Juxtapositions: Graffiti and Architecture

One of the things that has struck me the most about Berlin are the various contrasts that the city has. The TV tower next to the old Church, the young Turkish women in hijabs with full makeup and painted nails, the dirty clubs that charge €7 for a gin and tonic....

One of my favorite of those contrasts looks like this:



I'm constantly seeing this beautifully constructed buildings with graffiti on the bottom. I really don't know how I feel about it. I am just as conflicted as the building itself looks. On one hand, this beautiful building is in and of itself art. The intricacies of the architecture and detailing on the building should be appreciated for what they are. On the other hand... graffiti is art too. This really reminds me of my freshman seminar at PSU, we spent like four weeks talking about graffiti and it's place in a city. We watched an OLD documentary on graffiti in NYC subways. We all debated for what seemed like hours on end about what graffiti's place was and seemingly every conversation and debate ended with this: It is subjective. Art is what YOU think it is.

So, reader, I ask you... Do you think graffiti is art? What do you think about these beautiful, historical buildings with graffiti on them?