"In my opinion berlin has a Iot of different faces and different styles." "However, you can clearly distinguish stuffthat is from berlin." "The characters are more alive." "They really are alive, as ifthey are moving on their own." "Not like a stamp, but more as ifthey are dancing up front." "20 minutes..ok ...in so long?" "Yes.." "Ok... 20 minutes are over..." "Yes..." "Ok..." "Get down!" "There is a train." "It's an awesome feeling." "To see the train arriving and there is a really phat piece on it." "And if it's really nice and colourful then i just did it on time." "Let me put it this way, graffiti on trains is the real deal." "That's the shit." "That's how it all started - on trains!" "It is because here in berlin we have folks that are painting trains and only trains for twenty years." "I would call them classic trainbombers." "This is what makes berlin the "New York of Europe"." "Every child at the age of 6 or 8 can do such things." "There is nothing to it." "This is unesthetic and an absolute no go." "It was in 84 or 85 I guess, when I saw these two movies." ""Beatstreet" and "WiIdstyIe"" "well, because ofthose movies, I thought had to try it too." "It just had to be this way." "This must be so much fun." "Spraying here, the people over there and there is the train, rolling with speed!" "What I saw there really is like TV." "Monkey sees, monkey does... ..that was how I felt and I thought, monkey does it right!" "So I only wanted to do this and nothing else." "I used to paint all my Iife." "I can remember when I was about 5 years old and having a pen and some paper in my hands." "And unlike the others I just had to paint non-stop." "I never enjoyed other things as much." "So I put all of my energy into it and started to convert my energy into paintings." "Comics, Iike "clever and Smart" had some funky characters and I was fascinated." "well, in '84 I started to paint letters." "I guess we were the only ones or the first ones in the city who were painting colourful or even silver pieces everywhere." "The first time I noticed graffiti was through a friend." "It was during the era of "Breakdance"." "AII the Hip Hop stuff suddenly arrived." "He suggested to go outside and paint." "So we wanted to do Graffiti, but we did not really have a clue what graffiti actually was about." "It was a smooth transition." "In the beginning it was on a piece of paper," "later at a streetcorner or at school." "I did not realize the moment when it really kicked off." "Some months later I made some contacts and suddenly I was part ofthe "Graffiti Scene"." "Back then, when I was heading through the city, all those characters and paintings were chasing me like crazy." "I was so deeply fascinated by those pictures that I had to start painting too." "I believe, my motivation was to break out." "To break out from the restraints ofour society and to be part of something extraordinary." "In the beginning there was no particular motivation to start doing graffiti." "We were playing around, trying to test our boundaries I guess." "The impulse came from the possibility to push oneseIfto the top." "Yes, you really can achieve something in the world of graffiti." "You do not depend on no one else but yourself." "You can spread your name and you can do it whenever, wherever and however you want." "Of course painting a train is something different." "influenced by New York..." "suddenly art is coming to you." "usually you would have to go to the museum to appreciate art." "Now it's the other way around, art is coming to you!" "Ofcourse, writing is fun and it is nice to earn some respect from friends and other people." "But at the end ofthe day the mission itself is important to me and to stay up all night." "Characters in motion do belong on trains that are rolling." "They need a surface that is in motion." "This is the most beautiful thing for a writer to accomplish." "However not everyone is able to paint graffiti on a train." "I was motivated since I wanted to live the adventure." "playing the cat-and-mouse-game in the tunnels." "Doing illegal things that you aren't supposed to do." "And the positive side effect was that we were able to totally express our creativity." "As a matter offact the illegal nature ofgraffiti is important to me." "Otherwise anybody could do the same." "We are doing it because of its myth." "It carries some kind of secret within and I think this would get lost ifeverybody would do it." "I can't understand why he was pushing himself into it like that." "With all its negative consequences for the everyday life..." "AII those charges being pressed against him, the money he had to pay..." "I can't tell what forces someone to set their alarm at one or two o'cIock in the morning and go out in the cold." "To go somewhere..." "always being afraid of getting caught." "always watching out..." "although you know that you should actually go to work the next morning." "Even Stefan could not explain what his motivation is." "I think he didn't have a specific motivation." "He just did it." "He did it in his own very radical approach." "I was always impressed that he went for it in such a radical manner." "actually I'm still impressed, otherwise he couldn't have reached his status and couldn't have achieved what he did achieve." "He achieved all this because he went for it all or nothing." "He had no fear of losses." "In this special world he always was my role model." "On the other hand, he had no clue how to handle everyday life." "So in the real world he couldn't be my role model." "I believe the "crew thing" was adopted as well." "Like a characteristic thing that comes along with graffiti or hip hop." "To aIIie oneseIfwith others helps to attract more attention and results in more power." "Graffiti brought the "crew thing" to Germany and we absorbed it." "It just makes so much more sense to go out with 5 or 6 friends and to spread a name." "The name can become so much more famous than ifyou would do it all on your own." "Wanna make trouble?" "You don't get any further." "Wanna make trouble?" "You don't get any further." "There is the advantage that you can approach much larger projects." "You are one unit." "If problems arise you can solve them together with your