City.Wall.Art
Stadt.Wand.Kunst is a project launched by the Alte Feuerwache cultural center in Mannheim to paint houses in the city with large-scale wall paintings (so-called murals) by national and international artists from the street art scene. This was started in 2013 and should ultimately lead to a kind of public gallery in urban space .
Idea and story
Stadt.Wand.Kunst is based on a cooperation between the Alte Feuerwache Mannheim and the municipal GBG - Mannheimer Housing Association , the cultural office of the city of Mannheim and the Heidelberg spray paint manufacturer Montana-Cans, funded by the innovation fund of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg . The idea is to invite national and international street artists every summer to design large, free house facades in central Mannheim districts. This creates contemporary art for the general public with free admission at prominent locations, the creation of which can also be freely followed. In addition, young regional artists should also have the chance to gain experience with large formats, initially on the walls of demolished houses.
Works
Between 2013 and 2020, a total of 33 murals were created that stimulate reflection and tell stories, as well as works of art, some of which are brightly colored against the gray of the city. GBG has provided almost all of the house walls for this so far. Five of the murals no longer exist because the buildings in question have meanwhile been demolished as planned. Impermanence is also a part of street art. There are currently 28 murals preserved. The project is to be continued.
2013, 2014
My Superhero Power is Forgiveness - Herakut (2013)
The first plant as part of the project is located on six floors on the wall of an apartment block in F 6, 1–5 in downtown Mannheim. The mural with the girl figure called “Lily” by the artist duo Herakut, Hera (Jasmin Siddiqui, Frankfurt) and Akut (Falk Lehmann, Schmalkalden), forms a page for their book project “Giant Storybook Project”, the individual parts of which appear on house facades all over the world can be found. As Herakut you have already worked in big cities like Los Angeles, Toronto, Kathmandu, San Francisco, Melbourne. The mural is supplemented by a textual motif in three languages (German, Turkish, English): “My superhero power is forgiveness”, “Benim süper kahraman gücüm affedebilmemdir”, “My superhero power is forgiveness”.
The Modern Thinker - Aske (2014)
The work of the artist Dmitri Aske from Moscow, who is internationally known as a graffiti artist, graphic artist and illustrator for comic-like motifs, is composed of individual, intensely colored surfaces and is located on the front of an apartment block, in F 6, 8 , Mannheim city center. The figure of the is based on the sculpture " The Thinker " by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917).
- Murals 2013, 2014
My Superhero Power is Forgiveness - Herakut
The Modern Thinker - Aske
2015
Rhythm - Stohead
The Berlin artist Christoph Hässler alias STOHEAD processes catchphrases and text passages using abstract calligraphic characters in repeating letter patterns. The mural in S 5, 12-17 , Mannheim city center, was realized over five floors in acrylic and spray paints on the facade.
Motion - Sobekcis
The first work of the project outside the squares of Mannheim city center was realized in Zeppelinstrasse 20–24 , Mannheim- Neckarstadt , with "Motion" by the artist duo Sobekcis from Belgrade. With acrylic and spray paint on the facade, a colorful, abstract tangle of graphic, geometric bodies and patterns as well as brightly colored, bordered surfaces on several levels was created.
Insomnia - Satone
The mural “Insomnia” in Kleestrasse 6 , Mannheim-Neckarstadt, comes from the artist Rafael Gerlach, alias SatOne, who was born in Venezuela and grew up in Munich. The trained graphic designer uses geometric abstractions and futuristic shapes with strong colors.
- Murals 2015
Rhythm - Stohead
Motion - Sobekcis
Insomnia - Satone
2016
Baseball Sketch - Sainer
The artist Sainer created a comic-like, achromatic and sketchy representation of a baseball scene at Waldhofstrasse 59 , Mannheim-Neckarstadt, which also reminds of Mannheim's past with numerous US residents. Sainer and Bezt (see below) are known as an artist duo under the pseudonym ETAM CRU in the Polish and international graffiti and art scene.
Europe - Bezt
The Polish artist Bezt created a mystical, almost dreary-looking picture in E 7, 22 , Mannheim city center, in blue-gray and other dark shades that makes the viewer thoughtful. He usually works with Sainer (see above) as an artist duo under the pseudonym ETAM CRU.
