Eindhovens finest Street art all in one place

Somewhere close to the trainstation in the city of Eindhoven, (Holland) there is a roundabout for cars which has a network of tunnels underneith for the bicyles. Normally a place where you would not to be biking alone in the nights, but actually this has become a quite safe space.

Why? Because it has been the backdrop for grafitti contests over the last decade and this is why there are always people here in the neighborhood.

De Berenkuil

The bear hole is the literal translation of the name of the roundabout and over the last couple of years the 'Step in the Arena' contest has always been here, bringing loads of crowds and local as well as international talent here to expose their graffiti art.

The cool thing is this means every year there is an entirely new backdrop.

What I also do notice is that there is a form of respect for all of these pieces. Yes, ofcourse people will 'tag' their signature everywhere they can, but in general they will not do this across an artwork here.

When I was here earlier I saw two guys overpainting an entire piece to make a new one. Honestly, they took one that was not so nice, and I might just bike by later in the week to see what they have made out of it. But here the same thing, and entire piece goes and something nice comes back.

Regeneration

City beautification

Honestly if you ask me, I really think these kinds of murals, because that is what they are because they are damn big, are really a form of enhancement and beautification for a city. Many cities in the world are having tours because of their street art which is also the nice jump up for exposing the rest of the city.

For this particular place in Eindhoven I don't think you can have a whole tour for it, but this would be a nice part of a tour if someone would make it. A tour for me should have more locations in there, and also a bit close to one and another so it is in a good walking distance. I would love to see something here in Eindhoven, but this is still lightyears away.

We need more locations with decent art in there!

A simpel tunnel

To be these are the cool examples of people doing something nice for a not so nice place of the city. The roundabouts with biking tunnels are very functional but they always end up really skanky. Water is always flowing, and the tunnels are dark.

With just some simple adjustments and opening up the place for people to expose their art (that means graffiti in this place is not illegal, as it is seen as an 'outside gallery'), you get some really cool results which make an ordinary place a lot less ordinary

What about your city? Do you have places where graffiti art is also centered in one place like this one? Would you recommend such a place for your city as well?

Or are you just not a fan at all and would you rather see even coloured walls?