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July 12, 2007
Brownstoner in Berlin: Part 2
The first thing that struck us as we walked around Mitte yesterday in Berlin was the amount of graffiti. From what we could tell, the buildings with graffiti tend to be the ones with squatters, like the one on the jump. Of course, the squatter buildings are among the oldest and most beautiful, albeit in a rundown way, that we saw.
Brownstoner in Berlin: Part 1 [Brownstoner]
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Check out the photographs of Frank Hallam Day, a DC based photographer (no, I am not him or related to him, I just love his work). He has a series called Berlin Mitte that are amazing, and really showcase the grafitti you have shown. Your pictures are very artistic as well!
Posted by: Bergenite at July 12, 2007 10:50 AM
As someone who wrote grafitti in the 80"s during tthe second grafitti renaissance, Europe is still catching up. That first photo "heif" is a direct swipe from a piece on the cover of "subway art" by a guy named "heist"... and Heist was a teenager in the 70's 80's, the Berliner who stole the letters is probably an college age art student(the bottom left picure looks very "Zephyr-esque" to me as well)...then again, i'm just an bitter old man
Posted by: brooklynwriter at July 12, 2007 12:30 PM
UGH
This looks like NYC in the bad old days.
Berliners need to get a grip.
Posted by: Sam at July 12, 2007 12:42 PM
Who's the mayor over there now?
Dave Dinkins?
Posted by: Sam at July 12, 2007 12:58 PM
"second grafitti renaissance" - you gotta be kidding me. It is called vandalism.
And if Brownstoner people enjoy and glorify this stuff they should shut their mouths about bricolage, fedders, drug dealing and other urban blight.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 12, 2007 1:36 PM
I live in Copenhagen now and the grafitti culture here (as in Berlin, Stockholm and most northern cities) is growing and derives inspiration from the American grafitti/street culture and the way that NYC looked in the 1980s.
In a way, it's disgusting and kind of a blight on the quality of life, and it's allegedly being fought very heavily among building owners and police, but, as in every city, they'll keep coming. Examples like Mitte where squatter-occupied buildings still exist, why would vandals have any respect for the streetscape when these cities (including Copenhagen) allow buildings to fall into disrepair and squatters to occupy them.
That, however, is a completely separate issue. Hope you're enjoying Berlin though, Mr. B.
Posted by: Justin at July 12, 2007 3:14 PM
I am quite thrilled with the idea that nordic kids in scandinavia are imitating the bros in the hood.
I feel strangely proud to belong to the culture that has brought a little color and grit to the otherwise staid and perhaps self-satisfied socialist communities on the outskirts of the North Pole.
Noo Yawk rocks!
Posted by: Bro at July 12, 2007 4:13 PM
Grafitti is horrible. I spent the 70's riding around on trains that were like moving garbage cans, filled with grafitti and I think grafitti is vandalism, pure and simple. I also associate grafitti with the 70's in that it was the worst time in NYC history, out of control crime, drugs and grafitti could take over because police were putting out fires everywhere (metaphorically) and trying not to get shot (literally) so who gave a shit about grafitti. I loathe grafitti and I can't understand the fascination with it. It seems to be like the only people who like grafitti are well off peoplel who enjoy slumming for the atmosphere. Too bad that is what they copy in Europe.
Posted by: anon Ft. Greener at July 12, 2007 4:55 PM
Hmm, I beg to differ with most of you. I looked at the photos and thought how beautiful it looks and realized how much I miss seeing graffiti in NY. Yeah, I'm one of those people who loved NY in the 70's. The city could be Anywhere, USA now. Different strokes, I guess.
Posted by: yente at July 12, 2007 6:24 PM
you liked NY in 1970's?
What? are you the Son of Sam?
You have to have screws lose to have
liked NY then, it was horrible,
crime, filth, un-air-conditioned subway cars, burning neighborhoods, race riots, -yeah a regular golden age.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 12, 2007 7:42 PM
I agree with anon 7:42. Anyone who truly liked New York in the '70's is a sucker for punishment. It was one of the worse times to be here.