crew." "Being a unit is one of our biggest advantages." "And to have so many people that support us in so many ways is a very important asset." "...the driver is having a nap inside..." "Coming back home after painting a train just makes you feel very pleased." "Everything is so much more fun, you know..." "It's a social event to go out at night and to experience things." "Things other people will never encounter in their whole life." "The people you hang out with and paint graffiti with..." "You grow closer to them, since it's an extraordinary experience." "You are entering a tunnel, you are commiting a crime together, you are trespassing..." "There is so much shit happening that makes you grow closer together and a crew is automatically formed on its own." "Being alone or with only a few people attracts less attention." "Less noise will occur and most ofthe time you will be faster." "On the other hand a Iarge group of people reduces the risk ofgetting caught for each individual." "You can escape much better, because... for obvious reasons." "rivalry and competition, that,s what it is all about." "Without this it wouId only be chicken-Iike." "You don't get compliments from writers very often." "I'm someone who doesn't compliment other people a Iot." "I don't want to show people how bad they are." "I actually want to make the eager and show them that they can be even better." "Some writers aim to create the best characters possible and do nothing else all day long." "Others prefer to bomb some 500 pieces on trains only in chrome and black in a year or less." "That is up to each ones personal preference." "I believe it's an art in itself to have lots of pieces." "Even though it's very simple and considered ugly by outsiders." "The art is to have your name everywhere." "Our approach of bombing is to be as fast as possible." "We started this way because it's safest." "The most important thing is the quality ofyour pieces." "It doesn't matter ifyou are bombing or painting in a hall offame." "Ifyou did a good job people will show you respect." "This is like releasing an album." "What's the point of releasing ten rap albums ifthey end up at the back ofa rummage table for 50 cents." "release one cool album which you can sell on Ebay for 100 € !" "You know what I mean..." "compare it yourself." "I believe that you have to provide both, quality and quantity." "Most ofthem are bombers and want respect for that." "However most ofthe time they don't get any respect." "In order to get respect you really have to be good." "There's no quality without the respective quantity." "I believe in fast and easy things." "Preparation, hard work and strategic thinking are a huge part of it." "In my opinion, writers that are really committed to painting trains, are very smart people." "They invent new ways to reduce the problems involved." "You definitely need to have a plan, know how everything works, how to be safe and to know whatever can happen to you." "Sometimes you may receive a call at work and five minutes later you are running home, grabbing three cans and spontaneously start to spray somewhere." "The next time I may be preparing myseIffor a whole month, buying the cans a few weeks in advance and making some 70 sketches." "There's no fixed scheme." "I always paint walls freestyle." "But trains..." "I always start offwith a sketch." "This way I can save a Iot oftime." "Back in the days the preparation was more much intense." "Today it's an everyday-routine." "There's not as much preparation involved anymore." "well..." "What makes a good train?" "Most importantly the train has to be on track somewhere!" "Other factors are the way it was painted, the challenge and the rush of adrenalin." "The train has to be on track..." "there we go." "In my opinion, a piece on a train should be legible." "The piece has got to be clear and readable, especially since the goal is to spread your name." "Ifyou can't read the letters and the train is gone in ten seconds, you've completely missed your target." "The outlines must be clear." "You've got to make the letters dance on their own" "like a b-boy-character without adding any arrows or bars!" "To me the three characteristics ofa good train are its style, the originality ofthe background" "and the colours and the accuracy." "A good style must be innovative." "It has to be a style of its own, identifiable from a distance, it doesn't matter which letters were painted." "This doesn't come at the push of a button." "But sooner or later you'II get it down." "It's important to be able to put your personality into it." "A good train is alive!" "It's not Iike putting together any random letters." "Make it alive!" "There should be an atmosphere surrounding it." "You have to be able to feel that the train is not only covered by paint, but that someone has invested their soul in order to delight others." "Nowadays these trains are quite rare." "Back in the days every train had its own style." "Like in wonderland." "Writing a train is simply the real deal." "This is why back then at Friedrichstrasse it felt like absolutely the real thing." "The writers corner at Friedrichstr." "was initiated by a small group, mostly guys of the crews "AGS" and "GFA"." "They first met there, because this station was the border between the east and west of berlin which was open day and night." "You could hang out there 24/7." "I'd say that the writers corner existed from 1989 to 1996." "You have to be aware that during these years this was the meeting point for different generations ofwriters..." "This was a place where you could see painted trains." "There was always someone around." "There was always some action." "Anytime!" "We went from station to station." "The stations next to Friedrichstr." "were in the eastern part of berlin they weren't in use and therefore locked off by the authorities." "The trains only passed through, but didn't stop." "The security guards and the cops were always on site." "But we couldn't care less." "We took the piss out ofthem." "Mr. Fag..." "Mr. Fag..." "It was always like playing the cat-and-mouse game." "They knew what was going on and we never made a secret out of it." "We spoke out openly." "Everyone knew that Friedrichstr." "was the writers meeting point." "It was widely accepted." "It took a Iong time until things changed, and they only changed because there were so many of us." "You don't want to be in our film, right?" "OK, so we won't shoot." "This is the trick of reporters." "When you get up, we go to sleep." "We could do whatever we wanted." "In the beginning we'd just paint the trains as they arrived." "people didn't care at all." "There were more important things to worry about than graffiti." "The German Democratic republic was collapsing the people were afraid of losing their livelihood." "We just took advantage ofthe situation." "Ifwe had some action going on later that night we would get up at 10 or 12 am." "Just to go there and check out the situation." "Around 12 am we'd meet some guys who'd skipped school," "...steal some spray cans and tag our names around." "Later we'd hang out at a friends place and prepare for the night." "Yo, yo, all in red!" "We had dinner and did some sketches." "Later we'd meet at Friedrichstr." "to paint trains or whatever." "actually it didn't make a difference what we painted." "AII we had in our hands were markers and cans." "Friedrichstr. was such an important part ofour lives and everybody felt it the same way." "Something was happening, this was our time, our train station." "We had the power of our youth, the idealism, and the will to change things." "We made dreams come true." "For us, the people of berlin!" "Our dreams!" "AII ofthe trains were painted and in the end all ofthem were on track." "Are you coming with us, or what?" "Yes, we want to go with you." "could you just hang on a moment?" "We are from West Germany." "Yes, just hurry up." "Thanks, this is very kind ofyou young lady." "It just happened." "We were very lucky that we could make the best out of it." "These are the cops, Maxim." "You know about 2 to 3 men." "We did everything in front of the police and the security guards." "Ofcourse some guys got caught." "Day and night people were there." "So it was just normal that someone was caught." "That was part ofthe game." "Beat it!" "Run away, dude." "Have a look." "Cops all over the place." "They knew ifyou were caught, haIfan hour later you would be released and go back to Friedrichstr. again." "Here, this one is a cop as well." "You bastard!" "I believe that back then the berlin as we know it was founded." "It's a "graffiti megacity"!" "And one very essential thing was the corner at Friedrichstr.." "It's a huge thing that we decided to paint trains instead ofwaIIs." "We were hanging out there day and night." "Everything took place in the tube." "I believe it was the time ofour lives and it'II never be the same again." "Rest in Peace MAXIM !" "A Iot ofthings can happen when you paint trains in berlin." "Some people want to arrest you, others will hit you with a club." "You have to be aware ofthe danger and how, where and what you're doing." "There are a Iot of risks involved." "well I'm always looking for good spots." "I'm riding trains a Iot, visiting different places and investing a Iot oftime." "We observe the spots a few days before." "And then it's a matter of instinct." "Ifwe have a good feeling we'II do it." "Otherwise we don't or we do it even faster." "You sort of have it in your blood after looking for spots again and again year after year." "You'II get a feeling for what's possible and what's not." "Back then and even today I don't find it hard to find spots because I never needed a Iot oftime." "In the hall of fame you have a Iot oftime." "You don't even know what to do with all your time." "You can paint a thousand arrows, 500 connections, 3000 Backgrounds, Designs." "Whatever you wanna do..." "But painting a train?" "You have three colours, 7 minutes, maybe 15 or 20." "You make the best use ofyour time." "You are looking for the most interesting spot as well." "Time is the key." "The first thing we discuss isn't the spot, but how much time we have!" "So that we know what to take, and we think in categories of 10, 20, 30, 40 or 40+ minutes." "It all depends." "Back in the days there was so much time in the trainyards during the time that the trains were out ofservice" "AII the lights were off and everything was dark." "So there was only the train and you." "In theory you could've driven away with the train." "Back then we had parties in the trainyards with around 30 people." "We painted the trains back to front and inside out." "We were totally drunk, I mean completely wasted." "That's what partying in the yards was all about." "Back then it was much easier than it is today." "I once did a whoIecar in Erkner." "I didn't even know what "fat caps" are." "I was filling out everything with "skinny caps"." "We called them "Boss-caps"" "Because we took them from Boss deodorant." "I don't think there's a single spot out there where someone can paint a whoIecar for six hours." "In general you can't tell how much time you've got." "It depends on the location." "Ifyou're well prepared you can get haIfan hour for trains, maybe even 45 minutes." "There is a huge amount ofwork involved and the risk is increasing year by year." "The lack oftime has a positive effect on me." "I feel challenged to create something really good in the short amount oftime that's available." "When I started people use to say that soon painting underground trains will not be possible anymore." "In 2009 more underground trains were painted than ever before." "It fluctuates, you can't really tell." "You have to put effort into it in order to achieve your goal." "actually we started by bombing on the street and later we started bombing trains." "We pulled the emergency brake in the middle ofthe train station, started to paint whole cars and ran away before anyone could interfere." "In fact this all derives from street bombing." "Our motto is "in your face"." "We're organized and very bold." "We do our thing and disappear into thin air." "The cops need at Ieast 3 minutes until they arrive." "It's been a Iong time since i considered the police my friend." "As a child I wanted to become a police officer." "This was way before I became a writer." "In the meantime the police became something to be wary of." "We are familiar with each other in a