Category: Berlin

Holocaust Memorial

This post is out of chronological order, but I wanted to share that the St. Lawrence study group visited the Holocaust Memorial last Thursday, adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate.  We noted that in a city filled with graffiti on almost every imaginable surface, the block of flat gray stelae that comprise the Holocaust Memorial are kept free of commentary (if one can call graffiti commentary, that is).  We’ll talk more about this today with time (finally) to reflect upon what we’ve seen and experienced thus far in Berlin and Munich. Something called the “Degussa incident” refers to a scandal in…

Alternative Berlin

At Spencer Homick’s suggestion, my SLU students — Kat Dwyer, Bridget Montesanti, and Charlie Reetz — and I signed up for a walking tour yesterday with a group called Alternative Berlin to see and learn about street art.  It was a great way to begin our two week journey — better than I expected, to be honest.  Our guide Mark was extremely well informed, not only of the “scene” itself, but also about the ways in which artists engage the community with their work.  He discussed street art as much more than mere decoration and/or defacement of the public environment. …

Antjie Krog

We heard back from Katharina Haverich at the Haus der Kulturen, and we’re signed up to read on Friday night.  Here is what she wrote: There is a chance that by Friday June 4th (evening) we will be through with Gourevitch (read in German) and Sebald (read in German). The later that day I’d schedule you and your students, the higher the chance we will have reached Krog (read in English). My sense, from what I’ve read so far, is that this will not be performance as spectacle, but rather performance as a form of witnessing.  I’ll do more research…

Rules of Evidence at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt

A program entitled Rules of Evidence will be presented at the Haus der Kulten der Welt during the first week of June when I’ll be in Berlin with three students to study street art. Curated by Okwui Enwezor, the project is “the first edition of a new biannual encounter at Haus der Kulturen der Welt that will feature five days of thematic programmes, conceived by a group of international filmmakers, curators, artists and theoreticians. A key component of the encounter is the critical re-evaluation of historical processes in the light of the contemporary moment. Also at stake is the role…

Stroke.02

Turns out Stroke.02 will take place in Munich the same time I’ll be in Berlin in May-June with three students from SLU.  I’m hoping to get funding for all of us to attend.  Our Hatch friends will be there, plus many other sticker and street art n’er-do-wells from throughout Europe.

WHATYOUWRITE + trip to Berlin approved!

There are so many graffiti resources online these days including this one, “WHATYOUWRITE that’s what’s up.”  I came across it while looking up information about Martha Cooper.  Check out their long list of artists’ links. Also: my proposal to bring students to Berlin this summer was approved!  We’ll be there for a little over two weeks at the end of May – early June to document street art and sticker art for a spring 2010 exhibition at SLU.  We’ll meet up with Oli and Nada at their sticker Hatch Museum, and visit several sites such as the Galerie Neurotitan, Museum…

Thor #2

Another Thor Steiner reference to what has been attributed as neo-Nazi politics (see post from 11.03.09). I also just came across a post by John Collins on The Weave entitled Fascists-For Real, in which he discusses contemporary fascist politics in Spain during his year-long sabbatical.  I wonder if he’s come across anti-fascist street art to the extent I have in Berlin.  John’s analysis on various topics is always spot on.

November 11+16, 2009

The dominoes fell, and so did I.  A rainy night, hundreds of people, and umbrellas everywhere made it difficult to see the ground, and I slipped off a curb.  I now have a Botero foot and knees–puffy!  It was okay.  The crowd was chaotic. Berlin was absolutely fantastic.  I met up with Ollie at the Hatch Kingdom and hope very much that I can show my sticker exhibition there next spring.  It will need to be updated since the exhibition originally showed at SLU in 2006.  It was also really nice to hang out with SLU alum, Spencer Homick.  I…

November 9, 2009

The street art scene in Berlin has been superbe this week.  I’ve collected at least 250 stickers, even re-visiting a few streets to find new stickers after a day or two.  There will be much research to do when I get back home.  Neal at the Hotel Greifswald helped yesterday to provide historical and cultural context to some of the political stickers. This place in Kreuzberg had a bunch of original antifa stickers:

Berlin Day Two to Neurotitan

I gave a smiley to Neurotitan last spring, and it is still there, hanging from the ceiling right near the cash register.  I added one of my new MOO cards.  This might indeed bring fame and prosperity.  Ha!  Not!  (Pic to follow–blog is acting up again,)