When I was in Berlin last week, I participated in a Street Art & Graffiti tour. We went to different places in the city, looked at different artist’s work, styles and techniques, and got a bit of background on the history and culture of street art in Berlin as well.
One thing that I found particularly interesting is that most Sprayers are organized in groups & sometimes do funny things together as well.
One group did a spray paint action on a train on mothers day once– means they planned in advance what they wanted to spray, then had some group members in the train and others at the train station, watching out for the police (as graffiti is 100% illegal in Berlin) and when the train stopped, they had exactly 2 minutes to spraypaint the train while people got in and out of it. Evey member of the group knew exactly what they had to do and it reminded me a bit of an undercover agent mission… (loving things like that…) smiles
But what really moved me is: they’re artists, strong individuals, each with their own mindset and ego but they do something together, have fun, exchange, swap knowledge and inspiration… so.. smiles…
Happy OLN everyone… the pub is one of the places where we can connect and interact as well… take the chance, visit others, leave feedback on your fellow people’s posts… and let’s have a bit fun together
If you’re new… here’s how it works…
- write and post a poem to your blog
- leave us the link by clicking on the mr. linky button below, fill in your name and url of the poem
- visit some others that have linked up and give them feedback on their poems in a short comment– be specific & personal
- if someone commented on your poem, it’s polite to visit them back..really
- share yours and others work via your preferred social media platforms if you like – if you use twitter, put in the @dVersePoets tag so that more people will see it
- enjoy the interaction and inspiration & –we don’t mind some spray paint on our walls…just saying… smiles
dVerse 
Hello all! Happy Tuesday!
happy tuesday audrey…woot…you been first!! smiles
Finally an OLN where I’m present as it opens so excited here… and eager to see all contributions. Sounds like a great time in Berlin Claudia.
ah it was….didn’t want to leave..sigh
Well, that sounds like lots of fun! Graffiti as poetry, or vice versa, I kind of like the sound of that. Happy open link night everyone!
we kinda throw our words up against walls as well…smiles
Love your story of the Mothers’ Day Sprayers Claudia.. defying every preconception. Opening minds a little.. just as here. Happy OLN everyone!
ha – you can join me in that secret undercover poetry spray group… pssssshhhhh…smiles
Hi Claudia ! Happy to be back in the pub – where many minds from everywhere – meld together to share not only words but the thoughts they paint into art of another kind. I’m always happy to be here – it always feels like home!
nice…. and always so great having you here gay
Call yourself an artist…and you can get away with almost anything…love the illegal spray paint…:) Cheers!
yes! smiles
I guess we’re kinda like that, but poetry is legal… thank goodness. Happy OLN everyone.
there are parts in the world where it’s not legal… and in the third reich they burned the books of some of the poets cause their thoughts were influencing people in a way they didn’t like… on a public place in berlin there’s a glass plate embedded in the ground with empty shelves underneath as a reminder of all the books that got burned cause they were too dangerous…. love me some dangerous books and poetry…smiles
I love graffiti art & spray on street walls and trains ~ Here, the mayor has declared war on them and has taken them down ~ Thanks for sharing your travels with us Claudia ~
Happy OLN everyone ~ I will be around to visit once I get home ~
Grace
ok– out on the trail now to read what you brought to the table…
Hey
I never got to see graffiti art. All we have here are painted messages, which sometimes are quite so… ahem… 🙂
Sounds like your trip was interesting. Have a good day(night). 🙂
Philadelphia’s mural program was/is an attempt to tame the graffiti artists into trained muralists, and the results have been amazing. Many of the murals can be seen on the WEB–not that graffiti has stopped, heaven forbid, but the graffiti does not ever (so far) destroy a mural! Thanks for giving us Berlin, Claudia.
Whoops! This was supposed to be at the end. Sorry.
just don’t tame them too much, you know… i think there has to be a certain wildness…and it doesn’t always have to look nice… sometimes it’s all about the message
so cool….we have a festival near here every year and i love to go watch them doing the street art….def big on graffiti…smiles.
as soon as i get these buses out of here i will be in to visit everyone….
peace
that’s way cool.. have to check if we have sth. similar over here as well..
pretty cool on them watching out for the police…2 minutes….pretty amazing what they can pull off in that time eh?
Happy Tuesday! New York City had a major crackdown on graffiti many years ago. It was largely successful … from the city’s point of view, that is. 🙂 For the artists? Not so much.
ugh… in berlin there was this huge wall and even though it was never legal to spray it, the police let it happen… today it’s part of the city’s culture.. there are around 6000 sprayers each night and 36 policemen whose job is it to prevent the spraying….so… but 6000 sprayers, imagine just how the city’s face changes each night… i think that’s cool… part of her charm…
I’ve long been absent from the pub. Happy to stop in today.