way, but we avoid them." "But I don't have a problem with them." "I know they're doing theirjob and we're doing ours." "In 1994 a special investigations unit called" ""gemeinsame ErmittIungsgruppe Graffiti" was established." "Graffiti crime started to take over in Europe and especially in berlin it became huge." "So the police had to react." "GIB is short for "Graffiti in berlin" and is run by a bunch of hmm no clue, intolerant people maybe." "I'II put it this way, it wouId be better ifthey wouldn't exist." "We consist of approximately 20 police officers." "Ofcourse as an administrative unit from time to time we have to save money and therefore this number fluctuates." "We could easily do with more officers on the job." "The GIB is what we consider a special task force." "These are the folks that give us a hard time at night but on the other hand they also sit at a desk and study our pictures in the daytime." "Our officers are very familiar with the subject." "They know the scene, and the nature ofgraffiti." "They are well aware of its weight as evidence." "Apart from that we work like any other police unit." "We file charges, try to spot the delinquents and forward our results to the state prosecution office." "I must admit... they are really well trained on the subject." "They know exactly who is hanging around with whom and every name and so on." "We visit the same spots, meeting points and events where we expect the delinquents to be." "Thus we gain as much insight and information as possible." "They observe and study us and try to prove our gilt by chasing us and stuff." "Yes, you'II get to know each other ifyou've been active for a while." "well, you have to expect to run into them when you go to paint a train." "Or even to see them hanging around somewhere, checking out our spots or sniffing for fresh paint in subway tunnels." "well, they are all over the place at night." "Back in the days I was in the "GrunewaId" yard and the special task force was there too." "We spotted them and I recognized their car." "We tagged our names on the car and hid away again" "They were totally pissed off and drove away." "people were talking a Iot about the GIB, where they might be, that you have to be aware and so forth." "I never gave a shit about that and I believe the other members ofour crew didn't as well." "Since 1994 we've noticed their reactions, we could detect that they were aware of us." "This is what usually happens when a special task unit is founded and specialises on a certain phenomenon." "We had a certain success of resolving the crimes." "The scene could feel this and we noticed that our unit was respected and were sometimes even feared." "There certainly was an impact." "Back then we didn't go out to paint wearing masks." "Nowadays everybody wears masks and even use mobile phones." "We never had mobile phones back then." "people have become a Iot more cautious." "They do a regular police job and are overstaffed in my eyes." "They could and should focus on other more important crime." "In fact the number of resolved cases is not that high." "actually you can't take this unit too serious." "It's not that easy to state an exact rate of resolved crimes." "City-wide the rate should be around 25 %." "Ifyou're serious about it, you aren't bothered by the GIB." "You can live with it." "Ofcourse there were some people that couldn't handle it so well." "But apart from them the GIB was not much ofa threat to the graffiti scene." "The scene in berlin is way too tough-minded to be distracted by a unit like the GIB." "Now there are cameras, motion sensors, security-guards and police officers in the train yards." "they hide in the bushes." "Sometimes even the feds are there as well." "From time to time they collaborate, and other times they don't, therefore it can be very confusing." "You have to take it all into consideration." "It's not very easy, but you adapt to the problems and approach them accordingly." "We make use of all techniques available." "We use CCTV recordings from train stations and public places." "These were not installed to fight graffiti crime, but for other reasons." "But ifthere are any useful CCTV recordings we'II include them in the investigation." "As well as traces of DNA on cans and gloves or other objects." "We make use offorensic science and any other suitable technique." "We've accepted them." "It's constantly changing." "We're getting better and so are they." "Both sides are constantly improving." "I don't feel discouraged." "CCTV is improving and is completely accepted by society." "Not just for graffiti, but actually against terrorism." "Let me put it this way:" "We're only painting, but we wear masks and could just as well be terrorists." "Once we painted the new government-Iine and it wasn't easy to get in there." "There's the cameras." "You should have a good lawyer." "clean your cans and observe the spot well, before you do your thing." "The police is always one step behind you." "You can always reduce the risk with good preparation, and good execution." "But there is always a certain risk involved which you can't neglect." "However, that's the thrill of it." "It's an addiction." "You wanna have some fun and later on you wait at the station for the train." "You just take the risk." "For me it's not really about the thrill." "It'sjust the desire to paint trains." "They have the best surface available for graffiti." "Painting trains is illegal so you have to take the risk." "There's no other way." "We got chased so many times and often nearly got busted." "These are the most intense moments." "You get so hyped up." "AII you think about is that you have to come back to finish the piece." "Once we had to follow a train right to the other side ofthe city." "Just to finish it." "Things like that happen." "But the most thrilling moment is still when you have to run away." "I used to consult more experienced writers when it came to trains." "Trainwriting isn't easy." "There are high voltage power lines and some people have died after touching them." "You shouldn't mess around with these things." "They expose themselves to the high voltage powerlines day and night, and jump over fences and tracks while there's a Iot oftraffic." "They