25 Montag Nov 2013
Posted in Deutschland / Germany, Köln / Cologne
24 Donnerstag Okt 2013
Posted in Deutschland / Germany, Köln / Cologne, Streetart
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My 15th home.
The 3rd one in Cologne.
First time living in Neuehrenfeld (district of Cologne).
And yes, it’s different from the Südstadt – the part of the city where I lived before. It’s rougher and hipper. You have a wider spectrum of people (from trendy young families to poor people and migrants to artists and designers).
I live exactly at the border between Ehrenfeld and Neuehrenfeld. So on one hand there are the typical residents of Ehrenfeld (Artists, Designer, young families, people who want to be hip and trendy, people who sit outside in Cafés like Van Dyke who are interested in art, design and culture (or at least pretend to be) mixed with poor people and migrants) and on the other hand there are the residents of Neuehrenfeld – a lot of young families and traditional Cologne natives. So different worlds hit each other here.
In the past Ehrenfeld was an industrial working-class district. Nowadays there is a high ratio of migrants from all over the world. Within the last years the district became more and more popular and emerged a very lively cultural scene.
I’ll definitely write a lot more about these two districts – about my new home!
But not today ;) Here are some more visual impressions:
24 Dienstag Sep 2013
Posted in Deutschland / Germany, Köln / Cologne, Streetart
«In September 2013 CityLeaks Urban Art Festival’s second edition turned Cologne into a large stage for contemporary urban art. Already in 2011 CityLeaks pioneered in realizing a whole lot of creative interventions within the Cologne public space. With the help of more than 25 international and national artists artrmx e.V. and Colorrevolution e.V. laid the foundation to a large outdoor gallery.» (see + read more here)
In context of the festival a lot of new beautiful murals were created by different artists within the whole city. I already spotted a few of them :)
Mural by «LOW BROS», Trierer Straße 61
Mural by «Hendrik ‹ecb› Beikirch», Dasselstraße 31
Mural by «Xabier XTRM», Ehrenfeldgürtel 83 (railway embankment)
Mural by «M-City», Vogelsanger Straße 134
06 Freitag Sep 2013
Posted in Dänemark / Denmark, Kopenhagen / Copenhagen
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After having a short night because of snoring Kheesuan :D I arrived at Anthony’s and Jeppe’s beautiful apartment at Kompagnistræde where I was supposed to spend the next 3 and a half days. The apartment is just a dream!! A wonderful old house from the 18th century located in the historic center of Copenhagen. A mixture of antique and very modern furnishing which gives the apartment a cozy but stylish atmosphere.
I had a very nice vegetarian breakfast at Cafe Hoppes – the waiter even recognized me because I had had a coffee there the day before and I was wearing the same grass green hoddie jacket ;)
My next destination was Christiania. I’d already heard a lot about this place. It’s an alternative free town / autonomous commune within Copenhagen with its own rules. A car-free zone with many self-build and colorful painted houses.
Even if Christiania is a very special place with a lot of beautiful art, its atmosphere is rather desolate somehow. It’s more a remained image of the place it ones might have been. Driven by the desire to create an independent community where everybody takes care of each other, where everyone is accepted, it’s nowadays more a touristic attraction and a melting pot for different kinds of junkies. At least this was my impression. I didn’t felt very comfortable at this place – but I loved the artworks!! :)
25 Sonntag Aug 2013
Posted in Berlin, Deutschland / Germany, Favorite
In Berlin you can spot a lot of streetart.
My favorite pieces (so far) I found at Auguststraße – mainly Pastings.
One piece of streetart I want to highlight:
«THE WRINKLES OF THE CITY»
It’s more a series of streetart pieces created by the french artist JR who attached huge Pastings to entire house walls showing old people that partly were expelled from home to give place to profitable office towers.
Read more about the project here (german)
24 Samstag Aug 2013
Posted in Berlin, Deutschland / Germany, Streetart
When I prepared my trip to Berlin last week I found a recommendation on one of my favorite sites about wonderful places in Cologne and Berlin wearecity.de which was the Auguststraße in the Berlin district Mitte.
Until the German Holocaust the Auguststraße was characterized by mainly jewish residents. There was a jewish hospital and a jewish school for girls.
Nowadays it’s a place full of contemporary art and Streetart. A very light street with many wonderful refurbished old buildings which give the street its unique historical but clear atmosphere. There are a lot of galleries and artist collectives such as Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art (KW) and the me collectors room. Every second year the Auguststraße is the center of the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.
Another historical location at Auguststraße is Clärchens Ballhaus – one of the last preserved ballroom buildings from around 1900. It’s a mixture of restaurant and dance hall where you can visit parties and concerts. There are also a lot dancing courses you can attend. In front of the building is a wonderful green patio where you can sit together and have a drink or a meal.
A very special artwork of the street was created by the Indian artist N S Harsha: A house covered with ape figures that are connected by their long tails. The installation is called «Tamasha» which is a colloquial used word in Hindi, Urdu and Marathi and means big show as well as commotion.
The artists intention was to connect the Indian cult of apes and the existing ape plague of everyday life in Indian with the german myth of the «Rattenkönig» (rat king). The myth refers to the rare phenomenon of rats that were found with their tails knotted together within narrow spaces. They were seen as a bad omen in former times.
German article about this project: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/die-affen-aus-der-auguststrasse/8097248.html
