Urban Subcultures

Subcultures can have a significant impact on visually and culturally shaping a city. This dossier aims to examine subcultures in urban spaces in Germany and Australia.

Outdoor installations
Rural Murals and Local Bush Legends

The construction of cultural identity through art is having a revival in rural communities across Australia. Communities are coming together to create works of art celebrating unique aspects of rural Australian life in the form of large scale outdoor installations on grain silos, water towers, blank walls and even on the side of the highway.

© Gina Robilliard
Bush Doofs
A Post-Rave Dance Music Movement

Picture a scene where a fine, red dust rises and cloaks a pulsing crowd in a haze, as they stomp the ground rhythmically to ethereal electronic music. They are dancing on a clearing of land in the middle of the picturesque Australian bush, surrounded by scribbly gums, red soil and mountain ranges.

© Shaan R. Ali Photography / www.shaanrali.com
Street art of Sydney's Inner West
Art from the tin can

Sydney and street art go hand in hand. Colourful, large murals give Sydney's Inner West its own charm. Our intern Ramona joined a street art tour around Sydney and now knows where to find the best artworks.

© Ramona Bialowons
Nightlife Sydney & Berlin
Nocturnal Surf and Turf

What is evident in comparing Sydney and Berlin nightlife, is that the respective night time economies hinge on two wildly different philosophical and political approaches to youth, creativity and self-expression.

© Felix Dupuy
Street Artist Mandy Schöne-Salter
“There is no right or wrong in art”

German-Australian street artist Mandy Schöne-Salter is a woman in a discipline still dominated by men. An ardent lover of photography, she only started creating art on walls about five years ago. A portrait.

© Mandy Schöne-Salter
Graffiti and Street Art
Berlin Not for Sale

Multi-coloured lettering on high-rise buildings, gigantic figures painted over in black out of protest, advertising with wall paintings – graffiti in Berlin has many faces. Goethe.de invites you on a special walk through the city.

Photo (detail): © Karo Krämer
Australian Underground Metal
The Dark Side of Australia?

Is there such a thing as a Metal Underground in Australia? Who is part of it and what characterises it? How important is the underground for Australian metal? Members of the scene provide insights.

© Michael Lüders
Tattoo Art in Germany
A feeling of freedom on your skin

For a long time a tattoo was a stigma, today it is an expression of individuality and a fashionable accessory. Over the last few years a multifaceted tattoo scene has emerged in Germany, and even the world of art seems to have overcome its reservations.

Photo (detail): © Natascha Stellmach, Galerie Wagner + Partner
Barber Shops
Sculpting a modern Gentleman

Offering premium service and old-worldly charm, the modern day barber shop offers an escape for men from the pressures of a fast paced urban landscape, carrying on a masculine tradition that’s rich in cultural significance all over the world.

© Gina Robilliard
Tattoo art in Australia
Art That Gets
Under Your Skin

Body modification has a long tradition in Australia. As early as the 19th century, convicts tattooed each other in the then-penal colony of Tasmania. Over time, methods as well as clientele and motifs have changed fundamentally.

© Emma Salmon
Boylesque
This Charming Man

Burlesque has always existed to transgress social boundaries and fixed notions that shape our everyday life. Its latest frontier aims to challenge our understanding of what it is to be a man in today’s Australia.

© Gino Nalini Photography
Street Art Melbourne
The City is a Gallery

Melbourne is one of the world's most diverse street art locations. Enormous graffiti and intricate paste-ups characterise the cityscape. A visual stroll.

© Christine Haas
Sydney Cosplay
Between Fantasy and Reality

Cosplay, a form of performance art, has found its niche in Sydney. Our author Gina Robilliard has met with cosplayer Vanessa Retief to learn more about the Japanese inspired costume play.

© Wesley Nel
Gudrun Gut
An Artist is not just an Artist

Gudrun Gut comes across as a woman without pretense. She has been an integral part of Berlin‘s music scene for over thirty years. In this interview she speaks candidly about her creative processes, the multitude of aspects in her profession and the role of women in the music industry.

© Gudrun Gut | Malte Ludwigs
Sven Marquardt
I have always been a man who polarised people

Every city has its individuals who could be classified as cultural icons. In Berlin, one such individual is the excentric and well-known photograhper, Sven Marquardt.

© Ole Westermann
The 80’s
A Wild Decade is Back

Oversized coats, sparkly brooches, miniskirts and belt bags – the 80’s are back! At least some key pieces are to be seen once again on catwalks and above all on the sidewalks of major German cities.

Photo (detail): © Jonas Lindstroem
The Love Parade
And then we just did it

Dr. Motte was born in Spandau, Berlin as Matthias Roeingh. In the early 1980s he was a member of various bands with colourful names such as Deutsch-Polnische Aggression (DPA). It was during this time with DPA that he co-authored the book Geniale Dilletanten.

© Marie Staggat
Monolake
A very strong urge from deep within

Monolake – real name Robert Henke – is one of the key icons of contemporary electronic club music in Berlin. As one of the main creators of the hugely successful music software Ableton Live, he has had an integral part in redefining performance practice in electronic music worldwide.

© Andreas Gockel
Brilliant Dilletantes
When No-skill Was Productive

The phenomenon of the Brilliant Dilletantes: pop theorist Diedrich Diederichsen in an interview on amateurism and self-organization in the West German subculture of the 1980s.

Photo (detail): Tony Sojka/re:publica 2013 (flickr) CC BY-SA 2.0
AUTOMAT
We don't practice, we record

In his interview with Jochen Gutsch, Jochen Arbeit talks about his new, instrumental dub-rock trio Automat and Berlin's subculture movement of the 1980s.

© Martin Walz
Hauschka
The Closeness between Music and Art

The German pianist und artist Hauschka is touring Australia for the first time. In our interview he opens up about his musical style which combines eclectronic with classical tunes.
Berlinale & Antenna
There is no recipe

German film expert Wieland Speck opens up to our cultural program coordinator Jochen Gutsch about the Berlinale, the Antenna Festival, Geniale Dilletanten and Marlene Dietrich.

© Antenna Festival