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Hitzerot | Prints & Publications. Based in Berlin 

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Poor Heraldix – Exotic Landscape by P. Vector Codierer

Following the ancient Latin notation graffiti names are written and read from left to right. With the upcoming execution of pieces in the early 70s writers set this common practice as standard. Within the last 50 years almost every aspect of shaping letters and designing styles pushed the boundaries of graffiti further and further. It anyway is striking to see that the vast majority of pieces still follow the tradition of horizontal painting, which might is rooted in the given format of the No.1 surface back then: NYC subway trains.

In “Poor Heraldix – Exotic Landscape” the Berlin based writer P. Vector Codierer invites us to take a closer look on the new and challenging possibilities which lay in vertical writing. On 72 pages he constructs tower-like letter buildings using the near full symmetry of the letters in the chosen name EXOT. In the drafts the letters are stacked to tall houses, whose architecture reminds of totems and three-dimensional labyrinths with elaborate ornaments. Stairs, portals, columns, windows, brickwork, roof-like elements and even crowning banners can be found as part of his constructions.

P. Vector Codierer combines a seemingly naive drawing style with avant-garde ideas of writing from top to bottom instead of left to right. The detailed black and white drawings are not sketches to prepare pieces but are artworks of their own kind. The inspirational hardcover book is limited to 300 copies and comes hand numbered and signed the the artist.

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Graffiti an der Line in Basel 1985–1990

The 2nd edition just arrived at our headquarter! Available online soon!

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BRIGHT FUTURE – BUS126    

Although the title implicates it, BUS126s latest publication from July 2021 features works from the recent past. As part of the avant-garde DIAMONDS crew, BUS126 is one of the driving forces in constantly pushing the limits of writing in Berlin. While in some of the compiled artworks his name can easily be figured out, others leave behind the borders of lettering and seem to be consist of solely abstract elements.

The 60 paged zine shows selected pieces done with paint brush and spray can, executed in the nature, in abandoned places, as S-Bahn wholecars, in tunnels or hall of fame walls. On each spread you can find little sketches and drawings on the bottom page. An index at the end explains which of the content was co-produced with writers like COST88, ROY1st, FISO, EXOT, PRALL, IGID, HAMS and ZAST.

Accompanying to the publication BUS126 did produce three different limited art prints with special night glow paint, one of them added to each zine. Wait until you see them in the dark! The set is signed by the artist and the 150 copies of the zine are hand numbered as well.

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GRAFEMI      

The most common graffiti to find are tags, the writers’ names. While some writers work on their tag to finally have a definite logo-like sign with minor changes here and there, others never stop evolving their signature and seem to try out new things with every tag.

For his GRAFEMI zine Andrea Ceresa gathered five European taggers, which belong to the latter category. On 80 pages the writers 2LUKS (Paris), GUANO (Barcelona), IFDEF (Modena), PEACH (Copenhagen) and ZEE (Berlin/Florence) present their signatures in 40 photographs. Whether executed on doors, shutters, walls or ships, their eye-catching tags stand out.

As carefully as the editor chose the participants, as much attention he paid to the zine itself. After explaining his idea, he managed to get sponsored with Monocromo notebooks by the legendary Pigna company, which produce these books for Italian students for more than a century. To have the books printed Ceresa had to un-staple each copy and staple them together by hand afterwards.

The zine is limited to 150 copies, numbered by hand and comes in 12 different colorways. The beautiful little publication’s back cover was designed by Angelo Licciardello.

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RUSH MAGAZIN LEIPZIG    

As passionate lovers, collectors and publishers of magazines and books on graffiti, we sometimes stumble across interesting little publications, which didn’t popped up on our radar while they were available. In some cases we luckily get the possibility to reprint these sold out gems and help reaching a bigger audience. The latest example is the Leipzig focused RUSH magazine from 2018, whose 100 copy run was sold out within a few days.

Whether it is called anti-, ill-, ugly- or naive style, Leipzig seems to be the home or at least temporary residence of a big amount of writers, who do not accept the alleged restrictions of a traditional New York style. Names like OGTOK, SHEM, LOBO, KATDOG or PIANO are known for their unique ways of shaping their pseudonyms far beyond the city limits. Besides them UHZOO 803, HOR, EVER, PSYCHO, KLOAK, HAYF, MOE, KANIS, ADIOS and NACHOS are featured in writer specials.