risk so much only to gain fame and respect by painting dangerous spots." "Every year we record casualties caused by careless actions." "Even a police officer has died on duty." "He was taking pictures by the tracks and was struck by a train." "You can only warn people not to risk their lives." "Some people climb high buildings only to paint a spot that's considered special." "Nowadays you have to finish your pieces much faster." "Sometimes you do a piece with someone else in order to finish it within ten minutes." "Sometimes you even paint a piece when the train stops at the station while the passengers are getting off." "Sometimes you have to wait for the right moment, when the security guards are gone." "Maybe you'II have to disable a CCTV camera or stuff like that." "However, the security measures have become much better." "Ifyou're really into it you'II find good opportunities." "But the good actions have become rare." "You have to stay focused." "You really have to study the situation carefully, even if it takes 20 minutes longer." "Stay calm." "You have to put a Iot oftime into finding a loophole in the system." "Not everyone knows the ins and outs." "I believe that it'II always be possible to paint trains." "There'II always be an occasion." "It was a Iot offun playing the cat-and-mouse game since it's quite a fair game to play." "I always stay on one spot and it is easy to observe me." "It's a fair trade, I stay there and later I run away but in the meantime I've painted a picture that'II stay." "My graffiti should entertain pedestrians, should be fun and should be something different." "It's not Iike you're watching an advertisement." "You don't have to spend any money." "I would put it this way:" "Graffiti is like a coloured piece ofshit from a coloured bird." "There was once an info sign in the tube which said you can have different opinions about art and good taste, but not about vandalism." "What's art?" "What's good taste?" "What's vandalism?" "vandalism is a yellow train going around berlin all day with ugly ads all over it!" "Graffiti to me is both, art and vandalism." "Sometimes you paint a beautiful piece." "Another time you're observing a spot for weeks you notice that the guards are gone for only a minute and you use this tiny timeframe to bomb a silver piece in 2 seconds." "Ofcourse it'II be ugly, but you're satisfied." "Of course it's sad ifwriters are tearing up the train seats and scratching windows." "That's not my style and I don't appreciate it either." "Ofcourse it's a form ofart, Iike calligraphy, but on a larger scale." "This has a Iot to do with typography." "You're working with different shapes, surfaces and colours and you learn how to work under pressure." "Awriter actually works a Iot like an artist." "The only difference is that the artist has some diplomas from a school and we graduate from the streets." "I Iike to create art, something with a certain value." "I don't want to cause any damage with my graffiti." "That would be wrong." "Graffiti is like a starter drug into art." "As an artist you do not get any support from the authorities." "There are very few youth centers left and all they provide are some old pool tables." "But who wants to become a pool pro ?" "!" "I Iive for the pencil and to draw pictures." "Graffiti is a piece of my Iife and the way I express myself." "There's a smooth transition from graffiti into other forms ofart." "Now I'm able to make a living with graffiti art." "But it all started on trains." "This is my first whoIe-car." "We did this about 20 years ago." "The "inter-fame-express"" "After that the first one-man whoIe-cars, with KAGE, called "stop toys on trains"." "Back then we did some spectacular actions." "My passion started with painting trains!" "As soon as people start to realize that we are really passionate about graffiti, that we create jobs for ourselves and back an entire industry and don't want to demolish our environment." "They think about it and then start to understand." "Outsiders usually can't understand why we do what we do." "We don't get any money, we're only investing money and the police is chasing us." "In the end it is only the love to the art and that's it." "I always used too take my camera with me to take pictures." "I'd never go painting without." "It's that simple." "There would be no sense in going without taking pictures." "Otherwise it wouId be like wasting the paint." "Ofcourse you have to take pictures." "That's very important." "especially when it comes to trains taking pictures is very important." "You have to be able to keep the value ofthe work after it has been cleaned some days later." "This is what you paint for." "You want to have a picture ofyour art next to your bed." "especially because the pieces don't last long." "I keep records of my paintings." "It's like a diary." "Every time I Iook at my pictures I remember how I felt and that means a Iot to me." "It's my personal diary without words only made up of pictures." "It triggers memories from the same day, where I got the cans from." "Ifthe colours look like from a do-it-yourseIfstore" "I remember where I stole them and that's always funny." "I usually include pictures of my crew in my black book." "The people who were present the day I did the piece." "Those are nice memories." "I'm not a graffiti artist myself, but I've been taking pictures of graffiti in berlin for many years now." "and over the years" "I've established an archive of over 70.000 pictures." "I take pictures of bombings, trains, haII offame, of everything." "What makes my collection unique is that I've created a system so that I can locate every picture." "I think it wouId be a pity ifaII those precious pieces from the past would be lost." "For exampIe "AMOK-Pieces" in the BundespIatz hall of fame, a train by SHEKwith a pumpkin inside... a PARTtrain made by SARE in Schïneweide... with all these new colours." "And all the other milestones in berlin graffiti culture." "Without them the spirit would be gone too." "I keep records because it's important for me to remember." "And one day I would Iike to show my children what their daddy has done in his past." "I only take pictures of my trains if I think that it's a nice