2014

2014 was the year it all began — an exercise in experimentation, willpower, and a bit of luck. As James “JB” Bullough was looking for ways to break into the Urban Art and Gallery scene as a painter and muralist, he decided to combine his love of art with his love of talking, and approached his good friend Tom (AUTO64), who brought years of experience in radio and music production. What started as a late-night, half-drunken idea after JB hung out with RONE in Berlin quickly snowballed into a real radio show on Berlin Community Radio once Tom was roped in. Working first through their immediate circle of friends and contacts, the very first episode with VIDAM from the Weird Crew set the tone for what VantagePoint would become. Within one show they realized it would be easier to bring the studio to the artists, so they built a portable kit and hit the streets, recording early episodes with Buff Diss, Christian Rothenhagen (DEERBLN), the Gephart Brothers, and REKA. Within six months, Berlin Community Radio canceled their show — but rather than slowing down, it gave them the push they needed to move fully into the podcast format with a wider global audience. (BCR itself shut down in 2019, yet VantagePoint continues.) That same year, VantagePoint also became a media partner with Urban Nation Berlin, a collaboration that would go on to define much of the show’s international focus. Guests like Tank Petrol, Yasha Young, Mimi Scholz, Thinkspace Gallery, Word to Mother, Ben Eine, VNA Magazine, Mark Lyken, OLEK, and DAL EAST quickly shifted the project from a Berlin curiosity to an international platform for voices across the urban art world. They expanded outward with Buff Monster, Axel Void, Paula Delfín, @Lushsux, TWOONE, JAZ, and KLONE, while still staying rooted in Berlin with interviews featuring 1UP Crew, Dave the Chimp, LAKE, and BASE23. By the end of 2014, what began as a spontaneous side project had already weathered its first major challenge and emerged stronger — laying the foundation for everything that followed.