The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. I’m not sure where all of it ended up, but I do know that I saw sections of it on one of my walks in Manhattan in June of 1991.
Part of Berlin Wall
From what I understand, artists began expressing themselves by writing on the 14-foot-high wall in the 1980s. All of the graffiti was drawn on the West Berlin side, the other side remaining blank. The disincentive for East Berliners to express themselves on the wall was the ‘death zone’. Anyone approaching the wall from East Berlin would be shot and killed.
My understanding is that graffiti is gone from the New York City of the 21st century. Are there places where visual artists can express themselves in public these days?
There are always bathrooms in bars…(not that I frequent such places). Actually, a small gallery in our neighborhood has organized local street artists to paint birds on the roll-down gates, and I’ve heard it’s happening in other neighborhoods too. https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/birds-on-broadway/
That’s good to know! Thanks.
j