At last, graffiti, or “street art”, has its very own museum. The “Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art”, the world’s first cultural institution dedicated to street art, officially opened in Berlin on September 16. Berliner Leben partnered with architecture bureau GRAFT to gather the work of 150 local and international street artists (for instance Ron English, Shepard Fairey and Blek Le Rat), and bring the graffiti covering Berlin’s urban walls into the interior of a museum for greater recognition.

Creative Director Yasha Young expressed that aside from helping more people to understand and know more about street art, she aimed to give more grounding to graffiti and to record the development of it. Regarding “Urban Nation”, well-known street artist Blek Le Rat observed the paradox that, while those who produce graffiti are somehow rebellious, and risk going to jail to create their art, also at the same time might wish to have their work exhibit in museums or even auction houses. While the city already sees the remains of the Berlin Wall used for displaying graffiti, it will take some time before seeing the actual changes that “Urban Nation” brings to the cultural acceptance and respect of street art.