The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West.
Graffiti is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Guerrilla art is a street art movement that first emerged in the UK, but has since spread across the world and is now established in most countries that already had developed graffiti scenes. In fact, it owes so much to the early graffiti movement, in the United States guerrilla art is still referred to as ‘post-graffiti art’.
Lincoln Square on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, is one of the city's 77 community areas. It encompasses the smaller neighborhoods of Ravenswood, Ravenswood Gardens, Bowmanville, Budlong Woods as well as Lincoln Square itself.
Uptown is one of Chicago's 77 community areas. Uptown's boundaries are Foster Avenue on the north; Lake Michigan on the east; Montrose, and Irving Park on the south; Ravenswood, and Clark St on the west. To the north is Edgewater, to the west is Lincoln Square, and to the south is Lakeview. Near the lake are some of the northern reaches of Lincoln Park including Montrose Beach and a nature reserve. The area has a mix of commercial and residential development, and includes a well established entertainment district of clubs and concert venues, and was a center for early movie making. Truman College a two year city college is located here, and the area's south-western end includes the historic 19th century Graceland Cemetery.
Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the intersection of North Avenue in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood. The CHS adopted the name, Chicago History Museum, in September 2006 for its public presence.
North Center is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, located in the city's North Side. North Center is bordered on the north by Montrose Avenue, on the south by Diversey Parkway, on the west by the Chicago River and on the east by Ravenswood Avenue; it includes the neighborhoods of North Center, Roscoe Village, St. Ben's, and Hamlin Park. The Brown Line of the Chicago 'L' has stops within the community area at Addison, Irving Park, and Montrose.
Thierry Noir is a French artist and muralist based in Berlin. He is considered the first artist to paint the Berlin Wall in the 1980s. He created brightly-colored paintings across large spans of the Berlin Wall and some of these original paintings can still be seen on surviving segments of the Wall in art collections and on the East Side Gallery. Noir's work and style are now considered iconic, and Noir is also regarded as one of the forerunners of the street art movement as a whole. He continues to create murals worldwide in cities including London, Los Angeles, and Sydney.
Western is an 'L' station on the CTA's Brown Line. It is an elevated station with two side platforms, located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. The adjacent stations are Rockwell, which is located about one-quarter mile (0.40 km) to the west, and Damen, about one-half mile (0.80 km) to the east. Between Western and Rockwell the line descends and runs on ground level tracks for the rest of the route to Kimball.
Conrad Sulzer Regional Library is one of two regional libraries in the Chicago Public Library system in Chicago, in the U.S. state of Illinois. It was named for Conrad Sulzer, the first white settler in what became Lakeview Township, whose family held multiple civic posts and established a foundation. The library is located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood at 4455 N. Lincoln Avenue. It is a full-service library and ADA compliant. As with all libraries in the Chicago Public Library system, it has free Wi-Fi internet service.
OSGEMEOS are identical twin street artists Otavio Pandolfo and Gustavo Pandolfo. They started painting graffiti in 1987 and their work appears on streets and in galleries across the world.
The DEFA Film Library at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the only archive and research center outside of Germany devoted to a broad spectrum of filmmaking from and related to the former East Germany. DEFA was the state owned film company of the GDR. The non-profit organization houses an extensive collection of 35mm and 16mm prints, dcps, DVDs, books, periodicals and articles. Students are involved in all aspects of the archive's research, outreach and teaching activities and also gain valuable non-academic experience in subtitling and library, conference and arts management. In order to fulfill its dual mission—to make DEFA films available and better known, and to broaden understanding of filmmaking in the GDR by interdisciplinary critical scholarship—the DEFA Film Library undertakes a range of scholarly and support activities.
The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to separate West Berlin and East Berlin during the Cold War. All the differences between the countries made it a perfect place for people to express their opinions, especially on their preferences and dislikes. In the 1980s, the wall was reconstructed and made 14 feet (4.3 m) tall. Graffiting on the wall became popular for artists from all over the world and a place where tourists would go and admire the artwork. The West Berlin side of the wall had artwork completely covering the wall, while the East Berlin side was kept blank because people were not permitted to get close enough to the eastside of the wall to paint anything.
My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love, sometimes referred to as the Fraternal Kiss, is a graffiti painting by Dmitri Vrubel on the eastern side Berlin wall. Painted in 1990, it has become one of the best known pieces of Berlin wall graffiti art. The painting depicts Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker in a socialist fraternal kiss, reproducing a photograph taken in 1979 during the 30th anniversary celebration of the foundation of the German Democratic Republic.
Wednesday Journal, Inc. is a newspaper publisher based in Oak Park, Illinois. It publishes a free weekly community newspaper in Chicago's Austin neighborhood, paid weekly newspapers in the city's western suburbs and parenting magazines in the Chicago metropolitan area.
FAILE is a Brooklyn-based artistic collaboration between Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller. Since its inception in 1999, FAILE has been known for a wide-ranging multimedia practice recognizable for its explorations of duality through a fragmented style of appropriation and collage.
West Bank Wall graffiti art is street art on the walled sections of the Israeli West Bank barrier, by a wide range of international and Palestinian artists. The wall is 8 to 10 metres tall, and is easily accessible to artists as it frequently divides urban areas. The graffiti is on the Palestinian side of the wall and primarily expresses anti-wall sentiments.
