Berlin-Kreuzberg has been the venue for various social conflicts and struggles for years and is an example of the current conflicts over upgrading and displacement in Berlin. Artistic interventions in urban areas were and are often an expression as well as a popular means of communicating protest in order to express political demands and to appropriate and help shape urban spaces. To this day, these artistic and political appropriations of building facades are a central part of the appearance of the district and do at last contribute to its hip, creative image, which is often put on the market in the course of entrepreneurial urban policy strategies.
This neighborhood walk takes you back to the early days of artistic urban activism in public space in Kreuzberg, addressing past and current conflicts in the district. We are looking for old squatters’ graffiti, murals from the wild nineties and graffiti and street art pieces that have arisen in the context of current struggles.
