Three public spaces in downtown Amman have been temporarily re-purposed as platforms to promote contemporary design from Jordan and the wider region. This is Amman Design Week, a first-time consolidation of the kingdom’s artistic capabilities, established and emerging, and the excellent choreography of its exhibits rivals that in any world-class city.

Supported by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, and with corporate sponsorship from Manaseer Group and Zain, Amman Design Week will be an annual event to encourage growth in Jordan’s design sector. This year’s pilot featured workshops and lectures to stimulate collaboration and learning, many with a theme of environmental stewardship.

“The Hangar” in Ras el Ain is curated and designed by Sahel Al Hiyari, the Jordan Museum “MakerSpace”, and the upper level of Raghadan Tourist Terminal (in lead image) are hosting different installations – many interactive – available to the public for free. A shuttle bus – also free – manned by helpful bilingual (Arabic and English) staff, transports visitors to each venue throughout the day.

Pieces include a gigantic soaring bird made of electric light tubes by Iraqi artist Adel Abidin (above) and an intricately woven screen made of fine copper wire by Jordanian architect Hiba Shahzada (below).

Architects Yazeed Obeid and Jeries Al Ali contributed a skeletal tower that references the welded metal minarets towering over rural Jordan. The sculpture morphs with movement; walk around it and the shape of the internal void creates new illusions of mass.

There are spectacular furnishings made from marble and granite, some carved with lasers to mimic Palestinian embroidery. Arabesque motifs inspire the “Unfolding Unity Stool Marble Edition” by Aljoud Lootah Design Studio (below).

Jordanian architect Ammar Khammash melds music with geology in his astonishing instrument constructed from shards of flint. Without any intervention in shape or the size of the stones, he tested each to identify its inherent sound, using tuning apps and frequency identification computer programs. He discovered flints that hit all the notes of the chromatic scale found in a typical piano. The installation – which visitors can play – reflects the natural occurrence of notes that are hidden in the desert landscape. See the story of the singing flints in the video below.

[vimeo 180695489 w=640 h=360]

Jordan Museum’s MakerSpace, the second venue, is the site of lectures and hands-on tech demonstrations, and a smaller array of interactive exhibits.

The pieces begin to engage more fully with their urban surroundings at the Raghadan Tourist Terminal, where portions of the facility have been wrapped with brilliantly colored fabric and rope, creating marvellous shadows that move with the sun (above and below).

An open-air marketplace features some of Jordan’s most innovative craftspeople, including the Safi Crafts group, Canadian artist Jean Bradbury‘s posse of natural dye mavens from the southern Dead Sea.  There is unusual jewelry by architectOla Medanat, set within handmade terrarium that are dazzling as the gems within. The Crafts District is curated and designed by Dina Haddadin.

Find handmade paper cards, notebooks, and home accessories by the Association of Iraq Al Amir Women, a small community south of Amman supported in part by the craft collective. Their colorful paper spice bowls are shown, below.

Twenty-seven artists crocheted the #KeesChic Canopies providing shade along the marketplace corridors (below), diverting 25,000 plastic bags from local landfills.

Many of the vendors at Raghadan Tourist Terminal are actively involved in on-site production, and are happy to explain their inspiration and techniques. This venue also offers food and drink and live entertainment. is also available at this venue.

Amman Design Week is co-directed by Jordanian architects Abeer Seikaly and Rana Beiruti. Green Prophet previously reported on Seikaly’s award-winning design for refugee shelters (story here). The event runs from September 1 through 9, with exhibitions open from 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM. Download the program of events (link here).

Images by author, Desert Sound Instrument by Ammar Khammash from Ammar Khammash on Vimeo.

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It was the brainchild of gallery owner and Street Art impresario Medhi Ben Cheikh. Supported by Paris officials, he already had a history of attracting popular street artists to his 13th arrondissement neighborhood to paint large murals.  When he learned that a building overlooking the Seine was to be knocked down, he hatched this monumental “art-lab”.

“It has been quite a thrill,” he told the Wall Street Journal. A decade ago, the former high-school art teacher opened his Galerie Itinerrance in Paris, cultivating contacts with the likes of American graphic designer Shepard Fairey (made famous for his Obama “Hope” poster) and Green Prophet fave, Franco-Tunisian Arab calligraphist eL Seed.

