Festival puts a new spin on urban art in Jordan

By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - Graffiti, skateboards, films and folk music - art is taking many forms in a festival across the capital.

Urban art in Jordan is the focus of the “Festival of Alternative Arts”, an event organized by the Swedish embassy in Amman with various partners in a bid to encourage and discuss alternative forms of expression in the Kingdom, according to Swedish Ambassador to Jordan Charlotta Sparre.

“This festival creates an opportunity to showcase and discuss graffiti and other urban alternative art expressions. It aims at contributing to broadening the concept of art as a diverse form of expression, but also hopes to attract and stimulate an interest in urban art,” Sparre told The Jordan Times over the phone on Wednesday.

The objective is to gather Jordanian institutions, cultural actors, organizations and individuals to “network and coordinate creative ideas under a common umbrella”, she added, expressing hope that the festival will become an annual fixture of the capital’s cultural scene.

The festival, which started last month and will run through March, includes an exhibition of “Gaza Graffiti”, which opens on January 26, at the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.

Also as part of the event, an online debate is being held on self-expression and new media among women bloggers from Jordan, six other Arab countries and Denmark at www.blog-on.org.

Throughout January, festival activities will also include documentaries screened by the Royal Film Commission and performances of Suwar, a play by young Iraqi actors sharing stories of displacement.

In addition, the festival will feature an urban art hunt sponsored by Hamzet Wasel in cooperation with Turath, a presentation on skateboarding culture in Amman, a spoken word night, an ongoing showcase of graffiti art by 20 UNRWA students, a folk festival performed by local artists Hana Malhas and El Morabba3 and a debate on life in Gaza.

The festival is organized in cooperation with the Greater Amman Municipality, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Royal Film Commission, Children’s Museum, Al Balad Theatre, Hamzet Wasel, UNRWA, Danish Program Office, Books@café, Jacaranda Images, Aramram, Philadelphia Skateboards, Ikbis and Zeenko Comics, as well as several independent artists.

6 January 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=33217.