Furthermore the 100 paged softcover magazine includes traditional chapters like tags, rooftops, throw ups, trucks, freights from e.g. SNOW, WAVER, BLUFF152, RALLY or TECHR and (our little highlight) a collection of seemingly first attempts from real graffiti beginners. The layout reminds of classic 90s graffiti magazines, showing often more than 20 photos on each spread.

The 2nd edition of RUSH magazine was published in 2019 in a run of 200 copies. We are especially glad to finally offer the re-issue now and hope it finds the way into your bookshelf, just like it did in ours.

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THE LONDON LINE – Cities At Night    

As one of the most surveillanced cities in the world London is also a tough place for illegal graffiti. While CCTV cameras monitor the most public spaces, the city anyway has a strong bombing scene who took up the battle against the omnipresent repression from authorities. If caught and arrested writers have to face draconian penalties like months or years in prison solely for doing graffiti.

“The harsh sentences given to graffiti writers are an indication that the system takes this ideological threat pretty seriously.”

In THE LONDON LINE the photographer takes us to a few remaining spots in which graffiti still survives, although the city follows a strict zero tolerance strategy and pieces and tags are often buffed within days. Most of the photos were taken at the city’s trainline, spots which can be seen by thousands of commuters everyday but are only sought out by writers at night.

“But if you look carefully, in the most inaccessible places, you’ll find an explosion of human expression in its most primitive and free form. And that’s trackside graffiti.”

Cities At Night did visit these locations in the night time and captured the most often two tone silver and black pieces in 35mm analog long exposure shots. The outcome are photographs and collages that portray a seemingly dead city in which the works of 4CE, 10FOOT, REVOK, KGS, ZONK, JETS, ELMO, SPUT, ACCESS, TAKE, PACES, FATSO, DEAMS, MINK and others get emphasized through this technique.

The 36 paged softcover zine also includes three texts and interviews which give insight to the situation in London. THE LONDON LINE is limited to 250 copies, each of them hand numbered.

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Kool Killer oder Der Aufstand der Zeichen – Jean Baudrillard    

Although released for the first time as part of this anthology in 1978, “Kool Killer oder Der Aufstand der Zeichen” (“KOOL KILLER, or The Insurrection of Signs“) the essay was published first in French in the 3rd issue of Interférences in 1975. This makes the text one of the earliest scientific ones on New York graffiti and let us pay closer attention to this often quoted classic.

The French philosopher, cultural theorist and sociologist describes a rise of written names in the spring of 1972 on walls, fences, subways, buses, trucks, monuments, etc.. Comparing them to other known forms of graffiti, he evaluates the meaning of names like DUKE, SPIRIT, SUPERKOOL, SPIDER, EDDIE135, SHADOW137 or WOODIE110 not as politic, neither pornographic. Without giving any proof, Baudrillard assigns the writings to black and Puerto Rican youths, slightly implies racial motives and since he does not find any deeper meaning in them, he denies a meaning at all.

Besides this controversial often cited definition a far more interesting aspect is the clear distinction between graffiti, mural walls as city’s top-down-projects often supported by advertising companies and ‘wild’ neighbourhood paintings without permission Baudrillard points out. He defines graffiti as non-ideological and not as art because of its supposed lack of message and meaning.

This end-70s reader is an evergreen, although in some parts outdated, especially Jean Baudrillards thoughts on public mural art projects seem quite up-to-date. Please notice that the book is in German language.

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MASON  – THE ESSENCE OF WRITING  

Dortmund is one of the few cities which has an untouchable status in the history of graffiti in Europe. Especially in the 90s a small group of writers managed to kill the system, having every running train covered with pieces. One of these guys was MASON. Active since 1986 and using pseudonyms like RIO or IOS, he contributed in shaping the city’s unique style, known as thick, blocky and recognizable at first sight.

THE ESSENCE OF WRITING is not a comprehensive chronicle showing every piece he ever did. He rather did look back and separated his œuvre into chronological chapters: Getting Up (1986-1991), Running the System (1991-1995), New York (1991-1997), Changing Process (1996-2010) and Recent Past (2010-2019). Each chapter opens with introductory words by MASON and presents selected works, mainly on trains, from each period.

The last chapter takes the books’ most space. While consisting of latest pieces on trains, it also introduces canvas works and exhibitions, accompanied with essays from MOSES and François Chastanet. The exhibition catalogue-like 150 paged hardcover shows the interaction of his gallery works and public actions, opening with a text by Robert Kaltenhäuser.

