Opened since last October in the German city of Dresden, ‘MAGIC CITY – THE ART OF THE STREET‘ is a touring and evolving exhibition showcasing over 40 international street artists as well as local graffiti writers with their different practices and tools within 2500 square meters. Visitors can learn more about the different art forms, explore the streets of this dream city and interact with the immersive installations.

Curators Carlo McCormic and Ethel Seno declared that their goal was to create a “playground for the imagination”, in a new hybrid form. Starting with an initial ‘ white walls ‘ gallery setting , the streets are getting more and more covered with artworks and installations as the exhibition evolves and continues to tour.

The show starts with a chronological introduction to graffiti with a pictures gallery from legendary photo-journalists Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, as well as Graffiti writer Daze, who bombed the New York subways in the mid-1970s and writer FINO’91 who grew up in the 1970s in the American sector of divided Berlin. 

Rats have a favorite place in the heart of street artists. This week end saw the reveal of additional artworks to the Magic City exhibition from Ericalcaine to Banksy.

To celebrate the European premiere of the documentary ‘Saving Banksy’ , the special week end was featuring an all-nighter of documentaries and talks with Blek Le Rat, Colin Day, Herakut, Jens Besser, Remi Jaccard, David Chaumet,  René Kæstner, Andreas Schanzenbach, which we were honoured to participate. In parallel kids could improve their graffiti writing skills in the Spike Labs with Akim Walta and graffiti legends.

 
Discussion photos by Frank Embacher Photographie

In the first room of the exhibition, the public can play and create their own artworks using laser pens on the multimedia interactive screens by Akrylonumerik  or get immersed within 3D anamorphic installations by Leon Kerr, Truly, Replete, The Yok & Sheryo .

Looking up, twin brothers Skewville ‘dogs have invaded the alleys, while shopping trolleys have been transformed into a playful seating duo. Asbestos ‘Lost’ posters  advertise items never to be found.

Activist artists like Icy & Sot, Biancoshock and Ori Carino & Benjamin Armas present works about the refugee crisis in Europe while SpY and Shepard Fairey highlight the surveillance society.

The city also contains a square with a colourful carrousel by crochet queen OLEK, a phone booth installation by Ernest Zacharevic as well as a red light district decorated by AIKO.

Walking along the streets, visitors can play with the wooden panels by ROA and enjoy the murals by HERAKUT, Tristan Eaton, MadC, Ron English,  discover an urban installation by Brad Downey made of found material andet immersed within the miniature city of Isaac Cordal.

Magic City also features a cinema with a selection of movies curated by our friends Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington at Brooklyn Street Art.

Full list of participating artists includes Akrylonumerik, Andy K, Asbestos, Ben Heine, Benuz, Biancoshock, Bordalo II, Brad, Downey, Dan Witz, Daze, Ernest Zacharevic, Ganzeer, Henry Chalfant, HERAKUT, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jaime Rojo, Jens Besser, Juandres Vera, Lady Aiko, Leon Keer, Loomit, MAD C, Mark Bode, Martha Cooper, Oakoak, Odeith, Olek, Ori Carin / Benjamin Armas, Qi Xinghua, Replete, ROA, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, SpY, Tristan Eaton, Truly, WENU Crew, Yok & Sheryo.

Photos by Butterfly Art News unless otherwise stated.

View the full set of pics here

Big Thanks to the SC Exhibition Team, Christoph Scholz, Oliver, Thobias, Britta, Colin Day, Hera, Blek Le Rat, Remi Jaccard, Akim Walta, Dizy, Astrid, René Kæstner, Andreas Schanzenbach, Frank Embacher and the participating artists.

Magic City – The art of the streets
Dresden – until 12 March 2017
Kultur-Quartier Zeitenströmung
Königsbrücker Straße 96
01099 Dresden