Blurred shots of a bridge in the dark, isolated lights are burning in the background.

Masked people in white painting suits push stacks of paint buckets across the asphalt with a sack truck.

This is how a video uploaded to YouTube by the Lüdenscheid artist collective “Willi & Söhne” begins.

Dozens of helpers distribute white paint along straight lines and draw yellow and blue color fields in a circle.

The bird's-eye view of a drone finally enlightens the viewer: "Let's build bridges", the collective painted extensively on the Rahmede viaduct.

Next to it is a peace sign in the national colors of Ukraine.

Anna Schiller

volunteer.

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The ramshackle building, which is currently closed and is due to be blown up this year, has been transformed into a "monument of cohesion", writes the collective under the video.

There is war in Europe: “Millions of people are losing their homes and homes.

Too many of them lost their lives as well.” The pandemic left a “deeply divided society” in its wake, and in Lüdenscheid the existence of companies and countless people was threatened by the closed bridge.

They made the graffito against war, against division and for togetherness.

It is "one of the largest street art installations in the world".

Since the lettering is also a political statement, state security is now checking whether a criminal offense has been committed.

So far, the police have not received any complaints from Autobahn GmbH, says Tino Schäfer, chief police officer at the Hagen police department.

Autobahn GmbH manages the German autobahns for the federal government.

A spokeswoman for Autobahn GmbH confirmed that the company had no intention of placing an ad.

The graffiti should also not be removed.

"That's a message that we support." After all, the company also wants to build bridges - especially at the present time, these are more important than ever in a figurative sense.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only being processed in a creative way in Lüdenscheid.

In Herford, more than 80 farmers formed a peace sign with their tractors in a field on Saturday.

With their spotlights, they made the motif shine in the evening.

With the campaign, the farmers wanted to express their solidarity with all Ukrainians - but especially with their colleagues there, says Jan-Wilhelm Wetehof.

He initiated the campaign with his farmer friend Jens Müller.

"We were helpless and shocked," he says of the farmers' motives.

The extent of the invasion irritated him and many of his colleagues.

On Friday he shared his idea in the Whatsapp group of Herford farmers.

24 hours later, around 350 supporters came to the meeting point with the farmers.

"It was a spontaneous action," says Wetehof.

"But when farmers do something, it makes sense." They attached a long piece of string to a post and used it to draw a circle in the field like a large compass.

The peace sign immediately came to mind as a motif.

In the end, the sign was 120 meters in diameter.

Ukraine is Europe's breadbasket, says Wetehof.

The war there is also causing rising food and fertilizer prices here.

They also wanted to draw attention to this with their campaign.

The war also keeps creative people busy in the cities.

In Berlin, Colombian street artist Arte Vilu spray-painted a portrait of a woman in a traditional Ukrainian dress onto a wall.

Next to it he wrote: “Stop War!” Frenchman Julien Malland painted a girl waving the Ukrainian flag on a wall in the 13th arrondissement.

She strides forward with resolute steps - and crushes small black shells in the process.

Such works of art are easier to share than the graffiti in Lüdenscheid: It is better not to travel there for selfies.

Police officer Tino Schäfer urgently advises against entering the Rahmede viaduct: “This is an absolutely restricted area.

This is not only illegal, it is also life-threatening.” The area around the bridge is being monitored by the police.

Autobahn GmbH has also reinforced the barriers on the bridge and on the driveways.