Darat al Funun is a home for the Arts and the artists of Jordan and the Arab world.
Overlooking the heart of Amman, Darat al Funun is housed in three traditional buildings of the 1920s, alongside the archaeological remains of a six century Byzantine church built over a Roman Temple, all restored for use.
With its Arts, Architecture, Archaeology, Darat al Funun speaks of an enduring ancient legacy of urbanism, architecture and cultural identity that is now being enriched by a modern flowering of the visual arts.
While the thrust of its programs maintains a constant focus on the visual arts, the Darat al Funun strives to be a haven for all the arts, where the public may experience the visual arts in harmony with other forms of self-expression.
The Place
Established in 1993 Darat al Funun was conceived as a specialized art center, incorporating exhibition spaces, a research and video library, open workshops and studios, visiting artists residence and venues for the performing arts. By promoting Art and making it accessible to the public at large, Darat al Funun affirms its belief in the Art as an integral part of the national heritage and that its survival may best be secured by supporting artistic talents.
By restoring the buildings and the antiquities, Darat al Funun has also preserved the country's heritage and history from the times of the ancient city of Philadelphia to the building of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The Darat al Funun is dedicated to promoting contemporary creativity in the widest possible sense, bringing various forms of artistic expression together and relating creation and formation to each other. Since its inception, Darat al Funun has become an essential venue for all the interested in contemporary Arab art, as well as a meeting-place for intercultural dialogue. Through its many exhibitions devoted to the most innovative Jordanian, Palestinian, and other Arab artist, and through its divers cultural activities, the Darat al Funun vividly manifests its desire to reveal the creative dynamism of contemporary ideas and forms, and to contribute to the nurturing of contemporary Arab culture.
It's spaces are used by visiting and resident artists to create and display their work of art, in media such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing and photography. Visitors from all walks of life can view and purchase art works, exchange ideas with the artists themselves, and appreciate the value of acquiring works by contemporary Arab artists.Distinguished critics and artists offer lectures, workshops, and group discussions on contemporary art issues. The video presentations, the library and the computerized documentation facilities provide a unique opportunity for serious research into Arab and international visual art, from ancient to contemporary periods. Special programs for children and students, including tours and workshops, are organized around the exhibitions. A monthly program of literary activities is organized. In the setting of the Byzantine church, flanked by illuminated rows of Roman columns, poets recite their works and musical and theatrical groups perform.
Activities
With their massive walls and elevated ceilings, the four indoor galleries provide 250 square meters of exhibiting space. Bathed in a flood of natural daylight, the galleries are also equipped with museum- quality track
lighting that gives each displayed work its own distinction.Individual exhibitions are held simultaneously in the adjacent galleries next to a collective exhibition of a rotating selection of works by contemporary Arab Artists on show the whole year round. These exhibitions permit a more in-depth look at artists recent work which can often be compared with the wider range of art on display in The Exhibition of Contemporary Arab Artists. The monthly exhibitions are usually complemented with lectures by the artists and art critics and by thematically-related programs in the preforming arts.
Since 1995 Darat
Darat al Funun is a home for the Arts and the artists of Jordan and the Arab world.
Overlooking the heart of Amman, Darat al Funun is housed in three traditional buildings of the 1920s, alongside the archaeological remains of a six century Byzantine church built over a Roman Temple, all restored for use.
With its Arts, Architecture, Archaeology, Darat al