I have missed you!
cool to see you again kim
good to see you kim…
So the Mother’s Day train – instead of a Flash Mob, that was a Flash Spray? There’s something so underground and yet so cool about the coming together for that. Your trip and tour sounded wonderful, Claudia. Happy OLN, all.!
ha yes… maybe they sprayed mothers day flowers onto that train…couldn’t find out…smiles
Hi Claudia – and everyone at the bar. There’s graffitti and then there’s street art, and there is a huge difference, at least in my opinion. Street art can be wonderful to see; much graffitti is just plain offensive.
In case anyone missed it, my poem In Cairo was selected for WordPress’s Freshly Pressed. I mention it because it was written in response to the Form For All prompt on Thursday, so hopefully some more of the world’s poets might find there way here … smiles
oh wow tony… that is way cool… i loved that poem and it’s just such a timely topic as well..
and i agree on what you say rgd. street art and graffiti… the guy in berlin who did the tour showed us many really good stuff and those painters often work for big companies /sport wear/street wear, doing their design – but he also said he loves the ugly and spontanoues stuff cause it’s in the moment, a feeling, a scream, frustration… someone who wants to be heard and that’s their way to shout it out
Great to join you all tonight!
great to see you robbie
posted 😀
nice and great to see you.. feel free to look around and visit some of the others as well
ok… out on the trail again to read..
1 hour in, and already a lively time is being had by all; good to have Bjorn & others back at the Pub. As I promised I linked in my Cinemagenc poem BLACKTHORNE 2; THE LONG DEATH tonight. I was out of town last week. Yes, the old dVerse Pub does feel like home, and it is always such an adrenaline rush that first two hours when the biggest influx of poetics hits the links. Good street art is exhilarating; but for me, gang tagging is mostly masturbation, a pissing contest, with less artistic merit; with talented exceptions, of course.
will get to your place in a bit glenn… and hey… you sound a bit like a spray painter yourself in that last part..smiles
Happy OLN, everyone, and Claudia, thanks for your report from Berlin.
always a pleasure…smiles
I am a bit late getting here. I started work at a bilingual school yesterday. I am working with the 6th graders. They are so cute. Thanks for hosting, Claudia. Sounds like an interesting visit to Berlin. Happy open link to all.
Pamela
oh very cool on the work in the bilingual school… my daughter would love to do sth. like this as well i think
oh. bet you are having fun with that pamela…
Hello all!
I think graffity is wonderfull! There is always a debate about,most people here hate it and I can see why, but I think they should make a distinction between graffity which is a form of art and just tagging walls with a spray which is vandalism.
There are some glorious graffity in my city and I would really hate to see them repainted.
yep.. vandalism sucks…i totally agree
sweet! great to be here, and not for last call like usual. a round on me:)
thanks for all you talented folks do at dverse. what a fabulous place.
hey ed…great to see you… pssshhh… he’s one of the judges for the boston poetry contest as well and father to a beautiful, beautiful little daughter who is almost six months now…smiles
I’m so glad that unlike the Berlin street artists, we’re not in danger of being arrested for writing freely here. Thanks for hosting tonight Claudia.
smiles…just coming from your place myrna… good to see you in the pub.. i write in light blue and brown…smiles.. maybe i should start using green now…
Claudia, I really did enjoy the story of how the graffiti artists painted the train. They are indeed very talented if they can pull something like that off!! I suppose we really should not be ‘rooting for’ people who are doing something illegal….but….
yes..i agree…and yes…smiles
It’s been a while since I posted here for you all, so mine’s up 🙂
Train spraying is also very popular in france, although just as illegal as in Germany! Some are really good at it.
there are def some that are really good at it…its pretty amazing to watch their creations come to life….i stopped in the festival here over a few days and it was interesting to see the progression and the finished products…
I enjoyed your intro, Claudia. If only there were venues for these kids to develop their art, instead of making it illegal (that is, when it’s truly art, not gang-related tagging) I have to think it would be such a great channel for them to express themselves instead of engaging in destructive behavior.
yes…i agree…art is a great way to channel emotions in a positive direction
Blessings to all xx
blessings and hugs back poppy
POPPY!!!!
