International Urban Art Festival

Interview by Pocko

We love a festival – particularly one that revolves around boundary-pushing contemporary art! If you are in Hamburg over the weekend, this would be our tip for one to visit. The annual Kontenpunkt festival (2nd-5th October 2014) positions the city of Hamburg firmly onto the international map of urban contemporary art. In early October the festival (organised and curated by Affenfaust Gallery), the city of Hamburg becomes a meeting point of creatives, artists and collectors. This year, Kontenpunkt will host exhibits from over 50 international artists (including our very own Nicolas Barrome, of Les Jeanclode), as well as international urban art lovers, connoisseurs and collectors.

The festival is held in a former industrial building on the Kobelhof in Bahrenfeld. The art displayed will be set over 3 floors and an enormous 850 square metres of exhibition space. This year, Kontenpunkt unofficially opened in early September in spectacular style, with the “Mural Kick-Off”. Internationally renowned urban artists have already begun painting huge murals, which as well as reinforcing the street-art credentials of the festival, will also have an ongoing impact on the cityscape of Hamburg.

We’ve selected a few of our favourite artist highlights from this year’s Kontenpunkt below…

The works of Hamburg-based artist 1010 (pronounced ‘ten ten’ ) take the viewer by the hand and guide them into a trippy world of graphic illustrious and alluring colours. As much as 1010’s work appears aesthetically pleasing and visually accessible at first glance, his work is also a  profound critique of society. 

Nychos  – is an Austrian graffiti artist. He has been a consistent heavyweight in the international urban art scene for several years. His roots are in German and Austrian graffiti and hip-hop culture, and with the scale and detail of his enormous paintings he has been raising the conventions of graffiti to a new level. Nychos is also part of the German-Austrian artist collective “The Weird”.

Canadian artist Laurence Vallières creates spectacular larger than life animal sculptures out of cardboard. Her sculptures are humorously abstract, but at the same time realistic in detail. Laurence is currently an ‘insider’s tip’ in Europe, but there is strong indication to show this is soon to change.