Last Sunday, the UrbanArtVentures one-day street festival took place in Thessaloniki. The volunteers of Praxis had the honor to meet and to accompany the street and graffiti artists throughout the day. The UrbanArtVentures event is furthered as an ERASMUS+ project by the European Union and works as a cooperative project by three organisations: Jugend- & Kulturprojekte e.V. from Dresden, Urban Act and karart-e.
When we arrived at noon, the street artists had already begun with preparing the art installations, interventions and performances. We were welcomed by the coordinators Dimitris and Anthi from katart-e and interviewed them about the project and street art.
Later, we were introduced to Kiriakos Iosifidis, coordinator for graffiti art and member of Urban Act, and after a quick interview he did us the huge favor of a Thessaloniki graffiti tour in his car.
Then we arrived at a wall where 4 artists from the Netherlands, France and the UK were working. The French girls, of course, started talking with Benjamin Duquenne from France. Fascinated by insects, he tries to unite urban walls and nature in his art. A few years ago, he met Rocket01 and since then they have become friends and collaborate regularly. Klaas Lageweg uses what he calls real pixelism for his paintings of birds, they symbolize freedom for him, a freedom which he finds on big walls but which is hard to find in life.
After that we continued to visit the graffiti artists on the parallel street. There, we talked to Benuz, a mexican artist living in Germany now. His style is completely unique creating texture with calligraphy. Around 6 pm the artists had either finished or stopped for a break, so we went back to the street with art installations. Since our departure a lot of things had changed and developed. The shelter was finished, the bread wall covered up and the popcorn prepared.
At half past 8 the performances started, passer-bys stopped and the street filled. In the Toss Gallery previous work of the graffiti artists was presented.
When we arrived at noon, the street artists had already begun with preparing the art installations, interventions and performances. We were welcomed by the coordinators Dimitris and Anthi from katart-e and interviewed them about the project and street art.
Later, we were introduced to Kiriakos Iosifidis, coordinator for graffiti art and member of Urban Act, and after a quick interview he did us the huge favor of a Thessaloniki graffiti tour in his car.
Then we arrived at a wall where 4 artists from the Netherlands, France and the UK were working. The French girls, of course, started talking with Benjamin Duquenne from France. Fascinated by insects, he tries to unite urban walls and nature in his art. A few years ago, he met Rocket01 and since then they have become friends and collaborate regularly. Klaas Lageweg uses what he calls real pixelism for his paintings of birds, they symbolize freedom for him, a freedom which he finds on big walls but which is hard to find in life.
After that we continued to visit the graffiti artists on the parallel street. There, we talked to Benuz, a mexican artist living in Germany now. His style is completely unique creating texture with calligraphy. Around 6 pm the artists had either finished or stopped for a break, so we went back to the street with art installations. Since our departure a lot of things had changed and developed. The shelter was finished, the bread wall covered up and the popcorn prepared.
At half past 8 the performances started, passer-bys stopped and the street filled. In the Toss Gallery previous work of the graffiti artists was presented.
A big thank you to the coordinators, the organisations, the volunteers and the artists for taking a quick break to make an interview with us.
It was a pleasure to meet you!
It was a pleasure to meet you!
