Many familiar faces and interested people came to the opening of the first Berlin-wide Urban Art Week at the Urban Spree Gallery in Berlin-Friedrichshain on 5.9.2018.
In a spontaneous live performance, Australian Anthony Lister transformed a van at Urban Spree Gallery into a police car. He has just started his residency at Urban Spree and is now working for the opening of his exhibition in mid-September.
The evening was characterised by live performances. Visitors could become sprayers themselves in a VR installation. Through a video link to the artist SP38, who has been active in Berlin since the 90s, visitors could witness another live painting action.
Many of the visitors were magically attracted by the digital calligraffiti projected onto an exterior façade of the Urban Spree Gallery. Various artists drew lettering on the wall of the building. Two different live streams were used – from Berlin and from Ramallah. “As a new participatory format of intercultural exchange, Digital Calligraffiti combines the traditional art form of calligraphy and graffiti with the contemporary possibilities of urban media art. Artists and residents of two cities – Berlin and Ramallah (Palestine) – exchange calligraffiti messages and project them on walls of the Urban Spree in Berlin and the Goethe-Institut Ramallah.” Artists in Berlin were: TheosOne, Kadir Amigo Memis, Rylsee Naok Write, YAT, Drury Brennan, Jonaz Martin (JM). Artists in Ramallah: Hamza Abu Ayyash, Saher Kabi, Mohamed Omar. In collaboration with VJ Zoey Vero, Michael Ang (Network) and Torge Peters.
360° Video:
Today, Thursday, 06.09., the question “What does sales do to street art?” will be discussed in the symposium at Hometown Berlin. On 6/7/8 September there will be numerous exhibition openings and live painting events at various locations. The best place to find all the details is www.urbanartweek.de. On Sunday, 9 September, the Forum Urban Art discussion format will take place at the ZK/U and a selected film programme on the topic of urban art will be shown at the Centre Français.
The format of the Urban Art Week serves to recognise and network the scene with each other and is also intended to facilitate better promotion. Until 12 September, you can visit the various events and exhibitions and learn to see the city through different eyes.
Text: Stephanie Fenner
Leave a Reply