Colorful world art in Aalborg
Flügger has over time supported a unique street art initiative that surprises and brings joy to the inhabitants of Aalborg.
They have something special in Aalborg. You will not be able to find them on the main streets. No, you have to get into the side streets or backyards to see them – and you have to look upwards to notice them. But when you find them, you will stop and get affected. Either due to colorfulness, choice of motive or something else that kickstarts you thinking. And that is the whole idea.
We are talking about WEAArt. A street art initiative, that you will find in Aalborg where two art lovers and entrepreneurs, Lars Bonde og Mads Mulvad, since 2014 have decorated with street art in the side streets and backyards of the city. The project has taken place on the initiative of the two gentlemen. They have chosen and contacted world-famous street art artists, coordinated and made agreements with owners of the buildings which are ornamented with the street art. They have also applied capital from fonds which have made the WEAArt projects possible. The project has not received any public funding. Flügger has since 2014 supported the project which has resulted in 37 street art paintings in 2019 adorning the side streets and backyards in the center of Aalborg city.
Artists had to be internationally known – and with different styles
The 37 wall paintings are painted by some of the leading street artists in the world. Mads Mulvad says:” We have from the start set the bar high. We wanted artists that were internationally well known – who had made themselves noticeable on the international stage”. Lars Bonde adds:” We wished a span of artists who used different styles and techniques in the creation of their works”.
It has also been important for the WEAArt organisers that the street art painting could fit into the urban spaces in such a way that the onlooker will not be overwhelmed in an unpleasant way. Lars Bonde tells:” It is very important for us that the whole thing does not become an amusement park. We did everything to find discreet and hidden locations – exactly in order to give the bypasser an aha experience. Just to exhibit the urban space in a new way”. This is why Lars Bonde and Mads Mulvad have tried consciously to make the motives fit into the environment, the surfaces of the walls, lightening or potential vegetation.
Art can turn the back sides of the houses and make them interesting
It is not always easy to secure architecturally interesting experience, but Lasse Andersson who is Creative Director at Utzon Center, thinks that the WEAArt project has succeeded in creation of new experiences in passages and backsides of buildings, where they were not thought of as an architecturally interesting experience. Lasse Andersson adds: “All good art is challenging, inspiring and setting our lives in perspective – and this is precisely what the street art wall paintings are capable of. They can both democratize some art and help turning back sides around to something interesting for bypassers.”
One person who has been in close contact with one of the international artists, is Else Hald whose gable was decorated by the Australian artist Fintan McGee in 2014. Else Hald is very content:” I love those colors that Finton has used in the painting. They are so splendid and are beautifully in harmony with the area and my yellow house. I see the bypassers joy at seeing my house – and there are many bypassers here.”
WEAArt has become an attraction in Aalborg
Else Hals experiences tells us that the WEAArt project is succeeded. Flüggers Brand Ambassador, Lone Nordby is satisfied:” Lars Bonde and Mads Mulvad have lifted a task which was not easy: To show off urban spaces in a new way, in order to make the inhabitants in Aalborg and the geusts of Aalborg happy.” As the number of wall paintings have increased, city walks with focus on the wall paintings have increased. ” It is wonderful that the project does not only make the inhabitants happy in their daily life. Now WEAArt has also become an attraction for Danish and international audiences. The WEAArt project shows that you with skills, courage and artistic understanding can create new and interesting architectural experiences in backyards and other urban spaces which before were more anonymous.”
