block’ when they see the Jennifer Lopez lyrics.

Christoph Voy. “Jenny” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ultimately the Monument-of-Many installation symbolizes a sentiment that great ideas and beauty can arise from the intelligence of many.

Antoine Te. “Naturity” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SC Szyman. “Sz Cube” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Teresa Braunschweig. “Utopie keimt im Kopf” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marshal Arts. “Grave New World” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hemma & Silvan. “Log-In” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gomez. “Ego” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dino Richter. “Utopia” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maximilian Zeitler. “3 Turning Icons” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Naok Write. “Material Time” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alina Debski. “Seeing yourself” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Irwin Suimuri. “Neue Karni Mata” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.09.18 / Monumenta Leipzig Special

September 9, 2018 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

It’s great to be back in New York! Welcome to BSA Images of the Week.

Shana Tova to all our Jewish friends and the best to you in the new year! Congratulations to all our Indian friends for India’s decriminalizing homosexuality this week and showing the love and respect for everybody in our human family. Woo hoo! Shout out to Jackson Heights and half of Queens – India is in the house! In other NYC news, apparently art dealer Mary Boone can now add ‘convicted felon’ to her list of accolades.

Also in Queens this weekend you can check out all shades of gender-bender theatricality at BushWig for 23 hours of non-stop drag by over 160 performers. You can also pose in 29 rooms of Instagram Bait here – a reality that is radically impacting museums and exhibitions.

You probably missed Sir Paul McCartney live at Grand Central Station Friday night since he only invited 300 of his closest friends to launch his new tour, but you can still see live pygmy goats in clever uniforms Saturdays this fall in Jonathan Paul’s To The Victor Belongs The Spoils show.

This week we have new shots from site of the Monumenta exhibition in Leipzig that we just returned from. With graffiti writers and Street Artists in your show it is a given that the rest of the walls will be hit up by visitors, peers, even the main artists. Who knows, the curators may like your contribution so well that it gets a name/date plaque of its own.

Our sincere thanks to the teams with whom we worked and played with in both Moscow and Leipzig in the last two weeks where we were curators at the Artmossphere Biennale and hosts/presenters at Monumenta. While the individuals and outcomes are quite different in both cases – the passion and ability to think big are the same. We are gratified to work, follow and lead in these very collaborative environments with such committed and creative people – and to know that our passion for Street Art / graffiti / public / urban art is met and magnified by the passion of each of you. We will probably be saying “intelligence of many” a lot now, thanks to Denis and Jan and the Monumenta team.

So here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Harald Geil, Karies, Liz Art Berlin, Margier Dire, Nespoon, Ostap, Otto “Osch” Schade, RCS, RUDE, SNOW, Tobo, and Zoon.

Top Image: OSTAP with the Graffiti Emergency Cleaners at Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A lot of SNOW on the roof at Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SNOW. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RCS. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rude. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rude . Nespoon. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nespoon. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified aritst. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Liz Art Berlin. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Otto OSCH Schade. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zoon . Rude. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zoon. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rude. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zoon. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OSTAP. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Margier Dire. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentifed Artist. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TOBO. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TOBO . Harald Geil. Monumenta Leipzig Outdoors. Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untiteld . Monumenta Leipzig. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Play With Art” is a Slam Dunk @ Monumenta Leipzig 2018

September 5, 2018 Artists

“I don’t know shit about art,” says the provocative Denis Leo Hegic as he tours you through the Monumenta show in the vast former metalwork-manufacturing factory of Pittlerwerkes here in Leipzig. Partially speaking for his enfant terrible alter ego and for the shock effect of a tour guide telling you this, the exhibition co-curator is also demonstrating a facetious ideal. It’s meant to be a liberating statement that allows those who know little about formal art history or modern art practice to forego the pretentious gatekeepers and their classism and to feel free to interact with the art and form opinions about it nonetheless.

This is one aspect of many that we have always appreciated and valued about graffiti, Street Art – all manner of art in the streets; there is a truly democratic access to persons on the street who come from all walks of life. Through the act of putting work truly out in public to be ignored, accepted, revered, or reviled by anyone who passes, one recognizes that the experience of the art will be received and processed via the filters of each individual regardless of their life path.

