MONTANA-CANS PARTNER PROJECT “CITY.WALL.ART”
When you start a project as a small idea, and it then grows into something you love being affiliated with, it is clear that watching it evolve will enrich your soul. We feel this way about a project that is very close to home:‚ ‘Stadt.Wand.Kunst‘ which translates to ‘City.Wall.Art’. The four initiators – Mannheim’s housing association GBG, Montana-Cans, the municipal of Mannheim and the Alte Feuerwache cultural arts center have made it their goal to create a public gallery on grey city walls – to design large-scale murals on free house fronts in the central-city districts of Mannheim.
photography by ©MONTANA-CANS / Manuel Wagner
In 2016, we had the pleasure of having three internationally renowned artists and one local artist come and create fantastic murals for this project. First, Polish artist and ETAM cru member SAINER created a mural in the city district of Neckarstadt depicting three baseball players. SAINER has been exhibiting his work in various solo and group shows since 2010 in renowned galleries and museums such as the Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles or the Museum of Art in Honolulu. Next up, we asked local book illustrator and performance artist Mehrdad Zaeri if he would like to create a Mural. When he agreed, we were quite excited to witness his first steps with a spray can. We gave him a thumbs up for his mural titled “The Freedom-Tester“.
photography by ©MONTANA-CANS / Frank Bässler
Only a few weeks later, it was ETAM cru’s second half BETZ who designed a mural only one block away from the very first piece that was created for the Stadt.Wand.Kunst project by artist duo Herakut. The ETAM cru duo BETZ and SAINER are known across Europe for their unique aesthetic and melancholy style. Both can be found in BETZ’s expressive mural titled “Europe”. And last the culmination of 2016’s series was ECB Henrik Beikirch’s creation of Germany’s largest mural made by a German artist, titled “Vera”. This politically inclined piece features his typical style of perfectly executed black and white portraits, which is exactly why he is so well-known and appreciated as an urban artist. In his book, “Blurring Boundaries”, which he published in 2015, he gives an overview of his current creations and musings. We are very proud of this newest addition to Mannheim’s gallery. Stadt.Wand.Kunst Recap 2016
photography by ©MONTANA-CANS / Alexander Krziwanie
In general, we take great pride in being a part of this fantastic project as one of the collaborators. For a further event of the 2016 Stadt.Wand.Kunst project, we teamed up with our fellow-collaborator the Alte Feuerwache and organized an exhibition documenting the progress and the creation of these artworks. The featured photos and videos portrayed the making of murals by artists such as HERAKUT, Aske, Sobekcis, SAINER and many others. With the Stadt.Wand.Kunst project, it is our goal to acknowledge Mannheim’s scope in the street art scene and support and encourage its further growth. It is our desire to continue inviting local, national and international artists to expand this public gallery in Mannheim’s downtown city in the future. Stadt.Wand.Kunst Recap 2016
photography by ©MONTANA-CANS / Alexander Krziwanie, Frank Bässler & Manuel Wagner