SYSTEM SMASH

THE GOLDEN ERA OF BERLIN SUBWAY WRITING 2018–2021

In October of 2018 Ramona Pop, back then Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs and at the same time Chair of the Supervisory Board of the BVG (the local subway and bus services) defended her groundbreaking idea on public television: instead of pulling freshly painted trains out of traffic which caused major delays each morning for thousands of Berliners she suggested to simply let them roll. A remarkable new approach to deal with the graffiti problem and contrary to the previous aim of taking pieces out of traffic as quick as possible.

SYSTEM SMASH is the latest publication by Berlin trainspotter Peter Stelzig that has the aftermath of this decision in focus which lasted four years until 2021 when the BVG finally managed to return to the common cleaning capacities. After in the first weeks local writers and visitors alike realized that their panels really ran, sometimes with partly buffed parts like windows or train car numbers, a real boom took place. Since the works rolled now for weeks and months writers did often invest much more time to produce high quality burners of unmatched quality. Many tourists obviously came to the town to leave traces on the underground system as well.

Names like BOKS, VOLVO, FSR, MR.TEE, 180, ILTS, JEICO, THC, RA, or RWRZ dominated this phase with seemingly never ending output. The 196-paged hardcover features solely shots by Peter Stelzig who professionalized in spotting as many cars as possible on every line during that era. In more than 500 photos he gives an extensive insight to the golden years where seeing a completely clean train was nearly impossible. Short texts by SIEGER, STEL, DENK, Peter Stelzig, REVOLTE GRUPPE, ABIS78 aka MR.TEE, JOYS, LION, Georg Zolchow, and even a subway driver on their experiences and thoughts are included on top of the photo content.

Since no magazine covered this unique era of the Berlin trainwriting scene and some pieces might have appeared only on social media yet this book fills the gap of documenting these surreal years in the city’s graffiti history.

196 pages, 25,6 x 25,6 cm, hardcover
Language: German/English
Release date: May 2026
ISBN: 978-3-9823072-5-1
Publisher: racoon books