On Berlin walls

wall in Berlin

The first thing to know about Berlin is that it has many walls — and there is graffiti on almost all of them.

underpass

I was in Berlin for a week and only left the former East Berlin once, and then just by a couple of blocks. The Fernsehturm was almost never out of sight.

obey

Was the profusion of graffiti and street art a hold-over from the Berlin Wall, I wondered? An artist friend who has traveled more widely than me said she thought Berlin was the most graffitoed city in the world.

gas mask

Some of the street art was overtly political,

doggies

much of it was whimsical,

tourist in Berlin

and some of it was uncomfortable.

shark

It was rather like touring an open-air museum—

taking flight

albeit one with warring curators,

Berlin squat 1

some of whom squatted on the premises,

Berlin squat 2

came out only under cover of darkness,

Anne Frank

and paid loving homage to fellow squatters.

3 Replies to “On Berlin walls”

  1. I didn’t enjoy Berlin much. The big cities aren’t my thing but the street art in every corner is defiantly something to see. There are so many wonderful hidden treasures.

      1. Actually I think it’s good we cannot always say why we like something. Otherwise we would have tried to duplicate it all the time and would miss on so much wonder and growth

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.