32
Dispatch
| MAY/JUN 2017 | ISSUE 103Independent voices are convening, ruminating and collaborating
New cultural streams are running
in Amman today as a number
of groups seek to assess, design
and challenge the strategies that
shape artistic production in Jordan.
One such group, comprised of
independent artists, is researching
cultural policies in the country
through analysis and engagement
into what constitutes as a cultural
map. Named “About Culture in
Jordan,” this research was partly
presented in April 2016 at the
Hangar Ras al-Ain, a former
factory turned exhibition hall,
where, in partnership with the
Ministry of Culture and Greater
Amman Municipality, more than 40
noncommercial cultural initiatives
set up booths. It brought to the
fore both the large and the small,
as tiny initiatives with small
budgets—including cultural cafés—
appeared alongside prominent arts
foundations. A good, but not great,
number of visitors showed up,
illustrating that a limited audience
is willing to come out to encounter
the makers—rather than the
products—of the cultural scene.
By comparison, a few months
later, in the same venue, Amman
Design Week (ADW) attracted
a larger public, likely due to the
historical significance of design
in Jordan. The event was split
between multiple venues: one
presented a mix of creations from
different fields, such as inventiveAmman
BY ALA YOUNISmusical instruments made from
rocks and furniture experiments;
another was dedicated to crafts and
local food products; and a third,
called “MakerSpace,” was for digital
fabrications whose participants
were mostly school students
building objects in tech clubs.
Designers also organized events
for or with other designers, be it a
PhD-related workshop on design
in Jordan, exhibitions of Arabic
posters or training workshops
on creating typefaces. A second
edition of ADW is due in October,
with a new curator.
Between these two events, the
European Union-funded program
Med Culture, in partnership with
the Ministry of Culture, organized
a two-day, consultative workshop
in Amman to set a common vision
for culture in Jordan. Divided
into thematic working groups, the
participants discussed parameters
of the sectors to be included,
the main strategic objectives
and policy guidelines, as well as
the role of stakeholders (public
authorities, civil society, elected
officials and artists), and finally,
centralized and local initiatives.
The workshop culminated with the
outlines of a national strategy and
also produced a focus group of
cultural practitioners that has been
meeting regularly every few weeks
since then to discuss pertinent
issues and the areas in which work
is to be done. Over the following
months, the focus group enabled
independent voices to discuss,
critique and suggest further
wordings in the national cultural
strategy draft. By the end of 2016,
after criticism that the first report
was not fully representative of the
diverse practices and backgrounds
of practitioners—who tend not
to attend meetings organized
by or in collaboration with the
public sector—a second Med
Culture workshop brought more
participants from the private and
independent sectors, including
their voices in the discussions
around this draft.Among the other issues
discussed in the monthly meetings
is the lack of public cultural spaces,
in comparison to the country’s
numerous religious centers that
offer youth programs in sports,
entertainment and ideology. The
public has quenched its thirst
on the used-book fairs that have
drawn large numbers of visitors
seeking publications sold at prices
from half a US dollar—a relief
from the harsh inflation the city
has witnessed.
Shaping the scene today is a
self-taught culture of informal
meetings, collaborations and
temporary collectives, most of
which happen in private spaces.
This free education model is
due to bare necessity. However,
questions about what kind of
educational program is needed
in Jordan are burning ones for
an art school that will launch in
Amman in 2018. Ideas range from
a BA program to an MFA program,
to rigorous but non-accredited
curriculums. In its own workshops,
Darat al-Funun—which has been
housed in buildings from the first
half of the 20th century when
Amman’s position as a capital
for Jordan began to take shape,
through the influx of residents,
merchants and refugees from the
region—continues to open to the
general audiences its archives,
exhibitions and public programs.
The conversations in the city
reflect many of these backgrounds,
interests and priorities. And with
the very few resources (financial
and spatial) offered, meetings such
as “About Culture in Jordan” have
become interesting spaces for
informing citizens of these initiatives
and their potential, and perhaps
most importantly, who are still
missing from these conversations.
The project inspired another
group in Irbid, a city close to the
Jordan-Syria border that hosts
the country’s earliest faculty of art
as well as many refugees, who
will highlight their meetings in
a similar exhibition.View toward the flagpole at the royal
palace from Amman Citadel, Jordan, 2009.
Photo by and copyright Daniel Case.