8 August 2022

Fashion.at's impressions of the Calle Libre 2022 Street Art Festival

On 6 August, Fashion.at followed the invitation to the press presentation of artworks at the Calle Libre 2022 Street Art Festival (1 - 7 August) at the Nordwestbahnhof in Vienna. It was the sixth day of the festival and the murals and sculptures created during the festival were already finished or in the final phase like the mural by the Brazilian artist Thiago Mazza on the apartment house outside of the festival area.

Images, from left, clockwise: The colorful optimistic mural by Thiago Mazza matches the Calle Libre Festival 2022 motto 'Regeneration' addressing the importance of rebuilding and recovery for nature and society in today's worldwide situation. In front on view are parts of the outdoor installation 'Excavations from the darkest spaces' by the art X history project Tracing Spaces. Right: The artworks of the festival were created with the vision of a more sustainable future such as the large sized 3D wall sculpture of a squirrel made from trash by Portuguese artist Bordalo II. Right, below: The picture on the right shows the mural by Jay Coleman depicting the vision of the realization of ideas for the future of planet earth; just like a call to 'Breathe life into the vision of earth!'. The tour guide used a bicycle for the walk along the 400 meters wall of the Nordwestbahnhof in Vienna.

The press event happened at 20:00 in a lounge at the end of the 400 meter long wall of the nowadays disused freight station Nordwestbahnhof. On the way to the lounge, Fashion.at learned more about the history of the area where 150 years ago the train station Nordwestbahnhof was officially opened. The art X history project by Tracing Spaces 'Excavations from the darkest spaces' shows the installation of an archeology-like constructed outdoor museum revealing the traces of the propaganda film 'City without Jews' from 1924 and the fatal effects on the Jewish population in the 1930s. The installation of traces where the scenes of deportations were filmed in 1924 and an NS-propaganda exhibition happened in 1938 are on view in the area in front of the wall carrying international artists' works developed from reflections on visions for the 'Regeneration' from social and environmental damages caused by humans.

Fashion.at arrived late at the press presentation and heard the last words of the talk with the 'Duo Amazonas' mediating the impression that women are increasingly using murals for placing their views of our world in the public. On the around ½ kilometer way back to the main entrance along the wall, Fashion.at passed a group of around 20 to 30 people on a guided tour listening to a presentation which was held in English. The group stood in front of the mural of Jay Coleman from the United States.
The mural shows a young person up to the neck in water and making a bubble with planet earth inside. The artwork mediating to breathe life into the idea of planet earth was explained with reference to difficult situations caused by the climate crisis, inequality, racism and political decisions with negative impact on wide parts of the population. Last year, Jay Coleman was chosen by the media company BET (Black Entertainment Television) as one of the protagonists of black culture and creative expression for the 'Black Canvas'-series under the motto 'Where Black Dreams Florish' with portraits of muralists across the United States on occasion of the network's 40th anniversary (article with videos on adage.com).

The wall with the Calle Libre 2022 artworks and the memorial of the freight station's history 'Excavations from the darkest spaces' will be on view until the reconstruction of the area of the Nordwestbahnhof for new working and living spaces starts in 2024.