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Facade art in Paderborn

Graffiti tours, urban art and gigantic facade paintings in Germany have so far been associated with the megacities of Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. However, the small city of Paderborn can now also look back on a particular success story. The DFG project INGRID at the University of Paderborn has been looking at graffiti from a scientific perspective since 2016, the sprayer Volker Heisener received the culture needle from the city of Paderborn in 2018 for his services to the can and Sven Niemann recently developed one with the Tourist Information audio-visual graffiti tour. The media echo was correspondingly large, which was expressed in national articles in Monopol magazine, West Art or TTT. The potential of graffiti for the cityscape and tourism has also been recognized in cultural policy. This was followed by numerous orders for legal wall designs in the Paderquell area, at the Rosentor or on the building of the city administration, which were financed with public funds. At the same time, more and more residents and private companies in the region released their walls, garages and interiors for creative design with the can. The Busdorf Gallery is probably also unique in Germany: a monastery wall over a hundred meters long, which was built in 2018 by the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincenz was approved for graffiti by Paul.

The Secret City Festival is now building on this positive development and is taking the next step on the way to becoming a graffiti metropolis in OWL. A total of ten facades will be redesigned by artists in four weeks. While a thematic focus in the murals was previously on regional motifs, the Secret City offers the actors more artistic freedom. As a result, the facade design in Paderborn moves away from commissioned work towards free art. The event also strengthens the Paderborn location in the field of creative industries by promoting new orders and career prospects. A facade festival also offers the opportunity to bring art to the people free of charge and to enhance individual districts such as the Riemeke culturally and touristically. The Paderborn heart graffiti has shown in recent months how a large facade design can sustainably shape the image of a city. The mural in the Pader spring area is now one of the most photographed motifs in Paderborn. In the form of postcards, key fobs and coffee cups, the heart graffiti was recently also a hit as a souvenir from the Pader. In short, it is time to continue this success story.

Cut Spencer