Véra - Hendrik ECB Beikirch
The largest picture to date for Stadt.Wand.Kunst occupies the entire front facade of the 13-story apartment block facing the B 38 at Brandenburger Strasse 44 in Mannheim- Vogelstang . The Véra portrait, created by Hendrik ECB Beikirch ( Koblenz ), is 43 meters high and 37 meters wide and covers around 1300 square meters. The portrait of this woman from Siberia is part of the "Siberia" series by Hendrik Beikirch.
- Murals 2016
Baseball Sketch - Sainer
Europe - Bez
Véra - Hendrik ECB Beikirch
2017
Untitled - Alexey Luka
Alexey Luka from Moscow is considered one of the most talented young artists on the Russian contemporary art scene. His contribution to Stadt.Wand.Kunst adorns the brick facade of the FORUM youth culture center on Neckarpromenade 46 in Mannheim-Neckarstadt, where its abstract, two-dimensional color elements harmonize with the surrounding architecture.
The inevitability of leaving things behind - Yazan Halwani
The work of the artist Yazan Halwani ( Beirut ) in F 6, 12 , Mannheim city center, over six floors is based on a mixture of classic graffiti writing, Arabic calligraphy and figurative painting, whereby the motif is blurred with the writing. The picture fits the living environment there with a multicultural population from different countries. A man packing a suitcase addresses the issue of moving away and the inevitability of leaving things behind.
Propagating machine - Nevercrew
The Swiss street artists Pablo Togni ( Bellinzona ) and Christian Rebecchi ( Lugano ), graduates of the Brera's Art Academy in Milan , designed the 100 square meter mural on the Ulmenweg 40 apartment block in Mannheim-Neckarstadt as a duo “Nevercrew” . The lower part of the picture shows two-dimensional penguins, produced by a machine, like stencils. A light crystal floats above, in which the penguins are partially reflected, but which casts a shadow on the penguins. The artists want to symbolize the influence of nature and civilization on our global world as well as their mutual influence.
New Wave - Low Bros
The mural “New Wave” on apartment block F 5, 12 , Mannheim city center, is a work of the artist duo “Low Bros”, the brothers Christoph and Florin Schmidt from Berlin . The background grid of diamonds on the house wall with a vertical color gradient should relate to the square city and remind of the past with a structured lifestyle. The digital window floating on it should complement a colorful cityscape of the present.
- Murals 2017
Untitled - Alexey Luka
The inevitability of leaving things behind - Yazan Halwani
Propagating machine - Nevercrew
New Wave - Low Bros
2018
Untitled - 1010
The internationally active artist 1010 (TenTen), who lives in Hamburg, created a modern picture with abstract holes made of graduated bright colors and shades that create a three-dimensional impression over the entire facade of the four-story residential building at Mittelstrasse 9 , Mannheim-Neckarstadt.
Jump through time - Waone Interesni Kazki
In Itzsteinstraße 1–3 , Mannheim-Neckarstadt, the mural by the artist WAONE Interesni Kazki, real name Vladimir Manzhos, from Kiev ( Ukraine ), with surrealistic approaches , stretches over the three floors of the back at a height of eight meters and a width of 12 meters of an apartment block. According to the artist, the motif is a metaphor for a journey through time. The trees in the area were only included in the picture at short notice.
900 dogs by a chocolate factory - The London Police
"The London Police", Chaz Barrisson and Bob Gibson, Englishmen with their adopted home Amsterdam , designed a wall of the gym of the neighboring Johannes Kepler School in K 6, 1 in Mannheim city center with a comic-like illustration of three dogs in front of a city horizon. As pioneers of the global street art movement, they have created figurative works in over 35 countries around the world. With the title of the mural, they are alluding to a nearby chocolate factory in the Jungbusch district , the smell of which is temporarily perceptible at the location of the work of art.
Farewell and a new beginning - Sourati
After the building with the mural “Freedom Tester” (2016) was torn down (see below), the duo SOURATI (Mehrdad Zaeri and Christina Laube) from Mannheim in H 5, 3 , Mannheim city center, received the opportunity for a new mural “Farewell and a new beginning ”: A woman in boots and a coat with a bag in her hand and a cat on her head is carrying a backpack with a tree protruding from it, the petals of which are falling. It deals with leaving and arriving in general, as well as autobiographical aspects of the artist.
