Category Archives: streets

Magic City – The Art of the Street comes to Munich

April 11, 2017 butterfly

After its successful first instalment in Dresden, ‘MAGIC CITY – THE ART OF THE STREET‘ is now coming to the Olympia Hall in Munich, opening on the 13th April 2017. This one of kind touring and evolving exhibition, built as a dream city with all its urban features, from streets to cinema and playground, is showcasing over 60 international street artists as well as local graffiti writers. Visitors can wander through the streets and learn more about the different public art forms, 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.

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 serves as a chronological introduction and education about the graffiti art movement.

The public can get immersed within 3D anamorphic installations by Leon Kerr, Truly, Replete, The Yok & Sheryo. When 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 interact with the wooden panels by ROA, enjoy large murals by HERAKUT, Tristan Eaton, MadC, Ron English, get surprised by Brad Downey’s installation made of found material and get immersed within the miniature world of Isaac Cordal.

Magic City also features a cinema with documentaries like ‘Saving Banksy’ and a selection of movies curated by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington at Brooklyn Street Art.

New additions to Magic City in Munich are stencil godfather Blek Le Rat (FR), Faith 47 & Imraan Christian (ZA), Bond Truluv (DE), Christy Rupp (US), Gregor Wosik (DE), ‘gif-fiti’ artist INSA (UK), Jordan Seiler (US), Motomichi Nakamura (JP), calligraffiti artist Niels Shoe Meulmann (DE), Slinkachu (UK), The London Police (NL), and WON ABC.

For the full programme, from the official opening on 13 April, workshops, meeting artists on site like Niels Shoe Meulmann, The London Police please visit MAGIC CITY

Let the fun begin !

MAGIC CITY MUNICH
Olympia Park
From 13 April 2017

Dresden, streets

Dresden: ‘Monument’ to Aleppo sparks emotional debate

March 9, 2017 butterfly

A Syrian war memorial is currently dividing Dresden, itself a symbol of the ravages of war.
‘Monument’, featuring three buses standing upright, was erected in February 2017 next to the famous baroque Frauenkirche, which was initially devastated by Allied bombs in 1945 and then rebuilt brick by brick after the German unification, becoming a symbol of peace and reconciliation.

Manaf Halbouni, a Syrian-born artist with German roots, was inspired by a powerful image that was seen worldwide in 2015: Residents of Aleppo put bombed-out buses on their sides in the heart of the formerly thriving industrial city to protect themselves from sharpshooters. The buses became a symbol of the resistance movement in the town which, by the end of 2016, had been nearly totally destroyed by war.

In Dresden, the sculpture is comprised of three outdated public buses. The artist said he intentionally used buses that had not been wrecked, as a symbol of the peace that can still be found in Germany – unlike in Syria.

Designed to draw attention to the Syrian war while appealing for peace and humanity, the art installation has sparked an emotional debate in the city. Halbouni’s work was installed to coincide with the 72nd anniversary of the Allied raids that devastated the city. The bombings by British and American warplanes on a militarily insignificant city remain the source of resentment, and far-right groups tried to use the annual memorial to push a revisionist view of history that Dresden was a victim of an Allied war crime.

Curator of Kunsthaus Dresden Mennicke-Schwarz added: “It’s thought-provoking and that’s what we wanted: to connect the terrible suffering of the war in Syria to Dresden, to connect the commemoration of the victims of the past with those of the present. It seemed so appropriate to give us a small insight into how civilians are trying to get by at the moment in Syrian cities.”

On display in the city through April 3, the installation was funded through donations from the local community. The artist said he found it important to show that there is a side to Dresden which stands in contrast to the anti-foreigner movement that has become associated with the city.

Paris, Street, streets

Paris: Invader PA_1266

February 8, 2017 butterfly

In parallel to his current show ‘Hello My Game is’ at Musee en Herbe (covered) , French artist Space Invader is back to the streets of Paris with a new large mosaic featuring a self portrait in action, masked and running away with a ladder after putting up a framed invader in a starry night. For all Flash Invader addicts it is PA_1266.

Space Invader - Paris 2017

View the full set of pics here

Hello my game is… will run until 3rd September at Musee en Herbe, 23 rue de l’Arbre-Sec, 75001 Paris.

Street, streets, Toulouse

Toulouse: #Creve Hivernale / Decembrrrr 016

December 15, 2016 butterfly 2 Comments

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December 2016. A wasteland surrounded by barbed wire with a view on passing trains, home to travellers and less fortunate people. This is not a picture taken in a distant country, but actually in the center of Toulouse, France.

With Creve Hivernale / Decembrrr 016, local and international artists continue to raise a red flag and highlight the urgency of the current situation and socio-political climate in Europe, this time by gathering outside in this wasteland and creating immersive installations, visual and audio performances, as well as artistic collaborations with children and families living there .

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GUESTS #CREVE HIVERNALE – DECEMBRRRR 016 … CONTINUUM …

NADIA VON FOUTRE (Toulouse) – JEAN DENANT (Sete) (?) – MANUEL POMAR (Toulouse) – A4 PUTEVIE (Toulouse) – MADEMOISELLE KAT (Toulouse) – SID POLIEKOFF (Toulouse) – MATHIEU TREMBLIN (Strasbourg) – TILT (Toulouse) (?) – MARDI NOIR (Rennes) – UPGRAYYDD RECIDIVE (Toulouse) – MOLO MOLO (Toulouse) – CLAIRE SAUVAGET (Toulouse) – BERTRAND FRAYSSE (Toulouse) – DON QUICKSHOT (Toulouse) – LURK WARM (Toulouse) – BUTTERFLY (London) – SOPHIE BACQUIE (Toulouse) – LUCIE LAFLORENTIE (Toulouse ) – /+ OFF/ … ANNLOR CODINA (Toulouse) – NATALIE SVIT-KONA EIFYRAN (Toulouse) ) – /+ OFF/ …

From 16 Dec with ongoing interventions until the end of the year

Next event: 29 DECEMBER FROM 17:00

GPS Location : 43.632685, 1.475884

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Street, streets, Toulouse

Streets: Invader Pink Invasion (Toulouse)

August 21, 2016 butterfly 1 Comment

Invader recently completed his first invasion wave of Toulouse, with Ten space invaders made with various shades of pink as a tribute to the town nicknamed ‘Pink City’ due to the pinkish terracotta bricks used in its architecture.. Toulouse is the 66th city to be invaded and Flash Invaders game lovers will add 330 Points to their total score. Happy hunting !

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Photo courtesy of Invader