Sprayed Turquoise: The Hidden Stories of Berlin Street Art!

Our tour guide appeared to us on a street corner.  It was our last excursion together as a group and Sarah clearly admitted that she was feeling very "traurig" - sad!  Even though a few students were still longing for mini golf today, Ava announced that this was her favorite excursion.  So clearly we had quite the finale!

Why was it our favorite?  Maybe it was learning about the difference between graffiti and street art.  (Graffiti = "words" and street art = "everything else!")  Or maybe it was learning about what makes street art not heavily policed here.  (Ellie says this "connected the dots" about why there is SO much street art in Berlin.)  Or maybe it was finding out how to use a fire extinguisher to get white graffiti to stick to hard-to-reach places.  (Apparently, water balloons filled with paint are not recommended!)

But really the heart of our tour was our guide's storytelling.  He was excited to tell us about the time his mom found out how HE became a street artist at age fourteen...when turquoise paint exploded everywhere in his room.  (Watch out to the families - our students may have gotten some ideas...)  And he was excited to tell us how public art communicates meaning in ideally more of a direct way because you never know who your audience is.  Street art often expresses social commentary about issues ranging from the environment and homelessness to capitalism, war, racism, and generational trauma.  Street art sometimes aims to fight against gentrification.  And street art is meant for the eyes of everyone, not just those who go to a museum.  Take Myles, for example.  He told me that normally he doesn't like looking at art, especially in museums.  But he found the street art and our guide's stories "very interesting."  

Our guide asked us to really reflect on individual street art's symbolic meaning.  "What is this painting about?" he asked.  "I'll play some magic Jeopardy music."  When Joey gave his response, the guide responded, "That's an original guess."  Later on, he added a "gosh darn lol."  (I think our guide's jokes were a form of art as well!)

Overall our time in Berlin has been a collection of street art discoveries.  Today we got to intentionally reflect on the art of our surroundings in a way that Alberto aptly describes as "ganz schön" - totally beautiful.  And just like street art, our time together in Berlin has been absolutely "ganz schön."

-