German Artist Shores Up Crumbling Walls With Lego Bricks

For the last three years, 26-year old German artist, Jan Vormann has been a man on a mission - Patching up old historical walls all over the world, with colorful Lego bricks!

His project, dubbed 'Dispatchwork' has taken him to the many different cities ranging from Berlin, Germany to Tel Aviv, Israel, and even New York City. What started as simple repair job at a fair in Rome, has turned into world-wide recognition for the young artist. He now gets invited to many of the countries he visits, where he is often joined by a group of enthusiastic volunteers eager to help out with the fun project of bringing back to life old, tired-looking walls.

Jan says he chose Lego bricks, not only because its fun, but also because the colorful pieces draw the attention of people walking by, and cause them to reflect on how the holes came about especially, on historical buildings.

One of his most favorite pieces of art is a 'patch up' job in Berlin, where Jan filled up the holes left by guns and shrapnel, dating back to World War 2.

Though his pieces of art are held together by strong glue, they do not last very long - they either fall off or are carried away by little kids drawn to the colorful tiles. Jan, therefore, photographs each wall, so that he can savor his work and share it with the rest of the world.

He hopes to continue this project as long as he can - and while he started with historical walls, he now just fixes any wall that needs some TLC - One Lego brick at a time!

sources: platform21.nl,psfk.com,todayandtomorrow.net,weburbanist.com