Street Art Utrecht: the Tour
Sometimes you discover something cool and immediately get addicted to it. To me, that 'something cool' is street art. After taking a graffiti tour in Ljubljana, I desperately wanted to take more of these tours. Sadly we don't really have anything like it in the Netherlands, unless you're with a group. And, big surprise, me and my camera don't count as a group. So I decided to spend some time online and googled for hours - until I found a Facebook page called Street art Utrecht. You won't believe how happy I was to discover there were more people like me. Better yet: people who organized their own street art tours. So when I saw that there'd be a tour on April 1st, I immediately signed up. Utrecht isn't that far from where I live after all, and come on, you didn't expect me to say 'no' to an opportunity like this one, did you?
There were a few minor bumps in the road for me though. First of all the tour would start at the Rabobank building and I only know how to get to Central Station. Second, I'd signed up for a bicycle tour and couldn't take my own bike with me. So on a rented bike (which for some reason had a very weird way of rounding corners, but that's not all that relevant) I set out to the Rabobank building, where everyone would meet up. I reached the place without getting lost. Quite an achievement, considering that I'd only been to Utrecht once before. There I met the other people who'd do the tour (most of whom already knew each other) and Annelou, our amazing tour guide. She started doing these tours out of passion for street art and wanted to show people all it has to offer. I can only admire that, because sharing something you're passionate about this way is freaking amazing (also: why didn't I think of this myself?).
I didn't know anyone in the group, but that didn't matter. On tour's like these you meet people who are interested in the exact same thing as you are, so there's always something to talk about. I felt really welcome in the group and had a lot of fun talking and taking pictures with them. We were a group of six, constantly pointing details out to each other, looking for new pieces and taking loads of pictures.
If you go on a tour like this one, you know the art will be good. That's why a tour doesn't stand out because of the quality of the art, but because of the characters and the style of the local artists. Of course I knew absolutely nothing about any artists from Utrecht, but Annelou filled me in on all the details. She knew all about the artists, their style, collabs and tags.
My favorite local figure was KBTR, the one you can see in the picture below. This gnome is literally everywhere in Utrecht, and later on I also saw him in a few places in Rotterdam!
The tour lasted about two hours, two hours in which I learned more and more about Utrecht's street art scene. The funny thing is that the longer a tour lasts, the more you start to notice on your own. Once your eyes are open for street art, you'll see stickers and tags everywhere. Seeing stickers and big pieces like this one wasn't all the tour had to offer though!
Now Ljubljana had a great graffiti tour, no questions asked. But Utrecht had one thing Ljubljana didn't have: a chance to be a street artist for a few minutes yourself. Okay, admittedly we used chalk on a sidewalk which is legal as can be, but that doesn't make designing your own tag any less fun. There was also a little thing with stickers on slightly less legal surfaces, but that's another story for another time (mainly because I haven't completed my mission yet). I also promised on Twitter to leave my mark somewhere in Utrecht, and so I did. On a trash can. That's my thing these days.
At the end of the day I was exhausted, but so happier than I'd been in months. I didn't just see some pretty pieces, I also met some amazing people and got all the inspiration for my own street art projects. Annelou is a great tour guide, she knew more about the pieces she showed us than I ever could've hoped. She's currently looking into doing more tours, so if you happen to be in Utrecht and get the chance to go on a street art tour with her, grab it!
x Envy
18 Fellow Ramblers
This street at looks absolutely amazing and I love that you regularly post about art 💓 X
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, it really means a lot to me to hear that people are enjoying my art posts because I wasn't sure if I should keep posting about it when I just started.
DeleteIt was the best street art I'd seen in months!
DUDE I have been SUPER into street art lately. where I live its super prevalent. I love it. I just watched a movie about a street artist named Bansky. you just look him up. hes incredible
ReplyDeleteI need to get myself to wherever you live! It's quite absent in many places in the Netherlands...
DeleteI went to The Art of Banksy exhibition recently and wrote a post about it. The movie is on my to watch list :)
I really like to see street art sometimes, when it's done in a place that isn't of natural beauty it can really liven things up. Theres a great spot on the South Bank in London where artists are free to be creative and it's worked really well!
ReplyDeleteSophia xx http://sophiawhitham.co.uk
South Bank has just been added to my list of places to go for my street art missions :)
DeleteI love street art so much and I would love to do a little tour about it! Xx
ReplyDeleteitsallzara.blogspot.co.uk
Come to Rotterdam and I'll give you a tour :)
DeleteI think street art is fab and so under appreciated! Great post! Gemma x || BeautyBlitzBlog.com
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is under appreciated, which is why I like to post about it and put it in the spotlight.
DeleteI find street art so fascinating! It does have a bad reputation but I think that it's lovely when it's not causing any vandalism :)
ReplyDeleteSarah | What Sarah Writes
I think a lot of the bad reputation comes from the 'ugly' tags, since they don't add all that much to a wall, but luckily more and more people start to appreciate it. Officially it's all vandalism, but there's a difference between tagging the wall of someone's house and making a piece on an abandoned apartment block.
DeleteI love street art so so sooooo much! This graffiti/street are is so awesome. I love that there was a specific tour and that everyone in the group was cool too! Thanks so much for sharing, brightened my day! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and commenting! Street art is just so amazing. I wish more cities had these tours :)
DeleteI love street art! We have a lot of it here in Manchester and people never fail to amaze me with their talent 💖
ReplyDeleteI googled it right after you posted this comment. I am so impressed with everything Manchester has to offer!
DeleteSee this is why I love blogging. I have learned something new about the world. I had no idea street art tours were even a thing. Certainly different. Love the photography Envy.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's a quite new thing I think. Slovenia has one and this one in Utrecht has been there for a few years, but those are the only organised ones I know about that don't really need booking :)
DeleteI solemnly swear that I am up to no good! Wait, no, I mean: I solemnly swear that I will answer each and every comment ;)