Shy
She looks away a little shyly, her face turned over her shoulder. She’s in a rather unremarkable spot in El Carmen; a modest place. Usually, I can’t pinpoint where everything is in this neighborhood, where it’s so easy to get lost, and where wandering and getting lost is part of the fun. Yet, somehow, I […]
John Doe
Something tells me I should know this person, but honestly, I don’t. He’s a stranger to me, hanging in a small side street off the Plaça de la Reina, on the edge of El Carmen. And that’s why I call him John Doe, the name given to someone unknown. I even went back specifically for […]
You Are What You Eat
The person who stuck Nietzsche and Marx together knew what they were doing. Both are exponents of atheism, which gained increasing traction in Europe in the late 19th century, but they arrived at completely different philosophies. Marx wanted to make the world more just, or rather, he predicted that it would inevitably happen because revolution […]
Raw in Blue
What a beautiful abstract piece this is, spray-painted on a wall. I saw this image in El Cabanyal, a disadvantaged neighborhood that will soon turn into a yuppie area, given how fast it’s ‘improving.’ To get a good photo, I had to make my way past a few addicts who were using right by the […]
Sucked in
The two people are being helplessly sucked upwards. They do nothing to take control of their fate. It feels like something out of a comic book. You can see this artist’s work in various places. This isn’t just quickly tagging or spraying a figure—this is well-thought-out work. That’s the hallmark of all their compositions. I […]
La Rue Meurt
The street is dying. At least, it feels a bit like that in Berlin. The process of gentrification is making everything more expensive and polished in this city too. Fortunately, the city of Berlin has recognized and acknowledged this and has banned rent increases in various parts of the city. This includes the spot where […]
Kitkat
Berlin has long had the reputation of being a free city. The Weimar period, from 1918 to 1933, is famous for being a safe haven for free thinkers and unconventional spirits. It was a time brimming with art, culture, and nightclubs that stayed open until the early hours, until Hitler turned out the lights. In […]
Hidden
In Berlin, advertising posters are wrapped around lampposts until they form a thick layer, sometimes as much as 20 to 30 centimeters thick. A city worker comes with a crowbar and violently tries to rip off the entire paper layer. This occasionally results in fascinating compositions, like this face that emerged from beneath layers of […]
Müll
There’s little as unremarkable as a trash can. But doesn’t the same apply to a concrete wall or the fence around a construction site? Graffiti clings to everything and transforms something unremarkable into something beautiful. The RAW Gelände is an old industrial complex from the DDR era. Dilapidated, but now successfully repurposed; it hosts clubs, […]
ATM
The ATMs at the RAW Gelände are all broken. Yet, they still serve a purpose—they’ve become art objects with an anarchist edge, perfectly fitting the vibe of the area and the district of Friedrichshain, a neighborhood in East Berlin known for its famous techno clubs with long queues, cheap food, and crowds of young people […]