Ehrenfeld, Cologne's street art hotspot with internationally known artists

katrin-lux (71)in Pinmapple • 2 years ago

Hi hive friends,

Today I would like to continue my post about Ehrenfeld - as you may already know, we visited the mosque in Ehrenfeld on our day trip. But not only the mosque is an interesting sight in Ehrenfeld when you visit the famous part of Cologne. Ehrenfeld is a hip place - and is not least known for its great street art works of art. After Berlin, Cologne is THE city if you want to see street art. When it comes to street art, Ehrenfeld is at the forefront of Cologne's districts.

So after we visited the mosque, we went in search of the most beautiful street art works in Ehrenfeld. We did a little research on the internet beforehand and came across a few works of art that we really wanted to see. I would like to introduce them to you today. From the Ehrenfeld Mosque, which is located directly on Venloer Strasse, we walked along the main street in the direction of Köln Ehrenfeld station. Because there are great sights at the train station in particular, but also on the way there and there are a few more hidden within Ehrenfeld.

We chose a street art route, for which we walked along the embankment of the Ehrenfeld train station, then we strolled through the streets of Ehrenfeld rather spontaneously and stopped again and again when we saw great art on house walls or facades.

"Apellhofplatz" underground station with art

Piusstrasse underground station in Cologne-Ehrefeld

For our whole tour through a part of Ehrenfeld, we needed about 3 hours. But we also strolled along the streets in a very relaxed manner and often stopped to take photos of the great works of art - I actually never take photos that often!

As a rough guide you can take Liebigstrasse. From here we hiked through Ehrenfeld, turning left and right into streets, and we "walked" some streets two or three times. Our route ended at Leyendeckerstraße.

On the way you will come across Venloer Straße again and again, and soon also the Ehrenfeld belt. Real life takes place here, there are many cafes and restaurants and shops. Here you can get a pizza for in between on your street art tour or a drink or two :)
If the route is a bit too far for you, you can also start your route directly at the Ehrenfeld train station, where you can also admire most of the street art.

One could say that Ehrenfeld is Cologne's street art stronghold. The "Veedel" is full of murals and they are all very close together.
Some definitions: A mural is a painting applied directly to a wall usually in a public space.
Veedel is the Cologne word for quarter or district ;) This means less a district, but rather a smaller part of the city, usually the immediate area where someone lives. Here you can discover many works by internationally known graffiti artists. Here I would like to introduce and show you some of the great works of art.

Homage to the woman who gives new life: "matriarchy" by Ukrainian street artist Aleksei Bordusov aka

I would like to show you one of the most beautiful street art works right at the beginning:

Tribute to the wife of AEC

This artwork comes from the Ukrainian street artist Aleksei Bordusov aka. It is a kind of homage to the woman who gives new life, as the artist explains. It's called
"matriarchy". You can find it at Vogelsanger Str. 197 in Ehrenfeld, about a ten-minute walk from Ehrenfeld train station.
It was created during City Leaks 2017. City Leaks is an urban art festival in Cologne.

For me it was the most fascinating piece of street art in all of Ehrenfeld. Why? It's on a side street (okay, Vogelsanger Strasse is pretty big too). Across the street, actually in the entire area around it, construction is going on. Only this one house without scaffolding is there, and on the entire side of the house this street art work of art. The sun shone very strongly behind the house, the house partly covered it. It was very bright at that moment. Lighting conditions are so important! The area around it was just what made the work of art even more special, no other street art next door, just this one, huge work of art. Do you like it?

NSA Scandal shown in Street Art: "Surveillance of the Fittest" by the artist group Captain Borderlin

Another piece of street art, which also has a very historical background, can be found in the immediate vicinity, opposite the Penny car park on Ehrenfeldgürtel, on the railway embankment. I think it was, with the one above, one of the biggest we saw. It didn't even quite fit on a picture taken with my mobile phone camera;)! It is mainly black and white and shows a big American eagle watching over a flock of stupid sheep.
The mural was designed by the artist group Captain Borderline in 2013. It is called "Surveillance of the Fittest" and takes a critical look at the NSA spying scandal. I also really like political, critical street art works because I can often make connections.

Brightly coloured artworks created as part of the City Leaks Festival 2017

I have not been able to find out the title of this artwork, I don't think there is one either. But sometimes I find such artworks the most interesting, because there is a lot of room for speculation but above all for interpretation. It comes from the artist group Guapo Sapo. Directly on the same wall, on the left and on the right, there is another work by the artist trio:
If you want to drop by here sometime: You can find them at Heliosstraße 2 in Ehrenfeld. The artists created the artworks as part of the City Leaks Festival 2017. The group is made up of the artists YuMu, Krashkid and Alexander Isakov. However, each artwork is by only one artist of the group, so each artist found their place. Nevertheless, the artists have coordinated with each other, or rather it is their style: all the works are brightly coloured.

IMG_3847(1).jpg

IMG_3845(1).jpg

IMG_3594(1).jpg

IMG_3593(1).jpg

Interesting working method of a street artist: works are first prepared on brown wrapping paper and then fixed in place on the wall

"I Miss My Plattenbau" - someone must be looking for a Plattenbau! Here you can see what I think is almost the most beautiful piece of street art, even if it wasn't my favourite. I think the pink hair is almost the best thing about it. The artwork is created by the street artist El Bocho, and you can find it on Ehrenfelder Bahndamm, right next to Gerhard-Wilczek-Platz. The graffiti artist from Berlin does not work directly on the wall, but first prepares his works on brown wrapping paper. After that he attach them to the wall.

Here you can see some other artworks we saw on our route through Ehrenfeld - some random, some planned (okay, most of them were coincidence and luck ;)).

How did you like the street art pieces? Are you generally enthusiastic about street art or do you prefer to visit paintings in museums? I think it's almost nicer to stroll through the city and by chance see a street art piece on a corner, in between you can get a snack and you never know what you'll encounter next. And in the meantime you can have a nice walk around the city!
My conclusion: Ehrenfeld is a real street art stronghold and definitely worth a visit!

Feel free to write your feedback in the comments. Which one is your favourite? I would like to know what you prefer. See you next time!:))

#haveyoubeenhere #travel #pinmapple #posh #community #hive #photography #oc #gems #travelphotography

2 years ago in Pinmapple by katrin-lux (71)

$35.09

Sort:

Trending

[-]

lifewithera (65) 2 years ago

Every corner of Ehrenfeld seems so picturesque because of the streetart. Even the subway looks amazing. Thank you for sharing this, it feels like I took a walk there as well!

$0.04

2 votes

[-]

katrin-lux (71) 2 years ago

I'm glad you liked it! Yes, Ehrenfeld looks so much more colourful and younger than the other districts:)

$0.00