Aesculapia - Mrs. Isa
The mural “Aeskulap” by the artist and illustrator Isa Toman, alias Mrs. Isa, from Vienna ( Austria ) extends over about five floors of the BGB apartment block at Cheliusstraße 1–3, Mannheim-Neckarstadt (Wohlhotels-Ost) in the immediate vicinity of Mannheim University Hospital . This also creates the connection to the medical theme of the mural.
- Murals 2018
Untitled - 1010
Jump through time - Waone
900 dogs by a chocolate factory - The London Police
Farewell and a new beginning - Sourati
Aesculapia - Mrs. Isa
2019
Without a name - PEETA
Artist Manuel Di Rita, alias PEETA, from Venice , created a surprising mural on the facade of a private house on Zehntstrasse with brushes and rollers. 1, Mannheim-Neckarstadt. It appears as a trompe-l'œil in an optical illusion three-dimensional as an oversized sculpture. Parts seem to bulge surreally and break out of the wall, others appear to have been cut out.
Multicultural Balance - ZOONCHEZ
The Spaniard Ruben Sanchez alias ZOONCHEZ refers to the city of Mannheim and its residents with his mural “Intercultural Balance”. The picture on the facade of an apartment building at Heustraße 13-17, Mannheim-Neckarstadt, consists of abstract forms that, on closer inspection, depict a bicycle and three people with a vase of flowers or a guitar and trumpet.
On the way - Jens Richter
The Mannheim artist Jens Richter painted a pike on 26 meters of the wall to the underpass of the Mannheim main station at platform 1 , standing quietly in the water between the trunks of trees whose bark is reminiscent of birch trees. The animal appears like a comic , spotted on the sides in green tones, with a blue back and a gray belly. There are also orange and wine-red fins. The title “Unterwegs” is associated with the train station, but it also means not being at home, leaving your comfort zone.
PIED PIPER - CASE MA'CLAIM
The Frankfurt-based artist Andreas von Chrzanowski, alias CASE, created a photo-realistic mural on the wall of the gymnasium of the Ludwig-Frank-Gymnasium facing Friedrich-Ebert-Straße, Mannheim-Neckarstadt. It addresses movements, directions, leading and trailing.
SQUARE - QUINTESSENCE
Two oil paintings served the artist duo QUINTESSENZ as a template for two wall paintings on the front sides of two apartment blocks, George-Washington-Str. 247 and 249, 68309 Mannheim, in the newly emerging Mannheim residential area Franklin on the site of the former US Benjamin Franklin Village. The pictures were digitally changed in color from red to blue, divided into squares and rectangles and reassembled as collages. Aerosol cans, rollers and brushes were used to get closer to the peculiarities of oil painting.
Girl's love - OKUDA
The mural by the Spanish artist on a block of flats in the Herzogenried development in Hochuferstr. 33, 68167 Mannheim (Herzogenried) shows two women in bright colors and different style elements who nestle against each other in an environment of colorful plants and birds.
Window to the courtyard - CZOLK
The mural by the Mannheim artist CZOLK on the building at Schanzenstrasse 11-1, Mannheim- Jungbusch , on the wall facing Seilerstrasse, is based on pastel shades of buildings in the area, including the Church of Our Lady and the Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque . It depicts a mother who calls her children into the house to eat on a summer evening. The title “Fenster zum Hof” is based on an album by the hip-hop duo Stieber Twins from Heidelberg .
- Murals 2019
Without a name - PEETA
Multicultural Balance - ZOONCHEZ
On the way - Jens Richter
CASE MA'CLAIM - PIED PIPER
SQUARE - QUINTESSENCE
Girl's Love - OKUDA
Window to the courtyard - CZOLK
2020
Silence - SOURATI
The mural “Silence” by the artist duo Christina Laube and Mehrdad Zaeri alias SOURATI shows a female figure on a facade in Mannheim city center in O 4, 2, from the second floor onwards, very reduced. In a dark dress, she leans sideways along the wall and roof and holds a string in her left hand with a little bell hanging vertically downwards. The title "Silence" refers to the time of the draft during the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The depiction is inspired by the picture of a dancer by the British artist Cathy Cullis.