The book was released in 2020 and was sold out within a week. We are happy to not only offer you the last available books of the 400 copy run, but also rare AP (artist’s proof) editions. Some of the books are also signed so choose your preferred version below.

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AURI SACRA FAMES No.5  

Almost beating the fattest No.2 issue with 232 pages the fifth AURI SACRA FAMES volume was published in December 2016. Leaving out some of the usual chapters like tags, hall of fames or walls these sections have been replaced by artists which are predominantly active in the respective field: the IMK crew, BOAONE and CREAM.

With 52 pages the by far biggest special in the magazine’s history yet had the legendary DRM crew in focus. To the occasion of the 20th crew anniversary besides some never before shown highlights of the last two decades an elaborate text introduced us to the founding and first years of the DReaMers.

One of the most active and interesting crews of the recent years in Berlin is without a doubt TLS. Although every imaginable aspect of writing is practiced by them, in the TrainLeistungsSport (train competitive sport) part we especially paid attention to the activities of the train focused crew members on 24 pages.

Furthermore featured writers this time are KOLD, MR.TEE, SPIDER, BUZZ, ROCCO, BIO, IBES, OUPS, IXAP, AZUR, MAGIC, DROW, ZELDA, TRUS, ARZT, WULFF and many more.

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AURI SACRA FAMES No.4  

In June 2015 the fourth volume of the Berlin focused magazine was published. Just like in the previous issue the capital’s borders have been crossed only once, this time by featuring train experiences of the exile Berliner ZOUK in Southern Germany. Besides him the content is straight from the so called metropolis of graffiti and presented on 228 pages.

While trainspotting is a major part of the magazine since day one, a very interesting spotter caught our attention and was featured in a 23 paged special: The New York clean train legend VEN from the AOK crew. Being a Berlin resident since years he is one of most busy train spotters in town and did not only show his personal highlights, but also tells little stories on his adventures while chasing burners.

To more concentrate on really documenting the scene two chapters did have a special concept in No.4: The hall of fame section was put together by Foto-Sven, Berlins human graffiti archive, showing the 40 most active legal writers from 2014. Following the same documentation approach the 66 paged S-Bahn chapter did solely consist of likely all trains which were in traffic after the strike of the train drivers in 2014.

Last but not least KIRD exclusively did show pieces of a color concept series he did on Berlin S-Bahn and U-Bahn on 40 pages! The common chapters on tags, stations and U-Bahn feature writers like CLINT176, NOV, IEGIT, APER, ROCCO, TRIK, KISS, ZIZZY, SPIDER, SHADE, FIXER, BUZZ, ABIS, TRUS, TCK and many more.

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AURI SACRA FAMES No.3

Summer 2014 – time for the third volume of Berlin’s magazine book. With 188 pages still one of the fattest zines out there, this time the content is presented more focused, more thought-out and on point. With little changes in the photo selection and layout, there are also news concerning the content: for the first time a freight chapter is part of the magazine, above all featuring Transwaggon trains.

Due to the fact that this medium is kind of new to most writers and publishers, the chapter features 20 pages and further big specials on the TOPSPRAYER duo and the Italy based writer ARIS with his unique styled figurative shapes. But passenger trains have not been left out this time: S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains still have main chapters and specials with SIEGER and the ENC crew.

Besides the common sections like tags, walls and halls the subway stations made a comeback in No.3. A selection of featured writers in this volume: SPAIR, THE ONE, ROGER, DROW, SPIDER, FANTOM, BLOK, ROZER, ZOUK, LIMP.H, CLINT176, SHEM, REVO, ABIS, BARTO, FIRE, NORD, ILOVEYOU, LES, KRIPOE, HESHT, NATS and DOROC.

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AURI SACRA FAMES No.2

In autumn of 2013 the second AURI SACRA FAMES issue was released. Once again the concept was not to wait until writers send in photos of their works, hopefully relevant stuff in good photo quality, but to go out and document by ourselves what is going on in Berlin. With 236 pages the volume was as twice as big as the previous one and was mostly regarded as a book.

With a high amount of conceptual subways in Berlin the TBA crew caught our attention and so the spotlight was set on the guys’ actions in a 24 paged special. The variety of stylewriting was captured in the hall of fame part followed by the piece and story chapter featuring SKIM and SHEK. With 72 pages the S-Bahn chapter gave an update to the capitals’ rolling steel activities as well as the 36 paged U-Bahn section. In an interview special the producers of the UNLIKE U movie allowed us insight into their lawsuit with the BVG and finally the Schoolyard Mates present local and international trains.

