Berlin is teeming with artists of all kinds—not just street artists and graffiti writers—from around the world. For decades, the city has been a natural magnet for creatives. In conjunction with the new exhibition Love Letters to the City, Urban Nation brought around 20 artists to the streets surrounding the museum. The diverse techniques and styles showcased here reflect the incredible talent in the city—a convergence of dreams, aspirations, and life paths intersecting in this urban landscape. Below is a selection of walls and images we captured during the UN celebrations.
URBAN NATION MUSEUM’S EXHIBITION “LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY” is currently on view. The Community Murals are also on view and free to the public. For schedules and further details click HERE
Join BSA this week in Berlin as we celebrate the opening of “Love Letters to the City,” the new exhibition at Urban Nation Museum. We’ll also be tooling around the city and sharing whatever catches our eye.
“Love Letters to the City is a homage to the city, the idea of the universal city,” curator Michelle Houston reflects while seated at a picnic table outside a Thai restaurant in Berlin’s Schöneberg neighborhood. As final installations are taking place in Urban Nation, Houston’s gazes upward at the new mural on its façade being painted by OG train writer Lady Pink on a cherry picker at the museum. This mural is part of Houston’s upcoming show, “Love Letters to the City.”
“I think paint in public spaces has a different potency in the city than anywhere else,” Houston explains, discussing the exhibition’s outdoor and indoor installations. She highlights the various ways Urban Nation is presenting the evolution of graffiti and street art, noting its role in urbanization, gentrification, and even social conditioning. “It does much more than just present pretty images.”
The museum’s exhibition features a diverse array of works, including full-scale three-dimensional installations and sculptures. A significant portion of the pieces are borrowed from the museum’s permanent collection, while others are newly commissioned from both national and international artists.
Currently, Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara in 1964 in Ecuador, is working on her mural two stories above the bustling street. Her piece, an illustrative and fantastical love letter of her own, features a swirling train reminiscent of the NYC subway trains she became famous for painting in the early 1980s. Her work includes improvisational tags of other iconic figures from that era. In Berlin, where graffiti and street art have transformed entire neighborhoods and established it a magnet for creativity in the public space, her mural is a testament to the city’s rich artistic history.
For Houston, the mural is just one example of “the ingenious ways that artists hack and appropriate public space.”
Urban Nation Museum in Berlin invites New York legend Lady Pink to paint the museum façade to open the new exhibition, “Love Letters to the City.”
Opening at the URBAN NATION Museum on Friday, September 13, 2024, this multi-factorial and dynamic showcase, curated by Michelle Houston, celebrates the city’s essence through the eyes of over fifty international and Berlin-based street artists.
Keeping the focus local, the festivities with the Bülow Streetart Jam start Monday, September 9, with the Bülow Street Festival leading up to the grand exhibition launch. Hosted by the Berliner Leben Foundation and Gewobag, the community-centered event will invite participants from all over to be part of the art-making. The day after the exhibition opening, there will also be a Fresh A.I.R. Open House on September 14; where artists will offer a behind-the-scenes look at their current projects.
“Love Letters to the City” invites you to consider how art transforms and reflects urban spaces, our adoption of and reaction to them, and, ultimately, how they become part of the definition of a city. The new exhibition aims to spark critical conversations about urbanization, gentrification, and social issues. Among the extensive offerings are powerful works that challenge our perspectives and possibly inspire change within our shared human-built environments.
Come to Berlin to celebrate with BSA and UN as we explore the profound impact of street art on our cityscapes.
Exhibition Opening: September 13, 2024, 7–11 pm URBAN NATION Museum, Bülowstraße 7, 10783 Berlin
Participating artists: 2501, Aniruddh Mehta, Banksy, Blek le Rat, Bordalo II, Carlos Mare aka Mare139, Chop ’em Down Films, Crash, Dan Witz, Daze, Drew.Lab_One, Elfo, Evol, HA Schult, HOGRE, Isaac Zavale, James Reka, Jaune, Jazoo Yang, Joel Daniel Phillips, Johannnes Mundinger, Jordan Seiler, Kenny Scharf, Lady Pink, Liviu Bulea, Martha Cooper, Matthew Grabelsky, MILLO, Moses & Taps, Nika Kramer, Octavi Serra, Owen Dippie, OX, PAINTING DHAKA Project, Paradox, Rocco and his brothers, Sebas Velasco, Shepard Fairey, Stephanie Buer, Stiftung Berliner Mauer, Stipan Tadić, Susanna Jerger, Tats Cru, THE WA, Vhils and Zhang Dali.
BÜLOW STREETART JAM September 9 to 14, 2024 Bülowstraße around the URBAN NATION Museum
The week before the grand opening of the exhibition LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY creative people from all over the world will paint new Community Walls and create Floating Murals. Among the highlights is the new museum façade of the URBAN NATION by Lady Pink, a tribute to the city. The artist Jazoo Yang invites you to become part of a unique community wall, where you can put your fingerprint on a wall at Bülowstr. 95 and leave a colorful trace. Join in on September 14, 2024, 12-6 pm.
FOR COMPLETE LIST OF PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND SCHEDULE CLICK HERE
BÜLOW STREET FESTIVAL September 13 to 15, 2024 Zietenstraße, 10783 Berlin, at the URBAN NATION Museum
In conjunction with the opening of the LOVE LETTERS TO THE CITY exhibition at the URBAN NATION Museum and the Berlin Democracy Day month of action, we are focusing on diversity and creative exchange in our city. The Bülow Street Festival brings together social and artistic projects committed to an open and inclusive society. It offers an opportunity to discover art and culture together and be inspired by the city’s creative energy. The weekend attracts visitors with artistic workshops, temporary floating murals, rousing music, exciting performances, delicious street food and more. Come celebrate with BSA as we will be in Berlin all week – come Celebrate with us!
OPEN HOUSE at Fresh A.I.R. #9 September 14, 2024, 4-8 pm Bülowstr. 7, 10783 Berlin
Fresh A.I.R.’s OPEN HOUSE offers an exclusive look behind the scenes and the unique opportunity to talk to artists and peer over their shoulders. Come by on September 14 between 4 and 8 p.m.
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