Ben Cheikh invited 105 visual artists from 18 countries to redecorate the structure.  (Its 36 apartments formerly housed railroad workers.)  Each time he learned a street artist was coming to Europe, he’d reach out to pull them aboard his project.

Artists worked for seven months to “graff” 4,500 square meters of interiors, façades and stairwells, donating their work in exchange for accommodation and materials.  All were cool with the notion that their art would be destroyed with the building.

The end product was a wild mosaic of street-art trends, including works by artists from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

The Iranian street artist A1one combined Arabic calligraphy with stunning portraiture (images above and below).

Paris-based artist Rodolphe Cintorino created a horrifying vision of war-torn Syria, hanging dozens of empty spray paint cans over a map of the country, symbolizing bombs in mid-air.

The variety of styles is captured in the short video below:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/LGVyZOV1oM8[/youtube]

Calligraphy by el Seed covered one of the outside walls (see lead image).

“Even if Arabic calligraphy is standardized, [el Seed] reinvented a new typography just like the first street artists did using Latin letters inside speech bubbles,” Ben Cheikh explains. The new Arabic script “puts across a very contemporary image of the Arab world and Arab identity.”

Maryam was one of two Saudi women who painted dressed in hijab. “Maryam and her sister graff all year in Jeddah,” says Ben Cheikh. “Even with all the restrictions, you can try to live your passion.”

El Seed has conducted graffiti workshops in Doha and Jeddah but thinks the Saudi capital is a tougher audience. “It’s stricter there,” he says. “I can’t imagine someone graffing in Riyadh.”

The Tour Paris 13 project goes entirely digital for the next two weeks, so if you missed the actual exhibit there’s still a chance to check out the images online.

All images from Galerie Itinerrance

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Kuwaiti graphic designer Mohammad Sharaf serves up powerful pictures based on current events, salted with modern Middle Eastern humor and instantly provocative. Take a look at his image of a veiled woman on a bike with a man riding behind her, a reference to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Vice’s recent decision to allow women to drive motorcycles as long as they were accompanied by a male guardian.

“I read about the announcement in a newspaper and couldn’t believe it.  I thought it was really funny and far-fetched so I decided to create this artwork,” he told the Saudi Gazette.  Titled “Allowed”, the artwork created a buzz on social media sites and attracted international press attention.

His stark image of a pair of covered women, designed to commemorate International Women’s Day (a global event  to incite gender equality) invites wide interpretation.

Anais Nin nailed it when she quipped, “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.”

Sharaf’s father was an avid artist, their home filled with paintings and the tools of the trade. With his dad as teacher, he started painting at an early stage.

When Sharaf was seven years old, his father was banned from exhibiting his political paintings at local art shows.  Disillusioned, the elder Sharaf stopped all artistic activities, including lessons to his son. The theme of censorship arises in another of the artist’s posters, see below.

“I always make sure that my artwork touches very basic audience members, in addition to the sophisticated ones,” he said.

Sharaf’s political and social artwork relies on simple backgrounds and uses of a limited color range, most commonly black, white, and red.

“I developed my style from different artists such as Emil Ruder and Reza Abedini,” he writes. “As for colors, I try to link to the Russian propaganda and Constructivism art movement. Their posters were critical of the system and politics in a unique way. They were bold, funny and social. They were direct and indirect. They used very limited number of colors and cheap materials because of their poor economic status. I mix all.”

He’s passionate for Arabic calligraphy, and it’s a recurring feature of his work.

An art school teacher inspired him to create political and social artwork. Urging that an artist should be an active member of society, she kickstarted his creation of posters highlighting local and regional issues.

Over the years, Sharaf has witnessed radical change in the Gulf art scene. Young people are more enthused and interested in art and design, and dozens of galleries have opened.  Artists are taking risks, and making bolder statements against the status quo.

After “Allowed,” Sharaf was contacted by organizations wanting to republish his artwork. His work appeared in German news magazine, Der Spiegel. “I was contacted by a German bicycle museum to have it showcased there and also an NGO from Finland to have the illustration on a book they will be publishing soon.

Word of mouth is helping him gain an audience,  He established Sharaf Inc., his own art studio, and is currently selling his images on t-shirts, with future plans to sell prints and paintings.

He says, “For me, I think that the best reward ever is to see my work published and being distributed all over the world.”

Images via Mohammad Sharaf’s website

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