Sebastian Pohl

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Sebastian Pohl
Portrait - Sebastian Pohl

Sebastian Pohl (* 1983 in Munich ) is a German curator and street art expert. He has been artistic director of the Munich art association Positive Propaganda since January 2013 .

Life

Sebastian Pohl grew up in the former working-class district of Schwanthalerhöhe / Westend in Munich . His father came from Tunisia and was a head waiter, his mother, who came from Poland, was employed as a saleswoman in the Olympic shopping center in Munich until the attack in 2016 .

Together with Philipp Lahm, Pohl attended the municipal Rudolf-Diesel-Realschule in the Neuhausen-Nymphenburg district, where he graduated from secondary school. Despite a serious snowboard accident that resulted in a coma in the spring of 2000, he was able to pass a roundabout high school diploma at the Munich technical college for art and design.

In 2005 he studied communication design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, then switched to the Munich City Design School - specializing in graphics and media and then attended the Munich School of Politics , before becoming self-employed as a creative director with a focus on value-based communication in 2010. Since then, Pohl has received a large number of lucrative job offers u. a. by corporations like Philipp Morris or Mini, which he, as he emphasizes in various interviews, "rejected without exception for ethical reasons".

activity

In autumn 2012, in response to the increasing commercialization of public space, Pohl founded the non-profit art association Positive-Propaganda eV as a founding member , with the intention, together with some of the most important artists of the original street art movement, to create socially relevant art on an international level in the Munich cityscape to realize and establish.

Since January 2013 he has been the artistic director of the Kunstverein. In the context of this activity, he advocates the thesis that reflected, socially critical art should not only be unrestrictedly accessible to a broad masses through its positioning in public space, it is also a central concern for him that the works created there are in direct context with their environment and their history. This point of view reflects in its radicalism u. a. reflects the central intention of the British street art icon Banksy , to which Pohl also refers in numerous interviews with references to projects such as "Santa's Ghetto" in 2007 along the Israeli barriers in the West Bank . Furthermore, Pohl understands the increasingly as partially Street art and, above all, visual entertainment, misinterpreted the "original street art movement" as one of the last intellectual weapons to defend democracy and, in this context, invokes the freedom of art laid down in the German constitution and thus the responsibility of freelance artists to do so in the Reflect on the sense of artistic freedom. This attitude, which has been rare since the publication of the Street Art Mockumentary Exit Through the Gift Shop and the associated commercialization of the idea of ​​the original Street Art movement, enables him to repeatedly fall back on a large number of exclusive contacts for the implementation of the exhibitions and interventions he has curated to realize projects with artists and activists who radically elude the otherwise common public display.

As artistic director of the Positive Propaganda art association, he succeeds in realizing unique, content-free and independent exhibitions and works in public spaces that are unique in Germany based on his conceptual aspirations.

Some of the most formative works in Munich's public space include:

  • Blu Mural as a memorial for the future victims of neoliberalism on the historic Königsplatz in Munich .
  • Shepard Fairey ’s public criticism of the political entanglements in the oil industry in the form of a large-scale mural entitled "Paint it Black".
  • ESCIF's mural entitled "Said through the flower" near Munich Central Station, which shows the connections between the refugee crisis that has been going on since 2015 and the arms industry located in Munich.
  • LIQEN's mural entitled “The Kiss” on Gärtnerplatz which takes up the topics of globalization, digitization and the resulting interpersonal isolation.

In addition to his commitment to the street art movement, Pohl is also committed to the local graffiti scene on a political level and has made a large number of public halls of fame for authorized graffiti possible. For example the "Schenker Hallen" at the Hackerbrücke (1999-2001), the west side of the Hall of Fame on Tumblingerstraße in the Schlachthofviertel (since 2002), or Munich's currently largest Hall of Fame below the Donnersbergerbrücke (since 2010), as well as through the Munich city council, Europe's first annual cultural budget to promote free graffiti and street art projects.

Other professional activities

Sebastian Pohl has been reporting first hand as a freelance journalist since 2015. a. for the features section of the Berlin daily taz on interventions and projects of the global street art movement and is also interviewed and quoted as one of the most important experts for this genre on an international level.

In addition, Pohl regularly gives lectures a. a. as part of the Attac Summer Academy on the responsibility of art in public space, as well as the dangers of commercial advertising in public space and the associated visual pollution.

