Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Danube Canal

The Danube River (Donau in German. I don't know how Danube came from that), is the main river that passes through Vienna. Today, we were supposed to meet at our professor's apartment at noon to go over a lot of things. My roommate and I decided that we wanted to do some exploring, so we left early to check out where our professor's place is and just check things out until it was time for the meeting. We came upon some interesting artwork. Not the kind of artwork you think of that would be found in the classic city of Vienna. All along the walls of the canal are some pretty amazing taggings and graffitis. I'm guessing that things started to get so out of hand that the city just lets it happen because the expense of keeping of with cleaning just isn't worth it. So, here are some of the pieces that I ran across.



 This is one of the support sections of one of the many bridges that span the canal. It's cool that almost every inch is covered in some kind of graffiti. This is how it was all the way down the canal (at least as far as we went, which was2 or 3 miles). There was hardly any room for more graffiti. 


Some of the tags were quite impressive by their size. People seriously had to plan things out to be able to finish these bad boys. They must have had ladders or scaffolding or something tall like a big box.

Some of the best ones were just random English words like in this one. INFO! FUNK! They are just so informative and funky. They make perfect sense but don't mean anything at all. It makes you stop and think about their meaning, or think about what they were drinking or smoking when it was done.


 This one is just all sorts of interesting. This was obviously conceived on some wicked trip and I'm sure that the artist has no idea they actually did this. Seriously. You just don't think of witches in sunglasses or blue men with 5 protruding eyes (who has an amazing hat that says "cops can't dance") while you're sketching up ideas whilst being sober. Maybe it is possible. I really need to expand my creativity if others can come up with stuff like this. 


 My second favorite on the day was this simple beauty. "LEGENDARY HAPPENS" It's a motto that should govern everyone's lives because it is true.

 Apparently there are monsters in the canal and they will eat you if you get in. So, if you come to Vienna, don't get in the canal.

This was my favorite on the day. It took me a while to figure out what it says. But what it says is not why I like it so much. I just love how bright and vivid the colors are. When I look at it, I feel like I'm in a cartoon. And cartoons are awesome because anything can happen. Also, the guy on the left in the shades and the peace sign just does it for me. That's one cool cat.


Sorry to disappoint anyone that was looking for amazing Vienna architecture or concert halls. Those will be coming. Don't you worry! I've only been here a couple of days and have so many more to explore. Stay tuned as I will try to document as often as I can so you can have a taste of Vienna as well.

3 comments:

Victoria said...

According to my art professor while I was there, the city specifically permits graffiti on the canal walls so that people don't go tagging things throughout the rest of the city. It's pretty awesome.

Chip said...

Great pics, Zach! Loved the artwork!

kwistin said...

nope...this is actually exactly what i wanted to see for my first vicarious taste of vienna. i just didn't know that until i saw it, but now it's definitely true. :)

thank you!