revised extract from publication in CASAzine #4: Drawing the Line, 2007


In 2005, I initiated the project “senior street art“ in Berlin that involved working with older people to explore graffiti and street art as forms of autonomous visual participation in contemporary urban space. My interest was to work with unexpected forms of expression in public space. Who isvisible in society, and in the streets, and how? Who wouldn´t most likely claim the streets through graffiti and street art?

I often meet older people who want to share something with me: sometimes a personal story while on the street, in a supermarket, or at a bus stop, but more often, they tell me not to cross a red light, or not to cycle on the pedestrian walk. Reflecting this led me to a tagged and sprayed cultural centre for senior citizens in Kreuzbergs. Through efficient social planning, we have got to quite a segregated state of society in Germany. One visible sign of this are the various generation gaps. To me, this sight, the wild unplanned combination / confrontation of young and old was a delight. This cultural center became home base to the "senior street art" project.

For five years, I have been working with around 30 workshop participants between 50 and 85 years of age - far more women than men, maybe because they are usually more open for learning, social sharing and workshops.

There has been a great many workshops, as listed under bisher/ previously. The workshop descriptions, for so far listed anyhow, are in German, I´m sorry. But the photos are open for all languages. There are a great many questions this project touches, so if you are interested to exchange about some of these questions, feel free to contact me!

Especially in the beginning, I was careful to avoid turning our work in public space into a sensationalized spectacle of "grandma doing graffiti" - which was exactly what media jumped on. I am more interested in the process than in any hype, so here are some participants´ voices I want to share with you:

participants’ comments on experiences with "senior street art"
Graffiti doesn’t unite people, because there are different opinions on it. But it produces communication, encounters. I see the things different now, too, more intensive. I really don’t mind if there is a face on the streets, not just bare walls. I enjoy, and know that not everything can be perfect.
T
The communication (through Graffiti) is a little one-sided. If I put up something on the wall which is important to me, how do I experience a reaction? Only if I stay around listening to what people have to say about it, if they say what they think about it at all. I think, for me, as a single person, that isn’t the thing to do. Anonymity isn’t really my thing.
E
Yes, there was a lot of joy. It happens when you don’t see something as work anymore, and deliver yourself to enjoy. You become very sensitive exploring colours. With art in general, everything takes a new turn.
R
Graffiti are partly undigested, but it is information. Graffiti also are a hint that it can’t go on just like that: Look at us, we are also there. If you look at nature, you see cycles. If we take out something of that cycle, we are taking away information to work with. I find it so strange to criminalize things that are really so natural.
S
In my city, I signed up to clean a public map from graffiti. People tagged it right after I had cleansed the map, so I cleansed it again. Not long, and there was another fresh tag. So I started to wonder why. What is really so fascinating about this tagging? Then, I heard about this course and just thought I´d take a closer look.
Fr. T