A Chat With Rudolf Klöckner (Urban Shit)

Last Thursday Blogging the City took place in Amsterdam. It turned out to be an unforgettable day with a great selection of leading European bloggers that shared what drives them and inspires them with our online and offline audience. One of them was Rudolf Klöckner, driving force behind Hamburg-based street art blog Urban Shit. He entertained the audience by showing his favorite urban interventions he’s come across in the past years. We asked him a few questions right before the conference.

1. A topic that really needs to be more discussed in the European urban world is “…”, because “…”?
“The role of billboards and advertisements in public space in general should be discussed more (in a serious critical) way, because it seems like cities all around the globe are giving up most of there visual control of designing public space. I don’t have a problem with advertisements and billboards in public space in general. But the big global brands like H&M or Nike shouldn’t be the only one who are designing public space just because they have snot money to buy all big billboards.”

2. As a blogger, how does Amsterdam inspire you?
“Really looking forward to check out the streets of Amsterdam since it’s been a long time I have been there — definitely too long! For me it’s always a big pleasure to check out my neighborhood of the city I’m visiting by just walking around and see where the streets will bring be at the end of the day. We’ll see where I get this time.”

3. Some people paint the town red. What would you paint?
“Everybody should paint there neighborhood in the colors they like to, so we’ll have a nice colorful city with the whole chart of color range.”

4. Since your blog has become a leading voice in Hamburg and the city’s urban political debate, did you ever consider becoming a politician yourself?
“Haha, yes, I did. I was thinking to become a member of the Piratenpartei, but still thinking about it…”