Geltendorf train
.jpg)
The Geltendorf train (seldom also Geltendorf train or Geltendorf train ) was the first train in Germany to be sprayed with graffiti on a large area . The picture, which was taken on the night of March 23rd to 24th, 1985 on a S-Bahn train on a siding at the Geltendorf station , was a so-called window-down end to end , i.e. one in its entirety Length below the window sprayed train (see also graffiti jargon ). Seven young people, some of them underage, from the greater Munich area were involved in creating the graffiti. The property damage was officially put at around 6000 D-Marks.
During the night, a S-Bahn train of the 420 series (without advertising) painted in green-blue-pebble-gray pop paint was sprayed over a length of about 54 meters. The motifs of the graffiti included a huge crocodile and a pin-up girl. The graffito was sprayed by Don M. Zaza, Cheech H., Blash, Cryptic2 (now Loomit ), Roy, Roscoe and Zip. Cheech H. had already sprayed a panel on a S-Bahn train in Herrsching in the summer of 1984 , but this had no legal consequences. In addition, it was not noticed by the other writers, as the Deutsche Bundesbahn immediately cleaned the train and kept the matter under lock and key.
Cryptic2 (Mathias Köhler alias Loomit) remembers the night in Geltendorf in an interview:
“We sneaked into this depot under freight wagons at night and caused a huge panic when the headlights came on. We didn't even know if stokers would get there, if anyone would sleep on the trains. We worked two and a half hours. Then I could have laughed myself sick. That was full of intoxication. "
Reactions and effects
The Geltendorfer Zug was created, as is often the case with graffiti, to achieve so-called fame (fame) in the then still manageable scene and to create something new and special. The train was supposed to serve as a rolling screen and thus be seen by as many people as possible in the city.
However, this goal was initially not achieved because the train was not used at the weekend. Only at the beginning of the new week did the driver notice the picture when picking up the train and notified the police. The local press showed great interest in the graffito, as nothing like it had ever existed in this form, and published newspaper reports on Tuesday. How to deal with this new kind of youth culture was not clearly defined in the reporting. On the one hand, the deed was labeled as "smearings" and "mess", on the other hand, however, terms from the art scene such as "painting", "painting" or "artist" were often used.
"Munich's largest painting - an S-Bahn train"
“Spray artists smear the S-Bahn - yesterday spray artists smeared two trains of the S 4 with oil paint on the unguarded S-Bahn station area near Geltendorf - they became Munich's longest painting (53 meters): Lots of head-high figures and words, graffiti paintings like in New York's subway. "
The police and the Deutsche Bundesbahn were initially overwhelmed by this new form of property damage, as only a few graffiti had been affixed to house walls and bridge pillars in previous years. The Munich railway police therefore immediately set up an investigative commission after the crime, which was soon to become the first special graffiti commission in Germany. Police officers combed the adjoining wood at the Geltendorf depot for traces. Seized spray can lids were forensically examined for fingerprints. In addition, a hippie commune in the neighboring village of Türkenfeld was searched by the police. According to the unanimous opinion of all sprayers involved, the investigation was not right. So Don M. Zaza (alias Don Karl):
“The railway police observed us while we were painting legal pictures at the Dachhauer flea market. We noticed the plainclothes officers immediately. What we didn't notice was that the gentlemen gained access to non-public rooms in a house on the premises without a search warrant. We had stashed paints and drawings there. These drawings later appeared in the investigation files as 'sent anonymously'. "
Due to this procedure and denunciations in the scene, four of the seven young people were quickly identified by the police. The court then fined and ordered community hours. For example, Mathias Köhler had to pay a fine of 4000 D-Marks and complete 100 hours of community service.
Not only the general public was made aware of the phenomenon of graffiti through media reports on the Geltendorf train (graffiti was rarely seen in the Munich cityscape up to this point). In the scene, too, the train did not fail to have its effect. Within a short time a real “train fever” broke out in Munich, and in addition to the already experienced writers, many newcomers now also devoted themselves to spraying trains.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Bernhard van Treeck : The large graffiti lexicon , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-89602-292-X , page 125f
- ↑ Oliver Schwarzkopf: Writing in Munich , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, 2002, ISBN 3-89602-045-5 , page 12
- ^ Graffiti Live - The trains belong to us, Heyne Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-00104-4 , page 23
- ^ Panel by Cheech H. at fotolog.com
- ↑ Article in the star
- ^ Graffiti Live - The trains belong to us, Heyne Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-00104-4 , page 85
- ↑ Lifelines: Loomit the Sprayer
- ↑ Lifelines: Loomit the Sprayer
- ↑ Oliver Schwarzkopf: Graffiti Art , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-89602-036-6 , page 6
- ↑ www.fromheretofame.com
- ↑ Oliver Schwarzkopf: Graffiti Art , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-89602-036-6 , page 6