One may argue as well that the public art practice possibly merits greater respect for those implied true democratic ideals of accessibility than the art which is selectively chosen after its maker has conformed and legitimized itself to the gatekeeper – one who successfully run the gauntlets of the class system, its taste makers, its money makers, and its assumed academic rigor. Notably for the convenience store clerk or factory worker, they don’t need to cough up 3 hours of their weekly wages for the privilege.

Play With Art. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. 09-2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Monumenta marries this philosophy of access with the “intelligence of many” at a few power junctures throughout this peeling and vast factory, but none are more interactive and auditorially bombastic as the basketball courts. A large area caged on three sides, a comical mulitiplication that looks like the repetitive output from digitally malfunctioning software – plopping hoops and backboards in doubles and triples up, down, and across the cage – some nearly overlapping one another. They call the installation “Play With Art”.

Play With Art. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. 09-2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

On some backboards there are pieces of flat art of unspecified origin, each now transformed into a target for ballers of all backgrounds to bounce off to get in the bucket. The wooden floors may recall a school gymnasium for many, especially when they hear the pounding, thumping, semi-rhythmic dribbling. As players pick up balls and begin to ‘play’ with the art installation and the artworks they are shooting for, it is a loud and entertaining full-court press for chaos that reverberates across the walls and across the hand-taped patterns that reflect and refract the traditional diagrammatic guidelines of the game across the floor by artist Guillermo S. Quintana.

Play With Art. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. 09-2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“It is actually about playing with art, not making it so precious,” says Hegic as he yells above the raucous discord. How you interpret the works is up to you, but in this case the viewer is encouraged to think less seriously about the structures that typically deliver the hallowed artworks, and even possibly express athletic aggression toward them. The chaos may not be an end in itself, but these courts may be a means to a less class-based description about art’s merits.

Also you can practice your layup – which is good for basketball players and graffiti writers alike.

Senor Schnu Tackles Police Brutality at Monumenta, Leipzig 2018

September 4, 2018 Artists

“Same as it ever was,” David Byrne from the Talking Heads might say.

The topic of police brutality keeps coming up every year, every decade, every week sometimes. Señor Schnu, the Street Artist/fine artist who created this new sculpture at the Monumenta exhibition in Leipzig, Germany tells us that the feedback he gets from visitors is that he must be talking about something they just saw in the news. “The truth is, this sculpture is always current.”

The uniformed Polizei here are actually made of mannequins but look particularly life-like probably because Schnu broke the figure in multiple locations to reposition the limbs in more natural angles. Hearing that he “broke” the figure sends chills, as you can imagine being one of the people thrown to the ground by these armed people, your limbs pressed upon and even broken.

As Baby Boomers in the US commemorate 50 years since the 1968 Summer of Love, certain news reports are recalling the unbridled brutality of the Chicago police that summer against people protesting the Vietnam War. The youth were eventually vindicated by the 60,000 dead American kids and the millions of Vietnamese killed in what was revealed to be deceitful US leadership of generals and politicians . What many of those idealistic youth of the late 60s didn’t realize then was that when they reached their 70s the stories of new brutality against protestors and everyday people of color would still be in the news. Almost daily.

Around Europe and the world you find the same right now in the news; Romania, Bucharest, Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, The Balkans, Turkey, Catalan..

It’s an ongoing debate as societies define what the role of police is in admittedly a sometimes unthankable unpredictable position; just how much power and weaponry they should have, how they are accountable, and to whom.

In the US a vocal activist and superstar athlete and football quarterback Colin Kaepernick has withstood criticism for protesting police brutality in particular and systemic racism in general in the US by kneeling at games during the national anthem. That story has taken a unusual twist this week with global sports brand NIKE announcing they have chosen him as a spokesman.

To be clear, the topic is not police. It is brutality. And art. And certainly it’s a contemporary theme here in Germany as well, but like artist Señor Schnu says, it isn’t new.

MONUMENTA Opens: The Intelligence Of Many / Leipzig

September 1, 2018 Artists

MONUMENTA: The Intelligence Of Many.

Below is an excerpt from our press release on this weekend’s MONUMENTA TALKS which BSA is hosting for the opening of the Monumenta exhibition in these massive halls of a tool-making factory that has laid quiet for 20 years:

“Utopia is not dead! The idea of it anyway.

It may simply be obscured by the clutter of this dystopian era. We’ve all been imagining what Utopia looks like since your parents were kids. Visions of moon landings, living in geodesic domes, flying on skateboards, printing your own food, hacking time and space, making love to robots – we’ve all thought of our versions of Utopia.”

