Sculpture – travellingzombie.com

Alternative Berlin Street Art Tour

Berlin is known for its art scene and from the moment we booked the trip, I was keen to immerse myself in that side of the city. Therefore, we chose (I might have pushed!) to take the street art tour as a way to see some of the work adorning the streets of Berlin, as well as getting to see some parts of the city that we wouldn’t usually head to on a typical city tour.

Ben was our tour guide and, as the weather wasn’t great, we had a tiny tour group of 3 – great for asking questions and getting a really good discussion going about the street art scene. I was really pleased to learn that Ben is an artist himself and therefore really well placed to share his insights on the work that we were about to see.

The first couple of pieces helped to outline the two main groups in Berlin: 1UP and Bione (also known as Paradox or Berlin Zidz). After learning about some of their stunts and coverage, it was easy to spot their tags across most of the city. We’ve since spotted 1UP tags across other European cities, it’s now a regular mission to try and find as many as we can!

*Tags showing well know groups: 1UP and Bione*

Following this, we moved on to check out some of the incredible art work across the city. Each one was very different, but showed so much talent and skill. Slowly, I began to learn more about the street art etiquette, the styles being used and the meanings behind the artwork. Ben told us about the differences between ‘tags’ (something quick and simple, almost a signature), a ‘throw up’ (something a little more elaborate, but could still be completed quickly) and the more detailed pieces that would have taken a longer time to complete.

From the complex to the simple, each image had a story. One of the most important things I learned on the tour was the assumption that the viewer will see the art from their own perspective. I found that really interesting and it changed my view on the creation of art – it doesn’t have to be perfect to create a reaction or invoke a feeling, it just has to be.

We also discussed the permanence, or lack thereof of street art and how this might help to keep ego in check. I thought that it was a nice thought that imagery may differ over time, due to weather, other artist contributions, or may even be permanently erased, resulting in a limited number of people seeing something that had been freshly created, with the rest experiencing an evolving image.

In addition to the painted art, there was also time for recognition of the smaller art installations hiding amongst walls and street signs. These were really cool and super easy to spot once you were made aware of them. I spent the remainder of my time in the city keeping my eyes peeled for more.

I loved the tour from start to finish. Ben was a brilliant guide, so down to earth and knowledgeable – a really cool guy. He had loads of knowledge to share, making each bit of the tour come to life. As an artist himself, it really lent credibility to the information being shared and it was great to see some of their work up on show too. It was like getting a sense of the city’s culture straight from someone who lived and breathed it. By the end of the tour, I was really ready to learn more about graffiti, street art and developing my own tag!

To round off our visit, the tour ended with a visit to the incredible Urban Nation contemporary art museum. With a range of incredible art works on display, and a graffiti toilet(!!), it was the perfect way to end the trip.

I still look back at this tour as one of the best I’ve been on, and it’s encouraged me to think about seeking out graffiti tours on other city breaks. They are a great way to get to know the heartbeat of the city, and for an art lover, they tell a story about a city’s history and culture. You get to wander off the usual tourist paths and really see a different side of the city.

You can check out some of our guide’s work on Insta @bulky-savage

Another Place

I do like my art (especially sculptures; as proved here and here!), however I tend to get a bit freaked out by large statues (this post has some rather terrifying examples) – apparently it’s a thing (lots of people experience it – I promise!!). In particular, statues of people in / near water scare the shit out of me. I don’t know why. I’ve tried quizzing my parents but none of them seem to recall anything from my childhood that might have contributed to this fear – I’m not entirely sure I believe them, but so far they are sticking to their story!

With this in mind, I was a little apprehensive to visit Crosby Beach near Liverpool. Home to 100 ‘Iron Men’ as part of Antony Gormley’s public art work ‘Another Place’.

Spread over 2 miles of coastline, the statues stand at random points across the sand and water, submerged to different degrees depending on the tide.