Anyway Berlin'ers hope they destroy their city.
Posted by: anon at July 13, 2007 7:11 AM
I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm a sucker for punishment with a few loose (or "lose") screws. Fact is, I'm not alone. ALL of my friends whom I grew up with feel the same way. Perhaps it's a generational thing (early 40's) or a personality type (we may not be considered "mainstream"). Check out this interesting thread: http://gothamist.com/2007/05/23/old_naughty_new.php
And honestly, why do you feel the need to insult people if they don't agree with you?
Posted by: yente at July 13, 2007 9:08 AM
omg... just remembering New York in the 70's... what a despairing time for everyone... vandalism, violence, always the feeling that something awful would happen just walking ANYWHERE... couldn't GIVE Brooklyn real estate away.
Can't imagine anyone glorifying those dark days in this beautiful city.
I will always perceive graffiti as a sign of decay, abandonment, and all things miserable, in spite of some folks attempting to elevate graffiti to
an art form. UGH.
Posted by: bren at July 13, 2007 9:16 AM
They need Charles Bronson in Berlin!
Posted by: Anonymous at July 13, 2007 9:42 AM
Nice tax-right off B
Posted by: Anonymous at July 13, 2007 10:28 AM
Rennaissance meaning "rebirth" can be used as a positive or negative. Grafitti WAS a sign of decay, and the poor youth reaching out to make a statement of their surroundings, the 80's wasnt mush less violent, actually grafitti crews were much more violent in the 80's (one of the reasons i got out of it when I did).. Its the kids you brownstoners are raising now that are draining your savings in art school just to emmulate poor teenagers from 30 years ago. Art students and grads, "artists" working their asses off to buy wheatpaste, spray paint, and markers. a huge waste.Like the rich kids in the heights and elsewhere trying to dress "ghetto". Yeah I wrote grafitti when I was young, it was a rite of passage to me, I fully agree the new stuff is fake, and that the parents should be held responsible for their kids actions (the crappy grafitti in the heights and dumbo is done by the young residents of the heights and dumbo).and where my current art is influenced by what I went through, I agree the new stuff is fake, and done hugely by upper middle class kids who cant identitfy with their parents geeekishness and closemindedness, they wish they had the freedom we felt back then (the streets were much safer in the 70's with the absence of crack). As far as appreciating the Beginnings of graffitti, people riding the "dirty subways" cowering in all corners of the city, I cant imagine the 70's were fun for you, I had a blast.
Posted by: anon at July 13, 2007 11:23 AM
Regarding the "bad old days", NYC in the 70's when I was in my 20's had its own unique craziness, including grafitti, but believe me it was a different, very screwed up place. It was when people believed that NYC was ungovernable: when we almost went bust in 1975, when crime was truly out of control, when I was burglarized several times on the upper east side, when being accosted on the subway was the usual. (I remember getting a black eye on my way to my job when I mouthed off to someone sharing his genitalia). My cousin was a cop on the lower east side then and going to cop funerals was part of his life. When the lights went out in the blackout of July 1977, I could hear the rioting and looting up the street and I used to slouch in the back of cabs when kissing my boyfriend goodnight (thank you, Son of Sam) and yes, grafitti was all over the place. I know I sound like a middle aged crank - sure I had plenty of fun in the 70s despite how screwed up NYC was then. It was before everyone got a business suit and forgot about how wild they were in the '70s. Try getting a mortgage then - I bought in the early 80's with an ARM - 16%.
But I may be too working class to find grafitti cute or cool. It seems like you might find it cool if you were going on a day trip to the slums to prove your hipness. It doesn't seem that anyone would think grafitti was cool if it was on their brownstone, or their van.
Posted by: anon at July 15, 2007 1:28 PM
"daytrip to the slums"?... how far away do you think the "slums" are?
Posted by: anon at July 17, 2007 9:55 AM
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