Typical for Munich? These are, at least according to the cliché, white sausages, pretzels, the Münchner Kindl, traditional costumes and beer. And so it is not surprising that these can also be found as recurring street art motifs in the local streets.
Which brings us to something more typical of Munich. Namely street art and graffiti. That this even exists in clean Munich may still be astonishing for some. It has long been known that the German graffiti scene largely originated in Munich. A few examples: In 1970 strangers wrote the word “Heiduk” on the walls of houses, from 1983 onwards a certain Ray painted funny cartoon characters on it and in March 1985 seven young men went down in street art history when they saw the Geltendorf station sprayed an S-Bahn line S4.
Among them was Mathias Köhler alias Loomit, who is one of the most famous German street artists today and is still very active. The Munich street art scene is still very much alive today. In addition, international stars such as Blek Le Rat or Shepard Fairey have worked here. Except that because of the primacy of laptops and lederhosen, high-tech and high culture, you tend to overlook or forget that.
And this is exactly where the author, artist and publisher Martin Arz comes into play. He has been writing books about street art for a number of years and regularly goes on street art tours in Munich. A few weeks ago he published “Streetart Munich”, a “travel guide for Munich residents” in his own publishing house, and it is now on the list of recommendations “Bavaria’s Best Independent Books 2021“Made it. The jury’s reasoning:” A great time capsule, a worthy homage to the endless creativity of street and urban art. “
Arz ‘bike tours and walks lead, among other things, in the footsteps of the cookie monster.
(Photo: Martin Arz)
Anyone who has read Arz’s book “Munich Walls. Urban Art on Munich’s Walls”, which was published three years ago and is now out of print, will certainly find some things familiar. Because the new “travel guide”, as the author writes in the foreword, is “largely” based on it.
Nevertheless, the book cannot be called a pure re-edition or even a sham. Because there are some innovations in it that are worth seeing and reading. First things first: There are two selected bicycle routes and walks presented in the form of texts, maps and many pictures, which to a large extent restructure the book. There is also a new interview with Loomit, the chapter “Typical!”, Where you can see the veal sausages or pretzels mentioned, and with “Memories” a section in which street art interim projects such as “Westend Stories” or the “Art Laboratory” are presented will.
What has remained is the introductory text in which Arz summarizes the “street art history” in Munich in a very compact and informative way. The conversation with “Mama Graffiti” alias Astrid Weindl is still ongoing. From 1999 to 2018 she headed the youth culture facility Färberei in Munich and was an extremely important figure as an facilitator and fighter for local street art. The interview with Loomit is a good addition, because it is primarily about his individual drive, his passion for graffiti, which led him as a teenager to spray the train station, the supermarket, the outdoor pool in Buchloe, from where it came from then went to Munich and all over the world.
Nothing is permanent and any image may be gone tomorrow
In Munich, for example, Loomit left traces of paint in the pedestrian underpass below the Angel of Peace. This is where cycle route 1 begins, for which you should allow at least two hours and which is mentioned here as an example. Those who set out from there will pass the Muffathalle and the red and white comic scenarios by Mehmet & Kazim from Munich. In the Ludwigsbrücke underpass you can meet figures from the famous Brazilian brother duo Os Gêmeos, who can be recognized by their oversized faces and thin limbs. At the Brudermühlbrücke one encounters relics of the “Isarart” graffiti campaign organized by the dye works and the last Munich “Hall of Fame” open to all, which is regularly sprayed, awaits in Tumblingerstrasse.
Graffiti on the wall – what is there today may already be painted over tomorrow.
(Photo: Martin Arz)
The destination, the Alte Viehhof, was also a popular place with the artists, and in 2015 and 2016 the Urban Art Festival “Deadline” was held there. Since the construction of the new Volkstheater and the demolition of the “Deadline” walls, all of this has largely been history.
And that is something that you generally have to be prepared for when it comes to street art: that nothing lasts and that every image may be gone tomorrow. Not least because of this, Martin Arz documents the works, and he has compiled an astonishing number of them in his “Travel Guide”. You can look at them comfortably on the sofa, but what’s even better: you’re on your way. The book by Arz is a good preparation for this and a knowledgeable companion on tour.
Martin Arz: Streetart Munich. Travel guide for Munich residents. Hirschkäfer Verlag, 256 pages, numerous illustrations; 19.90 euros