#### Berlin Wall Paintings

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many residents of East Berlin living on Oranienburger Straße moved to live with their wealthy relatives in what was then West Germany. As a result, several buildings on this street became uninhabited. Taking advantage of the chaos, artists took over one of these former shopping centers and turned it into the Tauchles Art Space. Approximately 70 people live and work here today. All the walls in the entrance halls and rooms are covered with graffiti. Although people have tried on several occasions to evict the artists from this building, German law is on their side. On Oranienburger Straße, elite bourgeois homes stand next to these occupied spaces, whose facades are often decorated with so-called “modern art” installations or anti-war slogans.

Entrance to the Tauchles Art Space

By the way, if you think all my photos look like this naturally, you’re wrong. Usually, they look “a bit worse,” and I have to refine them using a grinder in my studio.

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Right in the corridors, you can buy works by local artists.

The Hacksche Höfe consist of eight courtyards connected by passageways. The original idea was that people would live and work within this enclosed complex, thus avoiding the need to go outside and reducing the risk of contracting tuberculosis.

One of these courtyards, Schwarzengarten, was used during the war by a German industrialist who employed blind Jewish workers. According to laws at that time, disabled Jews were supposed to be sent to camps, but this industrialist intervened and saved their lives. As a result, this area has remained almost unchanged since the war and continues to serve various purposes today, including hosting a museum dedicated to Jewish history (Anna Frank Museum), an alternative club, a cinema showing independent films, as well as areas for graffiti and bars.

The main theme of many of the wall paintings here is Little Lucy, who hates her cat.

Have you ever seen a beer bicycle? Look… People sit at the table, drink beer, pedal, and watch their surroundings. All the while, there’s music, shouting, and lots of noise. I wonder how they manage to use the toilet in this moving “beer bar”?!)))))

Stay tuned!