Stairway To Heaven - BOND TRULUV
With “Stairway To Heaven”, BOND TRULUV (Jonas Ihlenfeldt) from Leipzig designed the front of an apartment block in Mannheim, Zeppelinstraße 32-34a. In the three-dimensional mural, an angled, free-standing staircase climbs up over several floors. Two Greek columns, a number of glass ball objects and abstract shapes complete the picture. The artist is currently one of the most innovative urban contemporary artists.
Against oblivion - AKUT
Based on larger-than-life portraits of Holocaust survivors by the Mannheim photographer and filmmaker Luigi Toscano, the spray artist AKUT alias Falk Lehmann created the mural “Against Forgetting” in F 6, 5–8,, Mannheim city center. The 14 meter high and ten meter wide work of art shows portraits of Horst from Gelsenkirchen and Bella from Kaunas / Lithuania, two living victims of National Socialism, with quotations from them. Underneath, a number of people can be seen in gray with the inscription “Against forgetting”. The picture is on the opposite side of the apartment block where AKUT (with partner as Duo Herakut) created the first work of the Stadt.Wand.Kunst project, “My Superhero Power Is Forgiveness”, in 2013.
Load - HOMBRE
The mural “Load” by the Mannheim artist Pablo Fontagnier alias HOMBRE SUK was created on the approximately 18 meter high, turquoise colored house wall in Mannheim, J 7, 23 . With his back to the viewer, a casually dressed boy in a baseball cap sees a bright yellow car speeding up without a driver. This is heavily overloaded and stacked with numerous objects and utensils. The artist relates the picture to his son and sees it as a call to his generation to burden themselves with less ballast in order to be able to go through life more easily without it.
- Murals 2020
Silence - SOURATI
Stairway To Heaven - BOND TRULUV
Against oblivion - AKUT
Load - HOMBRE
No longer received
Color for Franklin (2015)
Three works under the title “Color for Franklin” by the artists Hombre & Boogie, Meiner and Sweetuno no longer exist. They were depicted on the gable ends of three apartment blocks next to each other in the former US residential area "Benjamin Franklin Village". As planned, these buildings were demolished in 2016 as part of the renovation work on the conversion area.
Freedom tester - Mehrdad Zaeri and Christina Laube (2016)
The book illustrator and performance artist Mehrdad Zaeri-Esfahani, born in Isfahan , Iran , presented his first large-format work with his wife Christina Laube with the achromatic mural in B 6, 4}, Mannheim city center. A woman stands on a pedestal surrounded by birds and leans forward to test freedom. The picture was destroyed when the building was demolished at the end of July 2018.
Old new world order - EGS (2018)
As the last object of the project in 2018, the Finnish artist EGS from Helsinki , who enjoys worldwide renown and has already exhibited in the Kunsthalle Helsinki (Taidehalli) and designed stamps with graffiti motifs for the Finnish Post, designed the four walls of the one-room house at the Alter Messplatz . On a black background, continents, countries and islands were stylized in different surface patterns with slightly darkened colors, sometimes clearly deviating from positions and proportions on the globe. This made reference to changes in the world with different interpretations by the viewer. The mural was created in cooperation with the Finland Institute in Germany as part of a culture festival in November 2018. The wall has been painted over again since the beginning of 2019.
- Murals no longer preserved
Freedom tester - Mehrdad Zaeri and Christina Laube (2016)
Old new world order - EGS (2018)
outlook
The project continues. The aim is to create a public gallery out of what used to be gray walls and to build the first freely accessible museum for facade art in Baden-Württemberg with an “Open Urban Art Gallery Mannheim”.
Web links
- Website City.Wall.Art
- Old fire station , City.Wall.Art
Other sources
- Mannheimer Morgen , August 19, 2016, page 22, open-air gallery
- Mannheimer Morgen, August 26, 2017, page 13, When house facades tell stories
- Mannheimer Morgen, July 13, 2018, page 13, Color is moving to Neckarstadt-West
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mannheimer Morgen of July 10th, 2020, page 27, A facade of remembrance.
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