Berlin

I really enjoyed our trip to Berlin. To me the city was inspiring and amazing. The vast amounts of graffiti, seemingly everywhere, to me stated that this was a city full of young (or old), talented street artist’s who are very much in need of a surface to decorate. There was such a vibrance to the whole city, even more so in the slightly less wealthy area of Kreuzberg which my friends and I took a short tube ride to. Art seemed to thrive in Kreuzberg whether it was from the outlandish architecture, the all encompassing graffiti, or the way shop owners presented and created their own shops. It really was a place that I very much can imagine myself living in 10 years (or hopefully less) time.

Out of all galleries/exhibitions/museums we went to such as the Hamburger Bahnhof, the Objects of Wonder sculpture exhibition, the Boros Collection, the museum of things and the TV and Film exhibition etc… My favourite one was probably the Boros Collection because of many factors. One being that location: the actual Bunker itself was fascinating and hearing it’s heritage only intrigued me more. From being a safe place during the second world war, to a mad techno club in the 1990’s, the bunker itself really must’ve seen some real sights. Moreover, some of the rooms where still in keeping of the way they were during its techno era which I loved as you could really see and feel the buildings infamous past from within the walls and floors. Furthermore, I loved having a guided tour of the artworks as it meant that the tour guide would tell us all about the artworks instead of us having to read a lengthy, scholarly piece of writing that tells about, but as the same time distracts from, the artwork. Being able to look at and interpret the artwork whilst listening to it really helped me to gain a higher understanding and appreciation for it. Continually, the actual selection of contemporary artwork was pleasing too as everything seemed to fit in nicely with it’s surroundings and really fill the space.

Something else I loved about Berlin was the parks we visited. This is because they were so so different to any park you might find in London, or in fact, the whole of the south of England at least, as they were so industrial and sparse. The lack of green grass, that was replaced by a dusty, dry sheen, with kids, graffiti artists, drug dealers and construction works in tractors all around playing within their own right, to just sit and subtly people watch was so interesting as it’s such an outlandish mix of people that I don’t think you’d see to such an extreme in England. But, nevertheless everyone, including the parents of the small children, seemed happy with the way it was and got on with their day doing what they wanted in the park and not complaining about what other people might have been doing. This was nice to see as it show’s that people from all corners of life can coexist equally and peacefully in the same space.

Berlin also felt like a very safe city, for example one night after having gone and having a great time at Tresor (one of Berlin’s notorious techno clubs), when my friends and I were a bit too drunk and English to work out the transport system at night in Berlin, we decided to take the 40mins walk back at 3am to the hostel across the city, and even when me and Holly walked way ahead, leaving our very slow walking group of boys behind us, we felt completely safe and not at any point threatened or worried by anyone or anything. I think that this can be attributed to the very unbusy nature of Berlin, for such a big city there did seem a lack of people, or at least a lot less people than the hustle and bustle of London. To me this was nice as it meant that I could really appreciate the city fully as I wasn’t constantly dodging to try and get out the way of stressed, rushing hoards of people.

We were also asked to complete a photography project whilst in Berlin, I chose to do the one where we were meant to take pictures of inside a gallery of a window to capture both the interior of the gallery and the exterior of Berlin (although some of my pics weren’t necessarily in galleries, some where just windows that I liked):