Thanks for hosting OLN Claudia~It is fascinating how the artists have there own specific job when they spray. I bet their adrenaline really gets pumping. I’ve been moving for a couple weeks but am finally settling in. Hopefully I will find inspiration and energy to leave a poem.
good to hear that you’re settling in linda… and hope that you will return with a poem later…smiles… the adrenaline…yes…smiles
ok poets…can’t keep my eyes open…. had a very bad night yesterday… my brain full with thousand wild riders… didn’t let me sleep…ugh… first day back at work as well… so will call it a day and catch up with you in the AM…
sleep well c….
hi Claudia and Everyone, i’ll try and do my part to keep your eyelids open. your Berlin story about the graffiti artists sparked a memory for me…back in the day, when i lived in NY in the ’70’s, there was a tagger and he was eithe r the first or among the originals, TAKI183 could be seen on every subway car in the system, and in the most unlikely places like 8′ above the 3rd rail, on the ceiling of the train tunnel, i side the conductors and toll collector booth always begging the question….’how did he do that’
TAKI183 is legend in graffiti artist history, at least in NY.
is that the one they did the movie on?
yes, i believe they did. his was a very simple black marker tag, but you could not travel by subway and not see it…everywhere!
ah, i have been googling trying to find the name of the movie…i will find it….
i wish i could remember, i’m just awful remembering movie names…
Here’s a NYTimes article about TAK118: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/arts/design/early-graffiti-artist-taki-183-still-lives.html?_r=0
Claudia, hope that you had sweet dreams–i love the group art stories 🙂 Mine is a duet with a tree–or maybe its a trio because the evening light is part of it too…could have been a whole other poem at the rate I’m going here:-)
some of my best friends are trees…smiles….
I am drawing a blank! Maybe I’ll do some baking and see if that sparks something for OLN!
oh you can def get poetry out of baking…smiles….
yep poetry and raspberry scones! 🙂
yum…throw in a cup a joe and i am there…
you got it my friend!
I love this blog story. I just send a link I added myself on the list for contribution.
I hope I did it right.
I’m new on your guys is blog “dversepoets”. I heard great things about you guys. 🙂
I also followed you on twitter. 🙂
glad to have you here charlie and thanks for jumping in so enthusiastically as well…wicked good poem tonight…
Thank you sir…
You will see a lot more of my poems that will trip you out.
I’m posting another blog today…watch out for it. 🙂
Hi everyone! My first time here and just dipping my toe in the paint er,..; I mean ink!
glad you are here…welcome to dverse….enjoy mingling with the poets…and if you have any questions, just ask…
Thanks for the welcome brian
any time man
Hi Claudia, thanks for the welcome this week. I am totally flabbergasted that Graffiti is legal in some parts of the world. Though I agree that some graffiti has it’s place and if done as ‘artwork’ say in a mural it can certainly decorate the side of a building. However, sadly most of our ‘artists’ I say that term loosely are nothing more than rampant teenagers who are let loose with a spray can to tag newly painted fences, trains and people’s businesses. Initials of the ‘group leader’ usually and there are many places in Melbourne that just look a mess 😦 Would be lovely if they were responsible enough to actually construct ‘art’ but no…they aren’t. Interesting to find out how other people live 🙂
ah we have taggers as well…though they are quite different than street artists…
I don’t think we have street artists here, if they are they need to get back to art classes 🙂
hahaha—touche’
Hello! First timer and have to say this is a Fab place ! Thank you dVerse:)
great….we have this amazing hat we make first timers wear…
now where did i put it…
smiles. just kidding. welcome. glad you are here. have fun mingling with the poets…we have some fine poetry on tap. yours included.
wow. really great opening piece…would love to hear it.
LOL, just had flashbacks to freshmen initiation hat hell day in highschool! Thank you Brian Miller for the welcome! Great place here!
you are quite welcome….smiles.
alright poets…have a very early day tomorrow…have to leave the house by 530 to get to a staff meeting….hitting the sack and up before the sun to check in before getting on the road…have fun…
smiles… sleep well… just got up… before the sun as well… smiles.. and heading out on the trail now with a cup of strong, black coffee in hand…
ok…made a little round… will be back in the evening after work to read some more…
Claudia, cool story. Some street art in LA, only graffiti in Orange County. There are some pretty cool websites devoted to street art, and every so often thisiscolossal.com has some cool street art (and always, cool art). Will be back tomorrow on the trail. Cheers ~ M
Here in France they actually use graffiti on certain places to brighten up grey cement buildings in town centres or to advertise local events. I’ve seen some great examples but of course don’t have the pictures to hand. There was even a ‘street art’ competition in Lyon which was really interesting to watch (although the smell was a bit overpowering).
morning poets!
between meetings and catching up quick….
hope you are having a great day!
This may be the Graffiti film you were looking for earlier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk_182
wow…sounds interesting
yes it is….
alright….back from work and catching up