Graffiti and Street Art in Berlin

Berlin joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design in 2005. The designation reflects the city’s broader design culture and creative industries rather than street art alone. Graffiti and street art nevertheless form a highly visible part of Berlin’s public landscape, appearing on building walls, bridge structures, railway corridors, utility boxes, and former industrial sites.

The Berlin Wall is central to the history of public art in the city. During Berlin’s division, the wall surface accessible from West Berlin became a site for political slogans, graffiti, and large painted works, particularly from the mid-1970s. The eastern side lay within the guarded border system and was not publicly accessible.

After the border opened on November 9, 1989, artists gained access to the eastern side. In 1990, 118 artists from 21 countries created the 1.3-kilometer East Side Gallery, using a surviving section of the Wall to address dictatorship, division, political change, freedom, and hopes for a united Europe. German reunification followed on October 3, 1990.

The photographs taken in 2015 document tags, murals, and overlapping layers of paint across Berlin’s urban surfaces. Because many of these works are temporary or repeatedly altered, the images preserve a particular stage in the city’s changing visual record.