Featured writers this time include SIN, OUPS, ZOUL, PREY, REVO, BLOK, SPIDER, ROGER, BUZZ, VIPER, DROW, FRESH, AMIK, RAMS, SUN79, OASE, BSOS, WILD, KABEL, ABIS and many others.

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AURI SACRA FAMES No.1  

The year 2012: Streetfiles.org is the No.1 source for checking out graffiti. Print as a medium for publishing photos of graffiti is dead, at least that’s what you did hear from everybody back then, even in the alleged world’s capital of graffiti Berlin. And it was true: what Berlin graffiti is all about was not to be found in magazines. The impression you would get online, where spotters did upload the results of their trips through the city, looking for trains, tags and pieces, was closer to reality as any magazine was able to show.

So instead of publishing just another magazine where writer friends of the editors or people who send in their stuff fill the pages, a new concept evolved, learning from the online advantages. O’CLOCK is rocking Kreuzberg with fresh tags? NAKZ is killing it on S-Bahn trains? ACID79 burns a hall of fame? Go out, take photos and put them in the magazine, always aiming to provide a representative documentation of the scene in a clear and clean layout.

The result was a 100 paged softcover magazine including shots from only a handful of people in chapters like tags, S-Bahn, subway stations, street and walls featuring MOAR, SPIDER, BUZZ, ROGER, CAUSE, DOROC, HEMAN, TIN, KRIPOE, SKY7, NICK, FINO, COST, ROCCO, TRIK, FISO, BAMBOO, SAZO, BACKE, AZUR, ZOUK, SHAKE as well as a special on COKE and an interview special DROW.

Luckily there’s life in the old dog yet, even when it comes to print and the predictions have been wrong. The magazine was a success, leading to several following issues with the same concept and far more content. This is the very last chance to order new copies of the first issue!

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BACK IN STOCK! Verehrtes Phantom, – Kat Dogtok

Almost ten years ago the author Kat Dogtok for the first time discovered the zig-zag-lined signature in a forest on the outskirts of Leipzig, Germany in 2012. A deeper meaning of the rather casual and random looking symbol was unknown to her back then, but started a chase for the logo which led the ethnologist and social scientist into a situation, where the more she looked for the sign, the more signs seemed to appear.

In the following weeks and months Dogtok tries to research the mystery, its creator and a possible story behind the logo. Soon she discovers a scheme concerning the places where the line can be found, even spots which are visited and marked regularly seem to exist.

The sign’s omnipresence reminds of works by Joseph Kyselak, Walter Josef OZ Fischer or the New Yorker PRAY, although in this case no letters are used and the logo is not signed, but maybe is a signature itself. During her meticulous research she compares the zig-zag to crook tines, the spiral series OZ did in Hamburg, the morse code and finally indentifies it as graffiti-like I was here-phenomenon, although there is a lack of stylistic development.

Verehrtes Phantom, is an homage as well as a letter to the creator, at the same time an invitation to the reader to look out for the logo, follow it and pay attention to eventually existing local similiar signs for comparision. To not destroy the ongoing hide-and-seek game, the book is not about demasking the originator, but more on the fascination of the mysterious game. The chase is better than the catch.

The 3rd and final edition was released in June, includes 14 additional pages (a larger photo part and a 2021 epilogue by the author) and has a new designed dust jacket.

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BACK IN STOCK! What Do One Million Ja Tags Signify? – Dumar Novy  

What do one million JA tags signify? What does it mean, when a writer is present through his tags and pieces since 1985 in a city like New York? On 100 pages Dr. Dumar Novy describes and analyzes not so much the work itself, but what JA’s stuff means to him, without having ever met him in real life.

A phenomenon every writer is familiar with: you see other people’s graffiti, you read it, you follow their traces while being part of the target audience he or she maybe had in mind. By not knowing the creator a myth begins to form in your mind and you wonder who the writer is and his or her intentions while doing tags and pieces. In the case of JA, a writer who is up in the streets of the graffiti Mecca for more than 30 years, you idolize this guy and a legendary status emerges, the bombing archetype.

„NYC is Vatican City & JA tags are those Swiss Guards protecting our sacred sites.“

This reader is a manifesto in which the author takes us on a journey into his world of thought in eleven chapters. He is analyzing and interpreting actions of the manic writer which makes this book an homage, heroization and urban poetry. While once New York City was a glorious place for the graffiti culture in the 70s and 80s, it morphed into a unreal, artificial and destructive city due to repressive politics and foreign investors. Novy sees JA as last remaining fighter from the good old days, somebody who represents the original New York citizens, the John and Jane Does, the soul of the city.

