Eine Stadt wird bunt von Oliver Nebel/Frank Petering/Mirko Reisser u a

At the beginning of the 1980s, Hamburgs urban landscape gradually began to change. The instigators of this transformation were not urban planners, however, but graffiti artists: inspired by films like Wild Style and Beat Street, they moved around the city at night with spray cans and left behind colourful pictures, symbols and writing on walls, bridges and train carriages. Over the course of time, Hamburg - which had been a grey city dominated by postwar architecture - was transformed into a colourful and diverse metropolis which soon became one of the European epicentres of the graffiti and hip-hop scene, alongside Paris, Amsterdam and Munich. The exhibition A CITY BECOMES COLOURFUL. Hamburg Graffiti History 1980-1999, which will run from 2 November 2022 until 31 July 2023 at the Hamburg Museum, tells the story of the origins of this youth subculture in Hamburg. The curators Oliver Nebel, Frank Petering, Mirko Reisser and Andreas Timm have assembled almost 500 exhibits, including photographs, texts, sketchbooks, spray cans, newspapers, magazines, vinyl records and accessories. In their research, they were able to build on their previous collaborative work: they are the editors of the lavishly illustrated book A City Becomes Colourful (published in 2021), from which the exhibition gets its name.

A museum takes a stand. Graffiti is as ephemeral as it is historical. It testifies to change and disappearance, but also to perpetuation and mindfulness. It is an expression of a (sub-)culture that is often characterized by protest. Graffiti documents developments in in the respective society and reflects their "zeitgeist" in a wide range of variations. However you look at graffiti today, it is not to be overlooked in our cities and on our walls. Some may be torn between rejection, acceptance and recognition of this form of expression, which has now evolved into its own form of art. What is certain is that graffiti has left its mark on the cityscape and in society and still does so - in Hamburg as well as in many other cities. The exhibition traces the emergence and growth of the graffiti scene in Hamburg, it shows how American hip-hop culture became at home in Hamburg. It documents how Hamburg, characterised by a grey atmosphere and post-war architecture, transformed into a colourful and diverse city that soon became one of the epicentres of the graffiti and hip-hop scene in Europe - alongside Paris, Amsterdam or Munich. The four writers Oliver Nebel, Frank Petering, Mirko Reisser and Andreas Timm have grown together in the context of this exhibition into a curatorial crew, without whose meticulous work and their own art pieces, without whose extensive contacts and countless collection objects this exhibition would never have been possible. I would like to thank the curators, Carolin Ngo and all other participants from the scene as well as from the museum for their commitment and support. No doubt about it: Among the exhibitions in the 100th anniversary year of the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte will be "EINE STADT WIRD BUNT. Hamburg Graffiti History 1980 -1999" be a real burner! Prof. Bettina Probst Direktorin Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte