> Graffiti is reported to cost Deutsche Bahn about 7.6m euros (£6.5m; $10m) a year.
or leave it alone and it will cost you close to zero and still look better. wholecars ara PITA for travellers so windows need to get cleaned, but I thought that vandal squad hysteria after the 90s graffiti boom has ended. I guess somebody needs to pump up their budget requirements.
While the problem is definitely less nowadays, the difficult to reach places where graffiti appears around German stations sometimes makes you appreciate how much motivation and effort the artists(?) must have.
Then here's something a little sadder: this guys are more or less considered heroes. I've never seen the video, but I've heard the story from a tourist guide, who made it clear that this was an awesome stunt that should be admired.
Then again, keep in mind that Berlin has a rather complicated story with Graffiti (the city owes a lot to its starving artists), so the Western point of view is not the only one to keep in consideration.
Well, I'm from the eastern bloc and we have (had?) similar problems in Poland. Though I doubt anyone here would glorify or even excuse these guys. Really thought vandalism is rare and less tolerated west of us.
Having a bottle of spray paint isn't a license to decide what other people's property should look like.
Deutsche Bahn, and I wouldn't be surprised if a huge majority of their customers agrees with them, thinks trains should look in the way they've painted the trains to look.
No there are few few pieces that would deserve to stay on. Most isn't more than ugly names (at least not tags). But what I hate most is when they cover the windows, seriously?
To this end, trains in Melbourne won't even run if there is graffiti on any surface. Creates some incredible delays, but people have all but stopped touching public trains here due to it.
DB could supply free masking tape and plastic sheeting to cover the windows while the artists work.
Why not go further and put up the train carriage specs/dimensions in an easy to use template online, so you can lay out your design in advance to take account of the windows.
Going any further like sponsoring chosen designs might backfire because then it all gets viewed as too commercial, and we'll get people defacing the corporate graffiti.
Here's the thing: The trains have already been decorated by artists that have laid out their designs in a way that takes account of the windows. When those design were applied, the windows were covered by masking tape and plastic sheeting provided by DB. In fact, the trains were taken out of service and placed in a depot for the application of the artwork. Pretty awesome, huh?
> Why not go further and put up the train carriage specs/dimensions in an easy to use template online, so you can lay out your design in advance to take account of the windows.
such stuff has been available in graffiti shops for decades :) but a little hint: nobody cares about windows :)
> Going any further like sponsoring chosen designs might backfire because then it all gets viewed as too commercial, and we'll get people defacing the corporate graffiti.
yes. google for 'adisux', an Adidas' Warsaw fiasco when they covered part of the horse racing track wall (longest graffiti gallery in Europe) for an ad and got trashed to the point the scandal got to tv, their pr firm got into panic mode for a week and in general, how to say it, their marketing campaign didn't work out.
yeah, I just added the bit about wholecars. well, I don't believe graffiti is a bigger "problem" now than in the 90s when it spread as a subcultural phenomenon around Europe (just like in the 70s-80s in the US). I remember how I was amazed at how Berlin looked back in the day. Warsaw trains are also 'clean' now. I sincerely believe it's an excuse for some political experiments with drones, than fighting graffiti.
or leave it alone and it will cost you close to zero and still look better. wholecars ara PITA for travellers so windows need to get cleaned, but I thought that vandal squad hysteria after the 90s graffiti boom has ended. I guess somebody needs to pump up their budget requirements.