There’s a lot of street art in the gallery-theater compound tucked into a back-alley courtyard off Rosenthaler Strasse in the Hackescher Market area of Berlin.  Below is an illustration-styled painting a girl with pink hair, reminiscent of a character in a Japanese comic book (“manga”) or graphic novel.

Street art in a courtyard alley in the Hackescher Market of Mitte in Berlin: This black-and-white human-scale poster of an illustrated cat says “I’m not free.” The cat wears a t-shirt on which is written the name of Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, who was briefly jailed in China earlier this year.

The iconic Daimler Mercedes-Benz logo speaks for itself atop this 1960-70’s era office tower in Charlottenberg, in the former heart of  west Berlin. The logo slowly spins around, as the pix below attest.

Love this. Here’s another one of those sculptures that’s bound to make somebody say “WTF?” when they see it.  We stumbled upon this near the Museum for Photography and Zoo Station in Charlottenburg, in Berlin. The artwork is a powerful, mysterious and verging-on-ominous post-modern object, hinting at some dark industrial process with its pipe-like elements. Thing of beauty within the faded, conservative glamour that is heart of posh West Berlin.

A random sample of station-name signs on the U-Bahn subway in Berlin, Germany. Pictured here: Potsdamer Platz,  Stadtmitte, Oranienburger Tor, and Mehringdamn.

The wonderful modern-contemporary architectural design of the towering GSW Hochhaus building in north end of Kreuzberg, near Mitte, in central Berlin.

Stencil street art on Museum Island in Mitte, in Berlin. What’s so striking about this stencil is that it’s duplicated and the image of a masked man — reminiscent of a terrorist —  and the “A” (for “anarchy”?) is itself mysterious and discomforting.

That the image is on a government street barrier in the cultural heart of Berlin, an area with scant graffiti or street art, is a statement, perhaps. The juxtaspostion of black stencil paint and the red and white of the barrier catch the eye as if to worn the viewer.

The presence of a hardcore German football (soccer) club supporters sticker — Karlsbande Ultras — brings another element of disruption to the image and the hint of violence.

In front of the Martin Gropius Bau museum in Berlin currently hangs a large red banner that says “Freiheit fur Ai Wei Wi” (Freedom for Ai Wei Wei”), the influential Chinese artist who was arrested and held by authorities for a few months earlier this year. A major exhibition of Wei Wei’s artwork is scheduled at the Gropius Bau this autumn.