Wintersheim shakes his head and takes a closer look at the Beethoven graffito: one of the composer's eyes has been painted over with a dark patch, a blue heart adorns his cheek, and numbers and signs have been spray-painted on his face. "The really worst thing, though, is the Hitler moustache," Wintersheim frets. "What kind of people are these who use these symbols in public. Haven't they learned anything?" he says, shaking his head uncomprehendingly.

Bonn artist Eugen Schramm created the Beethoven portrait about ten years ago. "It happens regularly that pictures are painted over," he reacts calmly. "I have to work on my pictures again and again." That's just the way it is when art is presented in public spaces, he says. "Sometimes it hurts when you see something like that, but sometimes you can live with such actions as an artist. You have to be above it," he says.

Beethoven portraits are particularly often chosen for such "additions," he says. Meanwhile, he does not suspect politically motivated propaganda. "No, these are obviously just people who want to have their fun and don't think about it any further," he says.

However, Facebook users do not react as calmly as he does. "So-called sprayers ruin real street art" or "This is really dishonorable“, for example, are two of the comments. "Is this art now? Or how should I take that?" reads another.

House walls, street signs and train carriages covered in graffiti are now a common sight in German cities. According to the German Association of Cities, the costs caused by illegal graffiti add up to around 200 million Euro every year. Bonn also has to dig deep into its pockets to remove these graffiti. But: "From the city's point of view, the damage caused by graffiti has not increased significantly," says Lea Hoffmann from the press office in response to a GA query.

While for the removal of such vandalism damage in 2019 about 79,000 Euro had to be spent, it about 85,000 Euro in 2020 and 84,000 Euro in 2021. This year, up to and including June, costs of around 60,400 Euro have already been incurred. "The comparatively high sum already in the middle of the year results from the fact that many additional surfaces were provided with graffiti protection this year as a preventive measure," explains Hoffmann. The city reacts immediately when banned or anti-constitutional symbols are discovered.

"They are documented, removed as quickly as possible and reported to the police," says Hoffmann. In this context, graffiti are not trivial offenses, but criminal offenses that are punished accordingly. If the perpetrators are identified, they must expect consequences under criminal and civil law.

Not all artists react as calmly as Schramm when their work is alienated by illegal sprayers. "At first, something like that hurts," answers Simon Horn of the artist agency Highlightz in Bonn, which does large-scale wall paintings as well as graffiti. However, such actions are becoming increasingly rare.

"Art is a fluid process, but a professional street artist would never change someone else's work," he says. Therefore, he says, these are usually works by young people. "Silly-boy pranks, that's what they are," he says.

For Schramm, however, such actions could be prevented if young people were offered a space where they could try things out and act out. Together with the city and other cooperation partners, he is working on an appropriate concept. "Details are not yet revealed. But I am very confident that we will soon be able to make appropriate offers."

In the run-up, he launched a graffiti art project this summer (see "Spray legally"). "Young people need a place to try things out. Then they won't do anything stupid," he says, and is excited about the talent he's already spotted in his previous campaigns. Is there a Banksy from Bonn in the mix? "We'll see. But I've already met some talented up-and-coming artists."

Eugen Schramm initiated the "Art One Bonn" graffiti art project for young people this year with partners to provide them with sound training and guidance. "With this, we want to encourage them artistically and give them a space for cultural development," he explains. That the graffiti project is about more than just painting walls is evident from the program. There were several courses on the various techniques as well as excursions to museums and art studios.

In Cologne, the young people took part in graffiti city tours. Afterwards, the participants were given selected surfaces to paint on, for example, a train underpass in Bad Godesberg a few days ago. Sketches were drawn up beforehand. It is planned to offer the Graffiti art project also in the coming year. For more information, visit www.artonebonn.de.

Original text: Gabriele Immenkeppel

Translation: Mareike Graepel