„He is keeping alive the most revolutionary movement of our time inspiring some to write their existence & pushing others to join in shaping their world.“

The author’s thoughts on JA include abstruse visions of the future in which JA tags are mantra-like repeated and ritualized, dialogues with god, prayers, thoughts on racism, the criticism of society and capitalism or intimate stories on Novy’s passed dad. JA is part of every aspect of life whether he or she is inspiration, role model or companion.

This book is proof that graffiti is more than trivial writing of names, more than primitive communication between anonymous representatives of a (sub-)culture. Graffiti can affect, influence, help to reflect on yourself and open your mind. What Do One Million Ja Tags Signify? is an entertaining and fascinating insight into the effect writings of a single person can have, although the actual creator is never really in focus.

The dayglow orange edition will be the final one. If you already have the first edition in your collection, you might want to get this one too because of a completely new (ninth) chapter and some smaller changes here and there.

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BACK IN STOCK! KUNSTFORUM International. Graffiti NOW – Ästhetik des Illegalen

In its 50th issue the established German art magazine KUNSTFORUM International did introduce Graffiti for the first time as the volumes’ main topic to its readers in 1982. Back then “graffiti” was still a wide ranged term including murals from Central America, political slogans, ironic writings, ancient carvings and often illegal interventions in the cityscape. Traditional New York graffiti writing, which dominated the city’s face for more then ten years at this point, was presented in three photos and not even a full page of text.

Maybe it was a bit too early because in the following months and years writing was transported through books, movies and vinyl covers to almost every bigger town in the western society. So only some 37 years later they did another try in May 2019 with their 260th issue. This time the word “graffiti” is much more clear defined: writing, following the New York tradition and in parts art which did evolve out of it. Larissa Kikol, responsible editor for this volume, did unite big and small names and gives a status quo of graffiti in central Europe.

With her background as an art historian, she analyzes and contextualizes the works from CLINT176 (Berlin), SAEIO (Paris), SUSIE (Berlin) and HAMS (Marseille). As city portrays you can find Berlin as today’s hot spot and as example of a well documented oldschool the city of Munich. An in-depth definition of graffiti as a tool of city marketing (Robert Kaltenhäuser and Georg Barringhaus) are part of the content as well as interviews with Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, RAP, 1UP, graffiti lawyer Dr. Patrick Gau and MOSES & TAPS™.

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BACK IN STOCK! AMSTERDAM ON TOUR – The early signs of Dutch graffiti

“The year is 1983 A.D.. New York graffiti occupies the globe, the Old Europe is entirely clean and name writing does not exist on the continent. Well, not entirely… One small village…”

If you ever did research on the origins of graffiti, several forms of name writing culture such as hobo writings, the carvings of Pompeii or Mr. Joseph Kyselak might have passed your way. All of these historic examples of name writing have one thing in common: there is no direct link or coherence leading to the traditional New York writing culture. However Amsterdam is the prime example of how the cities historic writing groundwork was connected with new influences from oversea and finally lead to a continuation of an existing movement.

The history of public writing in Amsterdam dates back to the sixties. Political slogans have been executed with paint and spray paint, during the seventies punk era tools like stencils, stickers and markers were added. Besides bands which promoted their names, single writers began to develop figurative elements, logos and started working on the visual appearance of their names by using calligraphic and typographic influences.

The major advantage of AMSTERDAM ON TOUR is its author: AGAIN, maybe the cities most hardcore bomber ever, proves to be the perfect choice to put together a book on the local history. After eight years of intense research the result is a book, far beyond expectations: it includes texts by e.g. VENDEX, Hugo Kaagman, N-POWER, THE DUMB, DE ZOOT, ANUS PELIKANUS, EGO, DR. AIR, SHOE, WALKING JOINT, DR. SMURRY, HIGH, GASP, DELTA, Yaki Kornblit, QUIK, BLADE, JEZIS, JOKER, ZAP, RHYME, JAZ and CAT22.

Although the written contributions give a pretty good insight into the time between 1975 and 1985, the photographs are treasures at least of the same value. On 202 pages you can join THE DUMB catching tags in 1979, observe DR. RAT leaving marks on doors or watch DELTA tagging the tram. AMSTERDAM ON TOUR is a milestone and the new standard in books on the history of graffiti. We are proud to offer you a small stack of the last available copies.

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