Berlin Kidz is an artists collective from

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

participating in

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

train surfing Train surfing (also known as train hopping, train hitching, or subway surfing) is the act of riding on the outside of a moving train, tram, or other form of rail transport vehicle. In a number of countries, the term 'train hopping' is used synon ...

, and

parkour Parkour () is an athletic Training#Physical training, training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from one point to another in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment ...

. They are considered one of the most influential graffiti crews in Berlin known both for their trademark graffiti lettering and the ''

pichação ''Pichação'', sometimes misspelled as ''pixação'' (), is the name given to a type of Brazilian graffiti. It consists of tagging done in a distinctive, cryptic style, mainly on walls and vacant buildings. Many ''pichadores'' (''pichação'' p ...

'' inspired style of their artwork. The group typically utilise the colours red and blue as symbols of blood and freedom respectively. In an interview they have stated that the motivation for their artwork is to highlight social issues and bring them to the attention of the public, using political slogans such as '

Hartz IV The Hartz concept (), also known as Hartz reforms or the Hartz plan, is a set of recommendations submitted by a committee on reforms to the German labour market in 2002. Named after the head of the committee, Peter Hartz, these recommendations we ...

Eats the Soul' ("''Hartz IV essen Seele auf''") or ‘Modern Slavery’ (''Moderne Sklaverei''). The collective deliberately target difficult to access and tall buildings in order to be as visible as possible. Aside from graffiti Berlin Kidz have filmed themselves on numerous occasions whilst

on Berlin

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

and

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four systems and 14 systems. The , commonly understood to stand for ('underground railway'), are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while the or ('city rapid railway') are c ...

rolling stock. Berlin-Kidz 1

Exhibitions

In 2017, Berlin Kidz collaborated with the

Urban Nation Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

museum as part of their One Wall project. The following year the group partiticapated in the ''Bügelfeuer'' exhibition of railway culture hosted at ''Güterbahnhofs Bremen'', a disused freight yard located directly next to

Bremen Hauptbahnhof Bremen Hauptbahnhof (German for ''Bremen main station'') is a railway station in the city of Bremen in northwestern Germany. It is the most important rail station for both the city and state of Bremen; InterCityExpress, Intercity, EuroCity, Cit ...

, alongside other artists including Bill Daniel and

MOSES & TAPS™ Moses and Taps, stylized as MOSES & TAPS™, are an artist collective from Europe. Primarily known for their graffiti on walls and trains, they have been exhibited in galleries and museums in Germany and internationally. History The collective ...

Media

After following the group during numerous actions over a four year period the German photographer Thomas von Wittich exhibited his documentary images of the Berlin Kidz at an exhibition titled ''Adrenaline'' as part of the European Month of Photography in 2016. In 2017, the documentary ''Grifters Code 6: Über Freaks'', focusing on the illegal activities of the Berlin Kidz collective was released. To date Berlin Kidz have produced two of their own graffiti movies including the 2014 film ''Berlin Kidz – 100% Pure Adrenaline'' and an hour long documentary ''Fuck the System''. They have also released short recordings of their artistic practice such as the 2018 promotional video ''Change your Frequency''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin Kidz German graffiti artists European artist groups and collectives * Arts organisations based in Germany Anonymous artists Pseudonymous artists Graffiti crews