Ads are not the only forms of artwork draped across train station walls and billboards. Graffiti is an unmistakably large aspect of the art and culture scene in Berlin – it's ubiquitous. Even the Bundestag showcased graffiti in the form of primitive Soviet writing on stone walls (as seen below.) If I were to associate a kind of art to the city of Berlin – I would quickly answer graffiti (although there seems to be a Dali exposition which seems to be quite the eye-catcher.) Unlike graffiti that I have seen in Miami, graffiti in Berlin is extremely large, visible and artistic. It's not just letters and symbols. There are actual drawings of people, cartoons, monsters etc. There's no way around graffiti, unless you close your eyes while you're on the train. Additionally this kind of modern street art is showcased using the remnants of the Berlin wall as a canvas. To me, street art is the voice of the people, of the masses. Of course, one will encounter senseless graffiti such as the word “penis” across walls which I personally don't consider artistic or reflections on that society.
During the bike tour I also encountered some interesting forms of art. I remember this random huge, colored ball-statue near Check Point Charlie. Apparently, this statue represents a sack of goods immigrants brought. I believe it was a statue commemorating immigrants that have left or arrived to the city. I honestly don't remember.
In all, art as well as advertising, has a cutting edge and spunk that other cities don't have. Even when we visited WallAG, their showcase room was avant-garde. The way the information was presented was totally in depth – literally. The WallAG “wall” moved back revealing more information and artwork of the agency. It was refreshing to see artwork presented in such a fashion.
Music is another part of life in Berlin. Street musicians are spread out across the city (with a concentration in the tourist centres.) In the U and S-bahn's, musicians walk across the train serenading passengers (but most of the time also pestering them for money.) I recall the first day we were in Berlin, when we did a short walking tour of the Brandenburg Tor area. It was there where I first encountered a Berlin musician. It was a German man playing a keyboard, but he didn't catch our attention until a group of Turkish young men crowded around him and took over the keyboard. The Turkish seemed to have been playing traditional Turkish music. While one of them enthusiastically played, the rest made a circle (which we later joined) and started to show off the Turkish dance moves. It was pretty nice to see how other cultures express themselves in music and dance. I must admit it was completely foreign to me, but entertaining to listen to and watch. Overall, it was nice to see street musicians from different cultures interacting and expressing themselves.
From my experience, however, although there are musicians in Berlin, they don't seem to saturate the city as other European capitals including Paris, London and Prague. In those cities, it seems everywhere you turn there's a musician, especially in the underground train stations. In fact, there are so many musicians in London for example, that the city has actually designated areas for them in the underground stations to play their music. Maybe I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I really didn't get the impression that street music was native to the city. I also got the impression that Western music, especially from the US, had really made it's mark in the city considering the music that was played in the clubs. I remember in London there was more Middle Eastern music because of all the Arabs living in the city. Despite the abundance of Turkish immigrants in Berlin, I didn't see “their” style of music or songs played in any location in Berlin (except perhaps local restaurants and pubs in Wedding, for example.)
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