Stories about graffiti culture

A selection of Papilaja’s works is currently on display at the Dutch Graffiti Library. Highlights include Setiap Orang Berbeda - Semua Orang Bersama, a sculpture that emphasizes community strength, and Tanpa Menulis Kamu Lupa, a series of drawings that reflect on the importance of writing.

This weekend, the Dutch Graffiti Library opened its new museum in Amsterdam’s Centrale Markt Hal during Open Monument Day. The 140m² space offers visitors a unique look into the history of graffiti culture, featuring a collection of photographs, objects, and stories.

De stad Groningen krijgt er in september een graffitikunstwerk bij. Kunstenaars Quik en Mick La Rock werken van maandag 9 september tot en met donderdag 12 september 2024 aan een muurschildering onder het Emmaviaduct.

Come and see how textile work from all over the world expresses itself in all its vulnerability and how graffiti art since the 1970s has been celebrating the language and diversity of the street.

With the screening of several films, Q&A with filmmakers and artists and talks by experts, Blind Walls Film Fest takes the audience into the world behind the art form. We created five brief films using footage that was taken during the early 1990s.

On display a collection of work that brings together strong visual components to create robust and striking screenprints. Glider’s cut ‘n paste, layered approach resembles the way early Hip-Hop DJs juggled existing material to recreate a whole new vibe.

Amsterdam has always been a unique location in the world of art from the streets. The city provided a grateful canvas for local writers and became popular among international artists as well. Many of them found the space they needed to further develop their art on the walls of squatted and empty buildings, in the quiet streets and remote areas.

In the gigantic work Raise the Level on the STRAAT Museum Amsterdam impressive side wall, Shepard Fairey calls attention to improving the dire state of our planet and makes an appeal for us to work together to do so. For this mural, Fairey makes the move to collaborate with Amsterdam graffiti legend Niels ‘Shoe’ Meulman.

Waar de legendarische fotografe Martha Cooper in de jaren 80 een van de beste graffiti fotografen ter wereld was, gingen tieners in de jaren 80 en 90 ook de straat op om foto's te maken van graffiti. Dit werd gedaan met wegwerpcamera's of een simpel analoog toestel.

A solo exhibition by SHOE featuring his most recent body of work at The Curators Room in Amsterdam. Internationally known for his graffiti art, Shoe created Calligraffiti. Now, the artist reached what he semi-ironically calls Carrigraffiti: signs, interventions, actual paintings created by using his car as a tool.

Stap binnen bij Foundation. Maak kennis met de one and only Amsterdam Hip Hop Academy en ervaar waar jongeren in de jaren ‘80 zich door lieten inspireren en hun kennis vandaan haalden over graffiti als onderdeel van hiphop culture.

Foundation x OBA organiseert op zaterdag 11 februari 2023 een lezing onder het thema hiphop is erfgoed. Luister om 18:00 uur in De OBA aan het Bijlmerplein naar de story van Dutch Graffiti Library.

De Hiphop Kenniskring – een netwerk van vertegenwoordigers uit het hiphopcircuit – roept gemeenten op om in 2023 hiphop écht een plek te geven in het culturele landschap.

In the Centrale Markthal Amsterdam we are going to offer a cultural experience under the name About Graffiti Culture, where everything we do is related to graffiti culture.

The hip hop movement that emerged in the Bronx and took over the world can teach us a lot about creativity. At Dutch Creativity Festival we join Edson Sabajo, Patta and friends as they take over diverse and unexpected areas.

Kladmuur Hangout stond in mei 2021 met 3 afleveringen al stil bij de geschiedenis van graffiti in Rotterdam. Nu droppen ze een nieuwe podcast die vanaf 27 oktober start en waarin je naar het Groninger verhaal kunt luisteren.

During INSIGHT, a special program at ALL CAPS Rotterdam 2022, Dutch Graffiti Library will present the pop-up exhibition About Graffiti Culture.

The graffiti 'D.D.T. 666' is the only remaining original Dr. Rat (Ivar Vičs, 21 May 1960 - 29 June 1981) graffiti in Amsterdam. For that reason it was recently restored on the initiative of Stadsdeel...

Although the focus of the festival is on street art, it is strong that graffiti is explicitly embraced in the new name ALL CAPS...

Wij denken dat graffiti behouden als erfgoed vraagt om een andere aanpak dan behoud van graffiti als collectie binnen een museale instelling...

When hiphop culture started to spread among the masses in the 1980s, it didn’t take long for graffiti to have an impact on fashion; It moved from the walls and subway cars to our everyday lives...

Telefoon: Gabriel hier van ABC Architectuurcentrum Haarlem... Goed dat ik je spreek. We zijn bezig met de renovatie van de educatieruimte. Bij het verwijderen van schotten voor de ramen die ons 30 jaar...

Since music and graffiti have historically been parts of culture that have brought people together, it wasn't long before a crossover occurred...

Under the roof of Denim City, located in the renovated old tram depot De Hallen Amsterdam, we put graffiti on the map as cultural heritage...

