Bart Van Kersavond

Born 1974 and raised in Belgium, I landed in Germany in 1997 because of my studies. From 2000 on, I spent 16 exciting years in Berlin, where I discovered my passion for subculture, graffiti, street art and lost places. What started as a hobby in Berlin developed into a formative way of life, which is documented on my blog urbanpresents.net.

No matter whether I am on the road for work, alone or with my family – the search for creative places where I feel at home, is always part of my travels.
When I came back from my short trip to Shanghai in 2012 and collected several thousand photos on flickr, I had the idea to create a blog. I felt the need to give the photographs, experiences, actions and cooperations a personal framework and to share it with others. I would also like to give some respect the artists and projects through my research and intensive observation and stay in touch and/or make new contacts through my platform.

Discovering new places and getting to know creative minds and their projects gives me great pleasure. For example, the project ‘Freiluftgalerie’ in Halle inspired me: for several years Street Artists were invited to breathe new life into the most abandoned residential district in Germany. This is where several of my interests come together: the involvement of the local population and the illustration of the positive effect of Street Art in the living space. I find the exciting encounter of history and art in abandoned, partly morbid and historically significant buildings fascinating, above all, how artists use these places as creative playgrounds.

My current project “Marrakesh – Street Art” has developed very dynamically over the past 10 years: I was allowed to follow the rapid development of local Graffiti pieces, to observe the first international artists to paint there, and the first Street Art Festival mb6streetart and the projects of the artist residence Jardin Rouge.
I have captured this story through my photographs and texts on urbanpresents.
My Marrakesh pictures have also been published in the book “Lonely Planets Streetart”, the Moroccan newspaper “L’économiste”, and on several international Street Art blogs.

During the first “Urban Art Week” in Berlin my photo exhibition “Discover Street Art in Marrakesh” was presented in September 2018.

My next concern is to build a bridge between Marrakesh and Berlin with “Urban Affairs” (Berlin) and the “Kech Collective” (Marrakesh). Artist exchange, exhibition and publication are planned.

In the future I would like to expand my focus on the Arab world and Asia even more, and with my blog, my photographs, and organizational experiences from the event sector, I would like to contribute, because through synergies further inspiring projects develop and are converted.

Urban Art Week, Katia Hermann (Kuratorin), Steve Alexander – Rinzen, rbvk – Studio für visuelle Kommunikation, zurmoebelfabrik

• Book about street art in Marrakesh
• Marrakesh-Berlin exchange projects
• Organizing murals