All posts tagged: Szczecin

M-City is Airborne with Szczecin Wars in Poland

M-City is Airborne with Szczecin Wars in Poland

“Szczecin before the Second World War was a German city,” says the street artist named M-City. Now it’s flying as a spaceship in his latest stencil mural here – in Poland.

M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)

It was part of a competition in this major cultural city of about 770,000; an airborne urban map inspired as much by the movie Star Wars as the Orion Constellation of this 1100-year-old city only 14 miles from Germany, formerly “Stettin”. It has a history of changing hands between Central European powers, and perhaps why it seems well suited to be up in the air, ready to move, soar, even crash.

M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)

About an hour via highway from Berlin, the activist and urban art professor M-City tells us that parts of the city that were not destroyed during WWII capture his imagination even now. “The architecture and plans are quite similar to those of Berlin,” he says. “And it looks like part of a spaceship, or a planet in science fiction movies. For me you can find a Falcon shape from Star Wars in there”.

M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)
M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)
M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)
M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)
M-City. “Szczecin Wars”. Szczecin, Poland. August 2021. (photo © Mariusz Waras)
Aerial view of downtown Szczecin, Poland.
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SEPE Paints in Szczecin for OD/BLOKOWANIE

SEPE Paints in Szczecin for OD/BLOKOWANIE

Sometimes an enterprising artist creates their own initiative in a city and invites friends to come and paint walls that they secure – a small campaign or informal “festival, if you will.

SEPE. OD/BLOKOWANIE 2.0. Szczecin, Poland, June 2019. (photo courtesy of the artist)

“I invited 3 artists to the project ‘OD/BLOKOWANIE’,” says the billboard hi-jacker/adbuster named Lump here in Szczecin, Poland. The lineup includes the Polish Sepe, the Greek graffiti writer/wheat-paster/painter Dimitris Taxis, and the Spanish painter/Street Artist Zësar Bahamonte.

SEPE. OD/BLOKOWANIE 2.0. Szczecin, Poland, June 2019. (photo courtesy of the artist)

With a title like OD/BLOKOWANIE that translates roughly to “unblocking”, you may imagine that Sepe is opening up a part of the city with his wall.

“I focused on melting the work into colors and forms of surrounding – warm greens and browns similar to the trees around,” says Sepe. “Also I used the walls’s natural plaster to make the work appear light and not so visually oppressive.” He calls the work, “There’s No Sea…”

SEPE. OD/BLOKOWANIE 2.0. Szczecin, Poland, June 2019. (photo courtesy of the artist)
SEPE. OD/BLOKOWANIE 2.0. Szczecin, Poland, June 2019. (photo courtesy of the artist)
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