Belangrijk is dat erfgoed een zo representatief mogelijke afspiegeling is van de cultuur en inhoudelijk zowel herkend als erkend wordt door de graffitigemeenschap zelf. Om dit te onderzoeken starten...

Als gemeente Amsterdam in de zomer van 2019 het definitieve besluit neemt om de Kempering, de allerlaatste parkeergarage in originele Bijlmerstijl, in het voorjaar van 2020 te slopen, lopen de gemoede...

Begin 1975 wordt Bill Meyer uitgenodigd om zijn werk over New York graffiti te exposeren in Amsterdam. De expositie zal, voor wat nu bekend is, de eerste landing zijn van New York graffiti op Nederland...

When American artist Keith Haring, then 27, comes to the Netherlands for his first solo exhibition in Amsterdam in the spring of 1986, he doesn’t spend all his time at the Stedelijk Museum. He goes...

Vrijdag 20 september 1985 - De documentaire ‘Strijd met verf en inkt’, die de VARA vrijdag uitzendt, is een onderhoudende, soms humoristische en onthullende kijk op die wereld van bizarre tekening...

When you publish a graffiti book it’s almost impossible to be complete or to track every one mentioned and get all the pictures you want. Also with the book about Disz. But for us the intensive...

De expositie is een overzicht van uitingen die voortkomen uit de tegencultuur graffiti. Een cultuur met de stedelijke omgeving als fundament, waar talenten ontplooien en creatieve ontwikkeling...

After more than four decades the lifework and unique heritage of tattoo legend Henk Schiffmacher will be valorized, preserved and made visible and accessible to the public. We are proud that Sanne van...

Ruyzdael announces the release on October 25th of Shave’s Cut, Cult. Need. & Dedication in collaboration with Dutch Graffiti Library. The book is a tribute to graffiti in the Netherlands. A manifest...

The production of “Punk Graffiti Archives: The Netherlands” involved months of research into several private archives, including the two largest existing archives of punk graffiti related document...

In collaboration with the HipHopHuis and guest curator Lee Stuart, the Kunsthal Rotterdam presents an exhibition about hip-hop and its influence on fashion and lifestyle...

Kings of Colors exposes the charisma, mentality and dynamics of 'early days'. Kings of Colors is raw, pure, creative, colourfull and pigheaded...

AGAIN, in collaboration with FRESHCOTTON and CARHARTT WIP, present AMSTERDAM ON TOUR. A book that takes you inside the wild Amsterdam graffiti scene of the late 70s and early 80s...

This story is a special visual epilogue that Dutch Graffiti Library wants to share due to all the positive and remarkable reactions we have received after publishing the book: “Disz. The first Dutch...

The Unlock Book Fair 2018 is a meeting of the international graffiti and street art publishing scene in two days of amazing publications, talks, launches and screenings. Entrance is free...

The Tag Conference is an unprecedented event that gathers scholars and specialists from all over the world to explore name writing, or tagging. In 2018 the Tag Conference travels to Amsterdam...

This week, the enormous 12 x 15-meter mural Keith Haring made in 1986 has reappeared on the wall of the former depot of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam...

Red Bull Arts New York is excited to announce RAMMΣLLZΣΣ: Racing for Thunder, the largest survey to date of one of the most influential yet overlooked artists of the 20th century...

Haarlem, 16 januari 2018 – Met de oprichting van de Stichting Dutch Graffiti Library wordt het meest omvangrijke archief in Nederland op het gebied van Graffiti cultuur toegankelijk gemaakt...

Last september Berlin hosted the second instalment of the Unlock Book Fair, the international publishing fair dedicated to graffiti and street art. Dutch Graffiti Library was represented...

The Dutch Graffiti Library proudly presents a new collection high-light: the #0 custom made Atomic Baby Clone, alter-ego TOY of the original Gods Vicious Baby ANGEL GVB TBH CTK. 100% concept, created...

‘Getting up’ is the basic principle of graffiti. No matter how good your style, it has to be ‘up’. Fame is the name, and walking the thin line between creation and destruction is the game...

Amsterdam 1991. To put things in historical perspective here’s a little recap of the graffitiscene at that time. Compared to the peaktime days of the 80’s the action had quiet down considerably...

“At the age of 13 (1983) I moved to Amsterdam. That was an adventure in itself because in the village where I came from there were no ‘trams’, haha! That was what graffiti was to...

January 1987. Juliette Verhofstad, student at the department of Art History at University of Amsterdam conducts an interview by phone with ANGEL. At that time one of the leading writers in the...

Van wie is kunst in de openbare ruimte en wie beschermt deze werken? Als het aan GroenLinks ligt krijgt de stad een curator die zich over straatkunst ontfermt. Het is kwalijk dat niemand precies weet...

The following story is an exerpt taken from the book Amsterdam Graffiti: The Battle of Waterloo written and designed by Dutch Graffiti Library, Remko Koopman and Hein S. Published by Stadsuitgeverij...