Puber – Vienna’s Most Infamous Tagger
If you were in Vienna in 2013, you surely remember Puber—his name was everywhere. Sprayed in block letters on walls, doors, and buildings, his graffiti tag covered hundreds of surfaces across the city. You could hardly walk through Vienna without spotting his work. And for many Viennese, the biggest offense? His tag had no artistic flair, just plain PUBER in all caps, repeated endlessly. But who was Puber, and what became of him?
The Story of Puber – From Switzerland to Vienna
The Vienna vandal wasn’t Austrian at all—he was originally from Switzerland, where he first gained notoriety for spraying his tag all over Zurich. His graffiti annoyed the Swiss public so much that he eventually moved to Vienna, where he picked up right where he left off. It didn’t take long before he became one of the most hated figures in the city, with locals furious over the sheer volume of his tagging.
Puber’s Arrest and Rebranding Attempt
In 2014, Puber was arrested in Vienna and charged with 232 counts of vandalism. The result? A short prison sentence and a €50,000 fine. That could have been the end of the story, but Puber later attempted a career shift—in 2016, he put on a gallery show, trying to rebrand himself as an artist.
Despite this, the Puber tag hasn’t completely disappeared from Vienna’s streets. Whether the original Puber is still at work or copycats have taken over remains unclear. What is certain, however, is that Puber’s graffiti left its mark—literally—on Vienna.
And while his story is one of the most notorious, he’s far from the only graffiti tagger to have made an impact on Vienna’s walls. But that’s a story for next time… Until then, how about booking our Street Art tour to enjoy actual graffiti art? Our guides will show you a different side of Vienna through beautiful street paintings along the canal near Schwedenplatz.
