V.A. Es Lebe Der Sprühling

The Hanseatic City of Hamburg has a wonderful location on the Elbe River, with the Michel Church, the harbour and the
Alster Lake. But if you look at the city more closely and don’t shy away from the street culture, then a visitor to Hamburg or
even the locals within Hamburg can find recurring motifs on walls, tunnels, bridges and even manhole covers. The smileys,
the endless paint sausages on walls along the underground and suburban train lines or in the tunnels themselves, colourful
circles that look a bit like a pizza, in practically unreachable places, or the somewhat crazy-looking symbols and sentences.
Even if you look down on the ground you can see the motifs of urban conflict. And all this in unrivalled quantities. It looks
like someone has declared war on the grey areas of Hamburg. A lot of the messages include critical commentaries on the
city’s culture or attacks on the superficial society. This silent protest against something that you might sympathise with or
feel for is characterised by creative energy. This concentrated artistic impression is expressed using spray paint, markers
or chalk. It stands for itself, is not subject to any artistic category and is hard to beat for individuality and anonymity.
Now a few citizens of Hamburg have at last plucked up the courage to dedicate a book to this globally unique activity.
On its 216 pages “Es lebe der Sprühling” presents the pictures, symbols and messages of this never before illuminated
work in the public areas of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, creating a monument to this phenomenon. The book
also includes text on the work by, among others, Jan Eissfeldt, Os Gemeos, Heiko Zahlmann and Peter Michalsky and thus
helps to find a new approach to the originators. Numerous photographs, directly associated with the works, give us new
perspectives and let the observer know that these objects, created over the last 25 years, have long since achieved the
status of art in Hamburg.

216 Pages, 23 x 33,5 cm, Hardcover, Languages: German & English