Today the Christopher Street Day Parade turns 31 in Berlin.
For the past 31 years, gays have been fighting for equal rights. Berlin is especially tolerant, considering it´s current mayor Social Democrat Klaus Wowereit is openly homosexual and many neighborhoods are gay friendly.
However, discrimination towards gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals still exists and there are attacks occasionally by extremists.
A proud number of 500,000 people went onto the streets last year. The event as the biggest gay-lesbian “holiday” will this year once again be an appropriate platform to add the right weight to long overdue demands.
The CSD is held in memory of the first big uprising of homosexuals against police assaults in Greenwich Village (New York, USA) on June 27, 1969. The so-called Stonewall Riots took place in the bar Stonewall Inn. The first German CSDs took place in Bremen and Berlin in 1979.
For more information: http://www.csd-berlin.de/
![A documentation of the expanding Street Art scene in Berlin, with it´s never-ending variety of forms & techniques. Berlin, Germany. 02/03/2010.
Summary:
A documention of the expanding, diverse, and colourful Street Art scene in Berlin, Germany with it´s neverending variety of forms & techniques.
See also previous story:
http://www.demotix.com/news/87572/urban-art-thriving-berlin
For over 3 years, I have been documenting the Street Art scene in Berlin. In recent years, as art has expanded from colorful graffitis to 'paste-ups', tiles glued on buildings, legos, fake fur, etc it has always been interesting.
Berlin continues to be one of the most exciting cities in the world for Street Artists to freely work and also for Street Art to be seen.
'Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, 'in the streets' — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. Typically, the term street art or the more specific post-graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.
Artists have challenged art by situating it in non-art contexts. ‘Street’ artists do not aspire to change the definition of an artwork, but rather to question the existing environment with its own language. They attempt to have their work communicate with everyday people about socially relevant themes in ways that are informed by esthetic values without being imprisoned by them.[1] John Fekner defines street art as “all art on the street that’s not graffiti.”[2]
Owl, Mezer, Moss. Venice Beach, CA.
The motivations and objectives that drive street artists are as varied as the artists themselves. There is a strong current of activism and subversion in urban art. Street art can be a powerful platform for reaching the public, and frequent themes include adbusting, subvertising and other culture jamming, the abolishment of private property and reclaiming the streets. Other street artists simply see urban space as an untapped format for personal artwork, while others may appreciate the challenges and risks that are associated with installing illicit artwork in public places. However the universal theme in most, if not all street art, is that adapting visual artwork into a format which utilizes public space, allows artists who may otherwise feel disenfranchised, to reach a much broader audience than traditional artwork and galleries normally allow.'
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art
Artists: Boxi,the.ragtag,Bimer, LOAF, Lake, Dolk, JUST, Sp-38, Niagara
See also the following websites:
http://www.reclaimyourcity.net/
http://just.blogsport.de/
http://streetart.berlinpiraten.de/](http://www.demotix.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/display_80x50_cropped/photos/267901.jpg)
New: Great shots!! I fell in love
Great shots!! I fell in love with Berlin and almost stayed when I went there four years ago. Fantastic place, very welcoming.
New: very good photo story.
very good photo story. Lawrence