“Is Utopia now dead? Do we know how to banish Dystopia?

MONUMENTA TALKS entertains and asks you if we can optimize our cities and systems. Does art play an important part? Who gets to decide?

With our guests and the audience we want to revive utopias. Seeking ‘monumental’ and ‘iconic’ ideas for a city/society of the future. We’ll examine the Intelligence-of-Many instead of the Limitation-of-the-Individual for pushing us all forward.”

For information on all events, directions and schedule click on the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/408659719538221/

BSA Film Friday 08.31.18

August 31, 2018 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. Martha Cooper and Adele Renault at Artmossphere Biennale 2018
2. Canemorto at Artmossphere Biennale 2018
3. Pablo Harymbat at Artmossphere Biennale 2018
4. Hyland Mather at Artmossphere Biennale 2018

BSA Special Feature: 4 BSA Homemade Videos From This Week in Moscow for Artmossphere

There is a certain glory to all of this; 50 or so artists from around the world who started in Street Art and graffiti now making art that cannot be easily classified as such. After a handful of international curators sifted through 350 applications this represents a moment, possibly one flashpoint in the movement between the street and the contemporary art scene and academia and the public.

For a capital city in Russia to be a facilitator of this conversation is unique because the modern stories we tell each other about this public art practice have rarely centered here. But Moscow has its own towering splendor and is taking a leadership role in helping us tell the history and possibly helping to form the future of this scene. Thursday night the legion of guests trolling the arched halls of the wine cellar could not have been more engaged, more full of question, more willing to consider that the minds and craft of these artists, at least in some cases, are apt reflections of our society, provide insight and critique.

Enjoy these small videos made by photographer Jaime Rojo on his phone this week as we surveyed some of the artists preparing their work for Artmossphere 2018.

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Martha Cooper and Adele Renault

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Canemorto

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Pablo Harymbat

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Hyland Mather

MONUMENTA / LEIPZIG

Next Stop – LEIPZIG for an audacious new festival that celebrates the flattening of the hierchies and the Intelligence of Many.

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.24.16

July 24, 2016 Artists

“Vote for the one candidate who does not need this job,” intoned one of the many speakers who are receiving a trust fund from DJ Trump this week at the RNC convention. That’s convincing, isn’t it?

Blonde Women’s Lives Matter. Make America Salem Again. I am the Law.

The Donald didn’t let us down again this week – and for those of you who think we’re being partisan, we’re not. This dork has been doing this stuff in New York since the 80s – and we are all used to his grandiose claims and mid-speech reversals. But this week the RNC looked like it was going to devolve into Lord of the Flies crossed with the Salem Witch trials. No wonder the Street Art we keep seeing is approximately 10 to 1 against him – and still he’s like a gushing geyser of humor, comedy gold! Except for the violent parts.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alexandre Keto, Astro, Coloquix, Cyrcle, Dee Dee, Elle, Funquest, Lapiz, Leipzig, OverUnder, Patch Whisky, Uncut Tart, and You Go Girl!.

Thankfully there IS a light at the other end of the tunnel. Astro for #NotACrime in collaboration with Street Art Anarchy in East Harlem. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rabi of Cyrcle (and friends) for #NotACrime in collaboration with Street Art Anarchy in East Harlem. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Black Rat Projects Presents: “BRP Paper” (London, UK)

September 1, 2011 Artists, Events, Gallery, London, Opening, U.K.

BRP PAPER
Welcome Back! Here’s hoping everyone had a fantastic month of August despite the cold and rainy conditions. The Black Rat team is back from the far corners of Europe and we are thrilled to open our doors once again and welcome you to our September show ‘BRP Paper’ opening Thursday 8th of September through to October 16th.

Skilled and labour intensive, paper works respond to the rise of the digital age in small carefully crafted rebellions. Through the manipulation of paper today’s artists turn to this generation’s redundant material as a site of endless creative possibility. ‘BRP Paper’ will present bringing these international artists together for the first time to explore common themes in their work.

Another autumn milestone getting us excited is Black Rat’s participation in Christie’s Multiplied 2011 a fair devoted exclusively to Contemporary Art Editions. Running from 14th-17th October at Christie’s South Kensington, Multiplied will showcase the hottest new names and the best in contemporary art editions and Black Rat will be there right in the centre of the action so come by and say Hi!

See you all on the 8th!

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