piece." "Sometimes after I've painted a piece I go back home and I prefer to have a nap instead of chasing the train for a picture." "It all depends." "It's a pity ifyou put so much effort into it and you end up with an ugly picture taken at night." "Here the trains usually are on track at Ieast once, before they're cleaned." "So there's always the chance ofgetting a good picture." "That's top notch!" "A Iot ofwriters don't care, they just go home and trust their friends to take the pictures." "That's nice as well, but you should put some effort into it for yourself." "In the beginning we took bad pictures from bad angles." "Nowadays we prefer to take pictures at a certain spot or with a certain background." "The light is important." "How does it hit the train?" "What type ofa camera is used ?" "And the location is important." "We always try to get a variety ofdifferent pictures." "It's like trophy hunting." "You always want another." "You always want to put your latest ideas into action, and take one more picture." "Just like hunting for the best trophy possible." "They take pictures oftheir crimes." "and publish them in magazines or the internet." "Magazines have became more and more important." "Lots ofartists send pictures to these magazines." "Everyone wants to have their piece in there." "Magazines and videos are very important to me." "I have done a Iot oftrains that didn't go on track." "Magazines and videos help to present your stuff." "only because your piece is in a magazine doesn't mean that you're good." "Magazines are there for public relations." "To show the world what you've achieved." "It's not really that important to us writers." "I was never really interested in magazines." "They are a nice." "I prefer to see trains pull up into the station." "There were a Iot of people that were sending out pictures." "But I was never interested in that kind ofthing." "I only do graffiti for myself, and those that enjoy my work." "One day the industry discovered us." "In the mid 90's suddenly there were cans specificIy designed for graffiti artists." "well, we used to do graffiti ourselves." "We're part ofthe scene and we collaborate with the artists as well." "We sponsor artists and sometimes we invite them to test our products and get direct feedback." "We work closely together." "Nowadays cans are so much better." "I can't describe how much they've improved." "The cans oftoday are a dream come true." "These cans really are a Iot offun." "The colours don't drip and cover perfectly." "You can paint much better pieces.." "The result is that the demand has increased and the market has grown." "I can't give you any exact numbers.," "But berlin certainly is one of our top markets." "We sell a Iot ofcans in Paris as well." "The big cities in general." "But berlin and Paris are our biggest markets worldwide." "You can see that there is an ongoing collaboration between writers and the industry." "There are cans available with pictures of rail tracks and trains." "Ofcourse we develop cans that enable people to work fast." "A Iot ofthe writers are used to working fast, even at legal spots." "Thus our cans are also very useful for illegal graffiti." "But we don't develop cans specificaIy for painting trains." "Nowadays there are so many different types ofcans and you can buy them in Aggro berlin bags." "You can bring graffiti and hip hop into your living room." "But you would appreciate all ofthis a Iot more ifyou had to discover it all for yourself." "Back in the days Graffiti was rare and precious." "You didn't know what was out there and where to find it." "You had to explore it for yourself." "Now you can see graffiti all over the place, in every magazine, in music videos... everywhere." "There wasn't such an overkill ofgraffiti when we started." "Nowadays you can take 20 magazines and you can pick out bits here and there." "Two weeks later you'II be able to draw a proper piece." "But there's no innovation." "There's too few outstanding writers and creative minds left out there." "Nowadays graffiti has become as popular as drinking in the park or playing football." "approximately every third kid gives it a go.." "The question is how serious they're about it." "You have to be skilled with pen and paper or even be able to pull something offwith just one colour, with a unique style." "That's what makes a true writer." "Buying 1000 cans has nothing to do with it." "I only need a can and a cap, nothing else." "No skinny caps or any other crap." "I feel the desire to go out again and again to do new stuff, even if it starts to become a routine." "It's like having a reguIarjob." "I can't waste three weekends in a row in front ofthe TV and get high on drugs." "It's like an urge from within that makes you do all that." "It's like a reguIarjob." "I don't care if people know me." "I want to leave something behind that other people appreciate." "It's beauty that I leave behind." "Graffiti offers me a Iot." "It's a Iot offun and I can be very creative." "I always made sure that people could see my name." "That's what motivated me." "In my eyes graffiti works best by painting styles." "Pictures filled with action- baaam- Iike the title ofa comic." "There's energy and action." "Paint how you want to paint while you can feel the tension ofthe cat-and-mouse game." "You transfer all this tension into the piece." "That's totally nuts." "You've achieved something near impossible that a regular person can't even understand" "You are trespassing a yard and paint for 40 minutes." "Later your name is on track for over a week for free." "That's awesome!" "To be in a tube tunnel painting a train is an incredible feeling." "It feels like freedom, total freedom." "There are no boundaries." "You do whatever you want to do." "You just do your thing, nothing else." "You don't have to fill out an application form or anything." "You just go for it." "There's the adrenaline and action kick you get with the high voltage power lines and the cat-and-mouse-game" "But all that is only a surplus." "The main thing is to see your train on the rail tracks, at a tube station or in the yard." "That'sjust fascinating." "usually when you see your train approaching the station" "You're exhausted and