Feeling brave, I wandered over to look at two of the closest figures. Close up, as they were proportionate to a ‘normal’ person, they didn’t feel so scary and it was actually interesting to see how the weather and water had affected each statue differently. Some were covered in barnacles, some were more mossy and others relatively untouched.

It was a sunny, bright day, packed with hundreds of people enjoying the uncharacteristically warm bank holiday weather. The shouts and sounds of people playing in the sand made the statues seem less freaky and more interesting.

That being said, the statues were actually more creepy from a distance, where the impact of so many still and silent figures could trigger the imagination into thinking they looked slightly closer than before……

I can imagine that if I was to visit on on a cold early morning, when the sounds are limited to the bird cries and sea, I would have a very different experience of the Iron Men.

Manchester is Buzzing

The bees have arrived in Manchester!

Last weekend, I was trying to come up with something exciting to do when I realised, the long awaited Bee Trail had arrived in Manchester and as the sun was shining, a treasure trail to find as many bees as possible was on the cards. So I roped Wandering Beeb into the trip and the hunt was on!

The Bees in question are part of the ‘Bee in the City Trail’ – 101 bees decorated by artists, communities and celebrities as part of a public art trail. The bee symbol has taken on a more prominent role in Manchester after the Arena attack and the designers of the art trail have recognised this in their giant bee sculptures.

Dotted across Manchester, the bees are all over the wider Greater Manchester area and part of the fun is finding them. A £1.99 app provided a trail map and information on each bee – proving a handy way of keeping track of the ones we spotted.

Whilst the art work involved in each bee celebrates different aspects of the city’s culture and history, I found the most beautiful thing about the bee trail to be the way it provided a route to exploring familiar parts of the city.

Walking around the trail, we found ourselves spotting other pieces of art in the city that we’d never noticed before. It’s easy to walk about a familiar place without actually taking notice of the surroundings.

Brightly coloured wall murals, changes to familiar artwork outside often frequented bars and subtle sculptures all sprang into life around us – usually hidden and forgotten.

We spent around four and a half hours walking around Manchester, following well-trodden paths that our boots could describe blindfolded. At each turn, we spotted something new, visited cafes and shops that we wouldn’t usually notice and stopped to watch an impromptu jazz performance, left over from the recent jazz festival. It reminded me of the walks I used to take as a kid, eyes wide and soaking up the movement of the city around me. It reminded me that we can quickly loose our sense of wonder and adventure in our home town, however we can find it again with a little push.

From the Banks of the Danube River

An alternative view of Budapest

Whilst in Budapest, one of the main things that we wanted to do was to spend some time on the Danube. As Europe’s second longest river, we wanted to take some time to explore properly.

We had travelled to Budapest with a group of us, but had split up for the night to allow some time for the other two people in our travelling party to have a romantic meal out. Therefore, we found ourselves hopping on board a night boat to take a stunning trip down the Danube before meeting back up with our group for a trip to the ruin pubs.

The day before we had strolled down the riverbank in the Pest side of the City to take a look at the ‘Shoes on the Danube Bank’ memorial. Sixty pairs of shoes, made from iron are lined up on the river side to commemorate the massive loss of life of 3,500 people (mostly Jewish people) who were shot in 1945. After being told to remove their shoes and being shot, their bodies fell into the river, being swept away by the current. It’s a terrible reminder of the worst of humanity and seeing sixty pairs of shoes lined up along the river gives a sense of the scale of the atrocity.

The nighttime boat ride was a very different view as we passed the Hungarian Parliament buildings. Brightly shining against the dark night, it was an imposing building, full of grandeur and twinkling lights.

Chain bridge was magnificent to see in the dark and the sounds of the water rushing past us added to the experience. Illuminated gargoyles standing out in the darkness created a gothic edge to the views.

It was a beautiful way to see a different view of the city and travelling by river always feels much more exciting and exotic than by road.

Have you visited Budapest? What were your favourite experiences?