Curated exhibitions (selection)

  • 2014: “50 Years of Hell” with the visual artists Mark Jenkins , Nikita Kadan and Carlos Aires
  • 2015: “Victory is Peace I” with the artists and activists Eugenio Merino, Jonathan Hobin and Peter Kennard
  • 2016: "Victory is Peace II" with the artists Shepard Fairey and NoNÅME as well as the punk band Anti-Flag
  • 2018: “International Dealmaker” with street art artists Blu , ESCIF, NoNÅME and Shepard Fairey
  • 2018: "Homo Digitalis" solo exhibition by the Spanish artist LIQEN
  • 2019: “Salebration” art hall of the Hypo-Kulturstiftung Munich

Features (selection)

Interviews (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Moritz Steinbacher: Attack in Munich. Bayerischer Rundfunk, January 30, 2020, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Creative office for value-oriented communication. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  3. ^ Frank Shepard Fairey: Positive Propaganda: Paint It Black. Obey Giant, June 30, 2015, accessed February 9, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ Christina Haberlik: The magic of an art city. Munich Feuilleton, May 12, 2017, accessed on February 9, 2020 (German).
  5. ^ Andi Hörmann: Munich - Street Art "Positive Propaganda". Deutschlandradio Kultur, April 8, 2014, accessed on February 9, 2020 (German).
  6. ↑ Verena von Keitz: Your city! Your canvas! Deutschlandfunk Nova, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Evelyn Vogel: Matches at the focus. Süddeutsche Zeitung, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  8. ^ Sebastian Pohl: New Banksy graffiti in Gaza: "You only look at cat pictures" . In: The daily newspaper: taz . February 27, 2015, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed February 9, 2020]).
  9. ^ Frank Shepard Fairey: "Victory Is Peace" in Munich. February 8, 2016, Retrieved February 9, 2020 (American English).
  10. ↑ Lisa Nimmervoll: Democracy under pressure - derStandard.at. Der Standard, January 20, 2017, accessed February 9, 2020 (Austrian German).
  11. ^ Julie Metzdorf: Like Street Art, but without a street: An exhibition in Munich. Bayerischer Rundfunk, February 16, 2018, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  12. ^ Frank Shepard Fairey: Earth Crisis in Paris. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b Catrin Lorch: Gate to Paradise. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Maria Longhetti: exhibition "International dealmakers": The mined fruit basket . In: The daily newspaper: taz . March 2, 2018, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed February 9, 2020]).
  15. ↑ Verena von Keitz: Sociopolitically active. Deutschlandfunk Nova, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  16. ^ Julie Metzdorf: "Positive Propaganda": An art association for street art in Munich. Bayerischer Rundfunk, December 29, 2017, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Johannes Maierbacher: Positive Propaganda presents EMPIRE-AIR by Darren Cullen. May 31, 2018, accessed February 9, 2020 .
  18. ^ Rom Levy: "Paint It Black" a new mural by Shepard Fairey in Munich, Germany. June 16, 2015, Retrieved February 9, 2020 (American English).
  19. ↑ Rudolf Klöckner: ESCIF addressed Munich defense industry in a mural. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  20. ^ Luise Glum: Street Art in Munich: Techno-Kiss . In: The daily newspaper: taz . August 20, 2017, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed February 9, 2020]).
  21. ↑ City of Munich - Building Department: Graffiti Design Donnersbergerbrücke. May 4, 2010, accessed February 9, 2020 .
  22. ^ Rudolf Klöckner: Munich supports street art and graffiti projects with 180,000 euros annually. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Katharina Mutz: Munich wants more graffiti and street art. December 3, 2015, accessed on February 9, 2020 .
  24. ↑ Jan Krattiger: Adam and Eve in Sodom and Gomorrah: Sebastian Pohl in an interview about the new mural on Corneliusstraße. In: MUCBOOK. August 3, 2017, accessed on February 9, 2020 (German).
  25. ↑ Jan Rauschning: This is Munich's newest piece of street art. In: MUCBOOK. August 26, 2016, accessed on February 9, 2020 (German).
  26. ↑ Stephan Hilpold: "Neoliberaler Straßenstrich": A street art expert on Banksy's shredding campaign. In: https://www.derstandard.at/ . Der Standard, October 12, 2018, accessed on February 9, 2020 (German).
  27. ↑ Sebastian Pohl: Protest against art theft: Blu repaints paintings . In: The daily newspaper: taz . March 14, 2016, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed February 9, 2020]).
  28. ↑ Creative Quarter Munich | Dachauer Strasse. Retrieved February 9, 2020 .
  29. ^ Sebastian Pohl: Adbusting in Cologne: give and take . In: The daily newspaper: taz . March 31, 2017, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed February 9, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Pohl, Sebastian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German curator and street art expert
DATE OF BIRTH 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich