Wed - Sun 14.00 - 19.00
Fri 14.00 - 21.00 (18.00 - 21.00 Kunstavond)
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The Arab world stretches from the Mashriq to the Maghreb*, connected through the Arabic language. The new generation within the Arab diaspora often oscillates between two lenses: a traditional one, rooted in inherited practices, and an Orientalist one**, formed by Eurocentric stereotypes and biased perceptions. Both are as overwhelming as they are inaccurate, obscuring what truly connects young people in the Arab diaspora: a shared experience of living on the threshold between two worlds – balancing between Dutch and Arab, between past and present, between home and elsewhere.
This hybrid experience is centered in the exhibition Between Land and Sky, Between Borders, We Meet. Here, the visitor is encouraged to develop a unique perspective – one that reclaims and redefines Arab identities, moving beyond classical notions and contemporary political framings. Through the diverse perspectives and stories of a collective of artists living in the Netherlands and originating from West Asia and North Africa (WANA), the exhibition transcends imposed boundaries, with art as its compass. Beyond assumptions, prejudice, and inherited narratives, Between Land and Sky, Between Borders, We Meet creates a space where connection outweighs the borders that separate Arabs. One where the diaspora is no longer the subject of the story – but its storyteller.
* A geographical region extending from the Mashreq, the eastern part of the Arab world, to the Maghreb, the western part. Mashreq means “where the sun rises,” and Maghreb means “where the sun sets”.
** The Orientalist lens refers to the Western way of perceiving the ‘Orient’, referring to the term Orientalism used by Edward Said, which has been both praised and criticized. Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
