Berlin: The Capital of Mediocre Graffiti

"This is Berlin, dude." Brace yourselves, kids.

Living in Berlin is like camping on a giant canvas. It's hard to find a wall here that hasn't been tagged by the little shits who go around writing "xoSEXY69ox" on the back of compost bins and park benches. As they say: if you can't beat them, take pictures of them on your Blackberry Bold - and I did just that. I decided to get the U8 into Friedrichshain to see what kind of graffiti Berlin had to offer me. In all honesty, I had no idea where I was going, it was bitterly cold and my battery was low. That probably sums up the quality of both this article and the photos.

Enjoy.

 

I started my day in Friedrichshain by seeing this "HOTEL RESTAURANT." After eating extra spicy curries, I've seen more welcoming things in my toilet bowl than this place. The artwork outside seemed nice though - which was important. "We are remaining inside" is written on the wall with a tree that runs up the building. I wasn't sure whether it was a way of getting tourists to try out the restaurant or a squatters paradise. Either way, I can't see Trivago recommending this hotspot any time in the next ever.

Up the road from Hotel Transylvania I ran into an ANTIFA shop. Sadly it was closed but its artwork looked pretty damn impressive from a distance. It's named "Red Stuff" and sells everything from shirts to badges. The display is about the death of a man named Silvio Meier who was killed by fascists. My respect goes out to him, and this work of art is a beautiful piece to his memory.

To say there's such a large left-wing population in Berlin as well as quite a number of Turkish/Arab residents, I was surprised to come to the conclusion that this is the first pro-Palestinian piece I've seen. "Resistance is our existence" has always been a catch phrase used by pro-Palestinians. Then again, with Germany's history being so distorted, anything like this could easily be interpreted as anti-Semitic - exactly what Germans don't want or need.

If there's a way to get your Twitter tag noticed, it'd probably best to follow this person's idea and paint it on the side of a block of flats. "#REPRESENT" stands on the side of the wall and I must say that I was very impressed with this piece. Damn, homie!

"Fuck the police," "A.C.A.B." - we've heard it all before. At first I assumed this was another Fuck the Police tag, but after looking more closely it seemed the word "please" is being fucked instead. With no idea of its meaning I simply took a photo. It was in a door way somewhere on a long Berliner street. The small face on the right is famously sprayed almost everywhere around the city - especially in Friedrichshain and at Rosenthaler Platz - so, whoever you are, your English is shit! But your faces are decent...

LOLOLOLOitstrue!11!1one1. I actually liked this. "Just like Facebook." I had the urge to write a reply underneath but I'm guessing the friend request period would be pretty fucking lengthy. I ventured on with the knowledge that I understood that piece. Ha. Haha! HAHAHA!

I've been wondering if its worth it for the past few days. Mine's a miserable bastard but killing him is too extreme. I had to get this on camera. "Kill your landlord." It really makes me wonder what type of English German people learn in schools. Nevertheless, the walls for the next half a mile said the same. The property market here must be as dead as the landlords.

Posted by Tomasz Woźniak.