sweaty from the action." "You've been in a hurry, but it's all worth it." "You're overwhelmed with goose bumps." "It's like in paradise with a drink in your left and a joint in your right hand." "That's the best thing." "It's top notch." "Seeing your train and even being able to ride it yourself is simply the best thing in the world." "I'm sitting inside!" "Dude I'm sitting inside!" "I'm inside I can't believe it!" "See ya." "Yeah, you know that you've been there, that's your moment." "The night that you sacrificed was your night." "No matter who knocks on your door the next day." "That day was yours." "only yours!" "especially ifyou have a picture to document it." "Speaking of berlin you have to note that it's mainly german teenagers." "There are only very few kids from families with a foreign background or even girls." "basically it's male german teenagers seeking fame and recognition." "They start offwith nothing to build up a reputation." "Some will succeed others fall." "I believe that fame is key." "It's all about fame." "You want to attract attention." "Writing and bombing is all about fame, nothing else." "It's about being there and being noticed." "Take me the way I am, because I'm a part ofyou even if I'm different, just notice me." "This is why fame is the basis." "Graffiti always has a Iot to do with attention." "people are bored and have to do something, have to go out, to present themselves." "Graffiti is the simplest way to go." "When I was much younger and started doing graffiti fame was very important but unachievable." "I thought it wouId be cool to have my name tagged all over the place." "well, it takes years to acquire fame." "You can't force it." "It comes by itself." "You start to build up your network and one thing leads to another." "Nowadays I prefer to change my name rather than be famous." "I've got the fame but what good is it ?" "I can't spend it." "Stefan knew that he had established a name over the years." "The problem was that only insiders knew about him, regular people didn't have a clue who he was." "This type offame doesn't mean anything in the outside world." "illegal graffiti is "bad"." "legal graffiti is "good"." "However, that concept doesn't work for me." "paradoxically, sometimes the pieces I paint illegally are much better than the legal ones." "although the illegal one is made under pressure with the thrill ofgetting caught..." "There's a difference relaxed under pressure" "But should I present my illegal graffitis to the public?" "I might faII into a trap." "You have to hide your stuffaway all the time." "Because you never know when the police might knock on your door." "I always have to keep my stuff hidden away." "I can't just hang my pictures up at home to enjoy them." "But that's ok." "I do it only for myself and not anyone else." "It's a weird feeling now that I don't store my books at home anymore." "Now that I don't see them anymore I tend to forget about them." "I loose track ofthem." "After several years they develop a signature style." "Ifwe're able to link everything to one person then one day we'II be able to settle some old scores." "This isn't possible in all cases, but we want to trace all crimes and make those people responsible for the damage they have done." "AII the pressure from the police investigations makes you hide your pictures and one day you can't find them anymore." "You have to be able to handle your fear and deal with paranoia." "It's what you need to expect ifyou engage in illegal activities." "I believe the biggest disadvantage of being a writer is that you're constantly tired." "You could always take a nap." "But there's always something you have to do." "In my spare time I tend to check out new spots, take pictures, buy cans... whatever." "It's a full time job and to manage your daily life is quite challenging." "You have to sync your life to the public transport schedules." "Ifyou want to paint trains you mostly have to do it at night." "Graffiti dominates your life." "You have to make a Iot ofcompromises." "You have a different daily routine than a regular person." "You go to work with tired eyes." "people start asking what you do in your spare time." "You build up a second identity." "Without even noticing it." "You're unable to deal with the problems of others." "You only spend your time with other writers." "You loose touch to your own family and your environment, yourjob or the job center." "You definitely miss out on a Iot of nice things." "You neglect really important things." "And one day you'II wake up from your dream and realize that you have nothing." "Ifyou paint without a breathing mask you certainly damage your health by inhaling all the gases and the lead from the spray cans." "You spend a Iot of money." "You get involved in the whole graffiti thing and therefore illegal activities that you may not really want." "The trouble with the police is huge." "They've searched my home more than once." "I've been taken to court several times as well." "When I was very young I was really impressed when the police kicked in the door just because of my brother." "I thought:" ""Wow, what's he up to?"" "Of course my mother was very worried." "She always tried to support him and keep him out oftroubIe." "Once she was at the GIB station and an officer asked her whether she actually knew what he was doing all night long." "She replied that he's one ofthe best writers in berlin and Europe and that he goes out at night to create art." "The officer did not know what to reply." "The pressure from the police is immense and difficult to handle." "They gave me a very hard time too." "Once the police was constantly observing us for 2 weeks." "They wanted to study our patterns." "But at the end ofthe day they couldn't stop us anyway." "You can't get rid ofthis kind of pressure as long as you're involved in illegal graffiti." "There are so many investigative units that are putting on a tremendous pressure." "Ifyou're in your mid twenties and tell people that you're involved in graffiti they think that it's very childish behaviour." "They don't understand." "They've never shown any real interest in it, and don't understand what it means to you." "while the other children were playing