Berlin Street Art
Posted by: Alissa Ampezzan
In June Christine wrote about the Ghost of Banksy in Detroit. Last weekend, I visited Berlin, a mecca for street artists and a favorite canvas of Banksy himself.
Here at Q Wiesbaden, we have been talking a lot about randomness and coincidence because of a project they are working on. And, very coincidentally, I had just read Banksy: Wall and Piece at Thilo’s house when I stumbled across a Banksy original. But, I also saw probably the most famous (and maybe largest?) street art exhibition: The East Side Gallery.
The open-air gallery is a 1.3km long section of the Berlin Wall started in 1990 after the fall of the wall, featuring over 100 paintings by artists from around the world memorializing freedom. 
From the overwhelming and famous, like Dmitri Vrubel’s “Mein Gott, hilf mir diese tödliche Liebe zu überleben” (“My God, help me to survive this deadly love”), to the small personal additions by the unfamous, it was the broadest landscape of works I’ve seen. Since coming to Europe, I’ve seen the museums of the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, and many other famous museums housing the “greats” like Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Renoir, Picasso, et cetera… but there is something special about the East Side Gallery. I think it’s a combination of a few things, including:
1. The history in Berlin, as opposed to say Rome, is so recent. The wall only fell 20 years ago so the city is still being defined. Similarly, the Wall is constantly being redefined with every addition of a handprint or Sharpie-d “No more walls” and “Katie from Kansas, USA was here!”;
2. No admission fee. I know this seems trivial, but think about it. Walking into the Louvre, you have so many expectations. After all, these are “The Greatest Works of Art in the World,” but in Berlin the Gallery is open to the people, inviting us to (I know it’s cliche, but) tear down the traditional walls of what a gallery/museum is and who can contribute.
I also found a little more wall art at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, just outside of Berlin. This was one of the most depressing/exhilirating/educational places I’ve ever been. If you want to know more about it, check out the photos or feel free to ask.
