No other street in Cologne is as representative of neighbourly coexistence as Körnerstraße in Ehrenfeld. Life is a little different here. The shops aren’t open every day, and when they are, they only tend to open at noon. The trees in the narrow avenue have neighbourhood boards mounted on them to indicate events and make some second-hand sales. First and foremost, however, these self-made advertising columns serve as small exhibition areas for creativity and art from the quarter.
In general, the entire street reflects a wish to creatively design the town’s appearance. Orange garbage bins are turned into flowerpots, bollards are covered with brightly coloured crocheted coats, and bicycle stands are repurposed. Hardly any other street in Cologne sports a comparable amount of street art on as little space as this one does. Self-made signposts draw attention to other things hidden here: Pop-up-stores, photobook museum, fair fashion, coffee roaster, a store for unpacked goods, design stores, and a proper Cologne pub.
Körnerstraße is deemed a brightly coloured jewel away from the busy Venloer Straße and a symbol for Ehrenfeld’s metamorphosis from a workers’ quarter into a scene one.
The narrow street with houses that are typical for Cologne and pennant chains between them looks a little like a modern version of the “Lindenstraße”
The colourful signposts mark all the things to be discovered in Körnerstraße
Street Art everywhere: hardly any other place in the quarter has as many different kinds of street art as this one does.
Typical for Cologne: Minnie Mouse meets the German “Sendung mit der Maus”
Fatal Attraction: A paste-up by Cologne street artist PusherTony
