Tag Archives: German

The Root of All Evil

AuriSacraFames

Only a the most unobservant tourist could be in Berlin and fail to notice the graff. And even then they’d probably find themself clattering into piles of empty spray tins as they traversed their way across the city. My point is that graffiti is as much a part of modern Berlin life as currywurst is. Now, it may well be possible to find a publication based around the local wurst scene but more interestingly for me there is a publication that represents Berlin’s graffiti. Auri Sacra Fames is a magazine that comes highly recommended, although until now I’ve not had the pleasure. The title of the magazine is actually Latin and translates as something like ‘hunger for gold’. At first glance the publication looks like it’s purely focused on trains but in actual fact it has a broader content. For this review I’ve got my hands on all four issues that have been published to date so first off I’ll describe the content of the latest copy and then compare it to the earlier ones.

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Hessian nights

Writing Hessisch

Writing Hessisch is the first in a planned series of magazines that focuses on graffiti in the Hesse region of Germany. A quick look on wikipedia shows that Hesse has a distinct cultural identity and it obviously deserves to have its own distinct graffiti magazine as well. I like this idea of magazines that focus on a specific scene or idea as it allows a greater insight and helps give the magazine a clear character. As all the text in the magazine is written in German, and my German is very poor, I only managed a basic translation of the introduction but here goes: The magazine is released after thirty years of graffiti in Hesse. They don’t want to produce a glossy advert filled mag but aim for an honest representation of the ideas, history and stories behind the graffiti of Rhine-Main.

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Compulsive graffiti

I recently got a copy of the German magazine Zugzwang Zeitung. Looking the phrase ‘zugzwang’ up, the title translates as something like ‘the compulsion to move newspaper’. As the name suggests the main topic of the magazine is train graffiti from within Germany but also elsewhere in Europe, and some bits-and-bobs from Australia and the US. There are also a couple of interviews and a few walls chucked in for good measure.

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The graffiti intellectual

Wir stehen bereit presents the actions of Zelle Asphaltkultur an unconventional ‘cell’ of graffiti writers. The work of the group is somewhere between graffiti and hardcore street art that obviously aims to provoke the viewer. This publication is as highbrow as graffiti gets. Inside there are six intellectual articles written by graffiti artists through to a cultural critic which are then followed by an interview with ZA.

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