Art Utopia Wiki

Let’s Play? 3D street painting by Nikolaj Arndt, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

A 3D pavement painting in a busy pedestrian street. A rectangle of blue tiles seems to open up in the grey paving like a pool, and a black-and-white orca swims in it, its head rising from a swirl of white water while its long body and tall black fin lie in front. On the right, a woman in a black top, jeans and high heels leans forward with both hands out, as if she has just tossed the red, white and blue beach ball that hangs in the air above the orca’s head. A crowd of shoppers watches from behind her, with shop windows, a parked bicycle and a folded blue tarp further up the street.
Artwork FileWilhelmshaven · Germany
Gone2011

Let’s
Play?

Nikolaj Arndt · “Let’s play?”, 3D street painting, StreetArt Festival Wilhelmshaven, 6–7 August 2011 · Pedestrian zone in the city centre, Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony

Photo: Nikolaj Arndt, a crop of the photo he posted on DeviantArt on 8 August 2011, as published on Street Art Utopia

  • #NikolajArndt
  • #3DStreetArt
  • #StreetPainting
  • #Orca
  • #StreetArtWilhelmshaven
  • #Wilhelmshaven
  • #Germany

Nikolaj Arndt painted this orca on the pavement at the first International StreetArt Festival in Wilhelmshaven, on 6 and 7 August 2011, and took second place in the 3D category. He posted the photo the next day as “Let’s play?” with the caption “Street Art Wilhelmshaven 2011”. The festival’s pictures are drawn in chalk, and nothing of this one is left.

5 things to know

  1. Second place, first festivalThe first International StreetArt Festival in Wilhelmshaven took place on 6 and 7 August 2011, with 24 artists from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the USA and Mexico. In the 3D category Udo Lindenthal won, Nikolaj Arndt came second and Remko van Schaik third. The festival’s own 2011 gallery includes this orca, filed as “3D_02_Nikolaj_Arndt”. Festival
  2. The ball is realArndt posted two photos of the painting on 8 August 2011. In the second, “orca”, a red, white and blue beach ball rests on the painted orca’s head with nobody playing, only passers-by in the background; in the photo above, a visitor tosses it. Artist · Artist
  3. A teacher who paints streetsThe festival’s portrait says Arndt graduated in 1997 as a teacher of performing arts and drawing, has taught art since 1998, and has entered street painting competitions since 2008. It lists him as Russian-German. Festival
  4. A Wilhelmshaven regularHe came back in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018, and won first place for 3D art in 2012, 2013 and 2018, plus the audience award in 2012 and 2013. Festival
  5. Chalk on the pavementThe festival describes its pictures as made “mit viel Herz, Talent und Kreide” (with a lot of heart, talent and chalk). Artists paint on Friday and Saturday in front of visitors, and the finished works can be seen on Sunday. Festival

Check-in guide

📍
A pedestrian street in central Wilhelmshaven. The festival says its street painting contest is held on Marktstraße, the town’s pedestrian zone, “as it does every year” (festival). No source gives the exact spot of this painting in 2011.
🧭
We could not pin the spot, so the Maps button searches for Marktstraße, Wilhelmshaven, not a coordinate.
🚫
There is nothing left to see: it was a chalk picture on the paving, made for one festival weekend in August 2011.
🎨
The festival still returns every August; the next one runs from 6 to 8 August 2027 (festival).
Open in MapsArtist’s post

Sightings

  1. 20116–7 Aug

    Festival weekend

  2. 20118 Aug

    Artist: “Let’s play?”

  3. 20118 Aug

    Artist: “orca”

  4. 2011Result

    2nd place, 3D

  5. 20266 Oct

    In SAU “Just Play Along”

Every stamp links to the dated source. Green stamps are the artist’s own photos, by their DeviantArt posting date (the camera data in both posts says 5 August 2011, a camera date); amber stamps are the festival’s review and the SAU post. No source records when the chalk wore away.

On the record

Nikolaj Arndt (DeviantArt)8 August 2011

‘Let’s play?’

“Street Art Wilhelmshaven 2011 ( Nikolaj Arndt )”

The artist’s own caption for the photo on this page. His second photo of the painting, “orca”, posted four minutes later, is captioned “Street Art Wilhelmshaven 2011”.

Read

StreetArt Festival WilhelmshavenReview 2011

Review 2011

“The first International StreetArt Festival took place on August 6 & 7, 2011.”

The festival’s results list: “3D artists 1st place: Udo Lindenthal | 2nd place: Nikolaj Arndt | 3rd place: Remko van Schaik”. Its 2011 photo gallery shows this orca with a ball on its head.

Read

StreetArt Festival WilhelmshavenCurrent page

Internationales StreetArt-Festival

“Mit viel Herz, Talent und Kreide erschaffen die Künstler:innen eindrucksvolle Bilder, die ihre Betrachter:innen in fantasievolle Welten entführen.”

“With a lot of heart, talent and chalk, the artists create impressive pictures that carry their viewers off into imaginative worlds.” The festival’s description of its street painting contest today.

Read

The facts

Artist
Nikolaj Arndt, a Russian-German 3D street painter (artist’s post, festival review, festival portrait) Checked
Title
“Let’s play?”, the title of the artist’s DeviantArt post. Street Art Utopia ran the photo as “Your Turn” Checked
Made
At the first International StreetArt Festival Wilhelmshaven, 6–7 August 2011 (festival, artist) Checked
Result
Second place in the 3D category; the festival’s 2011 gallery shows this orca under Arndt’s name (festival) Checked
Material
Chalk on the paving: the festival says its pictures are made with chalk, but no source describes this one’s materials Reported
Place
A pedestrian street in central Wilhelmshaven. The festival says the contest is held on Marktstraße every year; no source names the street for 2011 (festival) Unconfirmed
Photo
By Nikolaj Arndt, posted on DeviantArt on 8 August 2011; DeviantArt lists a Panasonic DMC-LZ6 camera and a camera date of 5 August 2011, 1:02 pm (the second photo, “orca”, 1:36 pm). That is one day before the festival’s stated dates of 6–7 August, so either the camera clock was not set correctly or the painting was finished before the official weekend. The version above is slightly cropped (DeviantArt, DeviantArt) Checked
Status
Gone. A chalk street painting made for the August 2011 festival weekend, with no later sighting. The day it wore away is not recorded Reported

Related

All sources (6)

This painting

The artist and the festival

Artwork File · Last checked 6 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files