To start off; thanks to NATO for this legacy mural. A reminder of the already memorable NATO summit in The Hague, City of peace and justice. With much pride and in realisation of the considerable responsibility, we are host city for the Alliance in a time of geo political tensions.
The summit itself will be held in closed session, however we will involve the city through the side events and programming of the Road to Summit and the Just Peace Festival. A celebration with art and culture, gatherings and debates. We demonstrate and share the freedom which is worth championing. Within this context this mural fits perfectly. I saw a similar mural in Washington recently and I was duly impressed.
Together with NATO and the ministry of Foreign Affairs, we called upon young artists to enter a mural design competition. Out of many entries the designs of Riivvo Kruuk from Estonia and Diederik Dijkgraaf from The Netherlands were chosen. With a wink to Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, Rivvo painted a lovely peaceful scene. Diederik designed a peace dove that represents the alliance that protects millions of people.
With the help of street artist Tobias Becker Hoff, both designs came together in this magnificent mural within the theme ‘maintaining our shared future’. A keepsake from the summit where we collectively stood up for our freedom and where we celebrated the wealth of our free culture.
Thanks for coming, and please come back to The Hague. Be inspired and creative. And now I’ll tag ‘Jan 070’on this wall.
