BREWED 2018 Second Issue 2017-2018 | Page 17

Three years ago, Blind walls gallery was ‘born’. There used to be a city wall around Breda. It’s long gone, but you can still see some parts of it around the city. The idea is that a wall makes the city. The blind walls (walls without a window) always kept graffiti art on them. They’re often a neglected part of a building. We try to tell stories of the city itself, using murals. Every wall has some connection to the area and people that lived there. There are almost 70 walls in the collection of blind walls gallery. Fifteen of them were done last year. How did you and art meet? Dennis : I studied painting and printmaking. But I figured out that, even though I was selling the paintings I made, I actually find more satisfaction in organizing the presentation of other people’s art. I did a lot of indoor shows but, with time, public shows became my passion. The perception of art is just different. Art on the street has a really different emotion to bring. That’s what I like to play with the most. That’s why we put a gigantic pink poo emoji on the Grote Markt. That’s also sort of a visual rebellion. It’s fun playing with the perception of the audience. Is there something with a message to spread on? Niek : It depends from wall to wall. Some are just beautiful or just history connected. Dennis: I don’t think any of the walls screams “rebellion”. There are always artists that sneak some hidden messages into their work that might be considered rebellious. However, the core idea of the murals is not to show activism. We’re planning on dedicating some on politics. I think the one that causes confusion or people find disturbing is the one about refugees by Bruce TMC. The fact that you’re already pain- ting on a wall has always been controversial. Whether people agree or like the style of the painting is enough controversy for us, while we’re planning ahead with this project. In the festival’s program, however, you can do more with controversy and rebellion. For instance, changing the typical advertising format or displaying offensive posters in public spaces. The things we do in the festival cause more discussion. The walls we have by Hedof in Prinsenkade provoked a hate campaign against the Blind walls galle- ry. A person even started a “stop the Blind walls gallery” Facebook page (has one like so far), but he was constantly sending us emails with threats and accusing us of being criminals. He says we’re disturbing the public areas in Breda. Most of the times we ask these type of people to put their energy into something meaningful for society.