during my three-day tour through hamburg, i arranged to meet up with louisa – an expert in the area of “street art in hamburg”. our meeting not only resulted in a mural tour through altona & st. pauli, but also in an exclusive appointment at the OZM art space, an urban art gallery – right in the middle of sternschanze – which has been exhibiting graffiti and installations by well-known artists from the street art scene for years. although already closed to the public, we had the one-off chance to thoroughly explore this fascinating art space – just before its upcoming demolition in the spring of 2018 – and to really immerse ourselves in the space one last time.
in any case, the building looked impressive from the outside, as the complete facade had been freshly sprayed by three graffiti legends: “won abc” with a “phoenix rising from the ashes” rocket in the entrance area, loomit with a huge fish and accompanying sailing ships at the front towards the entrance gate and tasek with a luminous typographic work and the unambiguous message “impermanence” on the side opposite the railway tracks. although the electricity in the building would be turned off sometime over the next few days and one would have expected an apocalyptic mood and creative chaos, there was more of a peaceful, laid-back ambiance in an all-encompassing, final creative phase.
mural – loomit – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – tasek – ozm, hamburg
over the entire tour, i felt frequent bursts of excitement from what i saw: for very different works by well-known street artists – including mittenimwald and simo – could be seen on several floors. the artworks had an especially intense effect on me, as the exhibition rooms were designed to make them monumental. for example, while the works of “darko caramello nikolic” could be found in pitch-dark rooms in which only the art was illuminated, the rooms of darco fbi were completely sprayed – from wall to floor to ceiling – in blinding color. at any rate, one could clearly sense the passion of the artists and gallerist on every level.
art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg gerbos – ozm, hamburg
as the two of us strolled through the many rooms, various thoughts raced through my mind: … is this a dream? is it reality? no, this place can’t be demolished! and although we took two hours to get a good look at everything, only to have to take pictures afterwards in a rush, we wound up staying a full five hours in the gallery. not least because in the end we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with gallerist alex heimkind and graffiti legend loomit.
the exhibition visit ended for me on an upbeat note: gallerist alex heimkind is already busy working on the concept for his next gallery. this time it will be a mobile gallery, which will be built on 40-foot containers. a reassuring thought coupled with anticipation for the next OZM adventure in hamburg!
loomit
mural – loomit – ozm, hamburg mural – loomit – ozm, hamburg mural – loomit – ozm, hamburg graffiti – loomit & godling – ozm, hamburg graffiti – loomit & godling – ozm, hamburg art – loomit – ozm, hamburg art – loomit – ozm, hamburg art – loomit – ozm, hamburg art – loomit – ozm, hamburg
won abc
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg 
graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg graffiti – won abc – ozm, hamburg
tasek
graffiti – tasek – ozm, hamburg graffiti – tasek – ozm, hamburg graffiti – tasek – ozm, hamburg graffiti – tasek – ozm, hamburg
darko caramello nikolic
art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg art – darko caramello nikolic – ozm, hamburg
darco fbi
graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg graffiti – darco fbi – ozm, hamburg
gerbos
gerbos – ozm, hamburg gerbos – ozm, hamburg gerbos – ozm, hamburg gerbos – ozm, hamburg gerbos – ozm, hamburg gerbos – ozm, hamburg
mittenimwald
urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg urban art – mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg
oz
art – oz – ozm, hamburg art – oz – ozm, hamburg art – oz – ozm, hamburg art – oz & mir – ozm, hamburg art – oz & mittenimwald – ozm, hamburg
artone
art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg art – artone – ozm, hamburg
sablage
sablage – ozm, hamburg sablage – ozm, hamburg sablage – ozm, hamburg sablage – ozm, hamburg sablage – ozm, hamburg sablage – ozm, hamburg
lady wave
lady wave – ozm, hamburg lady wave – ozm, hamburg lady wave – ozm, hamburg
simo
simo – ozm, hamburg simo – ozm, hamburg simo – ozm, hamburg simo – ozm, hamburg simo – ozm, hamburg
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