football he was sitting in front of his black book." "I considered it a game or a hobby but it became his life." "Graffiti has been a huge part of my Iife." "It's been my daily bread for 21 years" "I haven't even had a girlfriend in 21 years" "Graffiti is the most important thing in my Iife." "I've visited a Iot of different countries and cities" "I wouldn't have visited them otherwise." "Graffiti has left a mark on my Iife." "To me it's one thing only:" "True passion." "And that's what my Iife is about." "I'm a very passionate person and it keeps me alive." "That's the essence that I put into my styles." "That's very important to me." "No passion - no style." "No passion - no life." "No passion - no fun." "It has become a way of Iife." "I've given up a Iot for graffiti." "I gave up on school for it." "It was all a bit too much." "Ifyou painted a train at 6 a.m. you wouldn't go to school at 8 a.m." "The only thing you care about is graffiti." "I've invested blood, sweat and tears." "I Iive and die for it." "Graffiti is my thirst for life." "I feel alive when I'm out there at night, high on adrenaline." "There's only the train, your buddies and you." "Writing our names on the train." "That'sjust awesome." "It's pure life, Iike a second life." "Ifyou're able to hold a reguIarjob as well and keep it hidden from your colleagues it's quite a special feeling." "Not because you feel like someone special but it provides a balance to the regular routine." "At midnight I turn the tables and do my thing." "That's the lust for life." "Trainwriting to me is passion, love, action friendship, thrill playing games with the police." "It's awesome!" "And when you grow older and can't carry on doing it it'II be hard to find something as fullfilling as this." "currently it's more important to me than any woman orjob." "I really neglect everything." "I believe it's a second life and it'II never find an end." "My non-graffiti friends and my family are not very pleased about my devotion to graffiti." "although they don't have a clue how much time I really invest." "My friends and family tolerate and accept it." "They acknowledge how much time I invest." "Through graffiti I've met a Iot ofgreat peaopIe." "In my environment everyone was into graffiti already." "Either we were partners or rivals." "I'd tell my mum that I was going out to paint a train." "She'd reply:" "Be careful, I'm not paying for it!" "You notice it because of the rackIing ofthe cans and you could tell by his behaviour." "He'd only come home for dinner and to sleep." "That's all." "I always knew what it meant when he left the house with cans." "I'd tell him to be careful and not to get caught." "I've always tried to keep graffiti away from my family." "But after a while it's impossible." "For sure we've had a Iot oftroubIe at home but that's part ofthe game." "There's not a thing in this world that would make me quit." "It's just impossible." "I think one day Stefan got lost in it." "He decided that this is his life and it'II stay like this forever, and that he didn't want to establish anything else." "So he got lost in the letters, the smell and the colours and the whole lifestyle." "I don't believe that he got lost in the art." "He lost track of himself, he disappeared from his life and lived more and more for graffiti." "He became RUÆD and Stefan was gone." "Me and others wanted Stefan..." "Maybe he forgot who Stefan really was and only knew how to be RUÆD." "But RUÆD alone didn't keep him alive." "Stefan commited suicide on 29th august 2002 by jumping in front ofa train." "Between Priesterweg and Papestrasse." "It was right near the hall offame." "Graffiti was at the top of his list." "My mother wasn't even close to it, me neither, no girlfriends... nobody, not even god." "He mentioned god in his farewell letter:" ""My mistake was that I didn't believe in god, only in graffiti.!" "A life without graffiti is possible." "Sooner or later you have to accept it." "You just can't paint trains all the time at the age of40." "That's something to be aware of." "I've never stopped painting." "I've never had a break from it." "I don't know how life would be without, not even for one year." "I'm sure I would see things very different." "I don't want to stop." "But I think that one day the time will come when things are constant and life is more serious." "And the remaining nighttime adventures are more treasured." "They're very special." "Too many things have happened." "They're less easygoing and think twice." "Now I keep calm because he doesn't want to paint trains anymore." "It's become way to dangerous." "I'd still love to go out every day and paint trains." "However, at a certain age the punishment and the consequences are much harder." "If it works out that's cool." "But I don't go and chase it anymore." "The hunger is still there." "It's a certain feeling." "I don't believe that I can satisfy my hunger for trains." "I always come up with new sketches and picture them on trains." "Or I want to do a whole car, or whatever." "The hunger is here to stay." "Even iftrains would fly we'II still paint them." "There is no way to separate a serious writer from a train." "absolutely no way!" "The hunger to paint trains has always been there, since I painted the first lines on a train." "I knew that I'd found what I really was looking for." "And it never stopped." "I'II do the Iast lines when there are no more cans left." "You can go "all in" on trains and set free all ofyour creativity." "But you can't expect to receive anything in return, or live a regular life with a secure income a nice flat, a beautiful wife and children or whatever." "It doesn't go hand in hand with this aggressive lifestyle." "No way!" "And ifyou go for it, go the whole way." "But be aware of what you are doing." "And how it effects the people around you your family and yourself!" "What makes you happy?" "Writing trains." "The feeling when you've hit a train." "Seeing your train on tracks." "But ask yourseIfwhether this feeling is permanent happiness." "Or is happiness being able to tell the story..." "Back in the days, in berlin," "I used to paint trains that went all around the city." "It was a good time." "Good times." "Not more and not less!"