This year, the Open Art Museum will work with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Jordan to achieve “Open Art Shuffle”.
Open Art Shuffle is a street art and cultural exchange initiative between Dutch and Jordanian artists, allowing artists to exchange countries, ideas, and cultures while leaving beautiful works of art in the form of large murals.
They aim to shed light on the social, economic, and environmental significance of these topics to both the Netherlands and Jordan.
The murals’ themes center around food security, water, and intercultural exchange.
Jordanian artists Yazan Mesmar and Miramar Al Nayyar completed two large murals in the city of Leeuwarden, in the Netherlands.
“Many special traditions that help us nurture deep friendships with our neighbors have been developed by Jordanian communities. For example, when someone shares food with us we later return the plate filled with fruit, sweets, or a recipe to show our appreciation. I activated the spirit of the ‘returning the plate’ tradition to conceptualize a mural that would honor and extend the important relationship between Jordan and the Netherlands”, said artist Miramar.
“My mural depicts another important feature of Jordan’s natural
landscape: the flowering palm tree. While palm trees grow all over Jordan, they are not present in the Netherlands due to the cold winters. Therefore, I decided to use my art to donate the Netherlands a palm tree that will flourish all year long.”
“Jordan has the highest rate of female participation in agriculture in the MENA region. My mural depicts a portrait of a proud woman, in a dress inspired by the traditional northern dresses that were worn to celebrate the beginning and end of the harvest season. The woman is surrounded by tulips, the national flower of the Netherlands to signify the transfer of knowledge and experience between the two nations and people.”
Yazan Mesmar
Dutch artist duo Studio Giftig and artist Tymon de Laat travel to Jordan from the Netherlands at the end of September to create their murals in the capital city of Amman.
In 2018, the Dutch government designated Jordan as a priority country for the reception of refugees in the region and committed 200 million Euro for development cooperation.
