World Street Painting Festival 2017

On 8 and 9 July 2017, you will have the opportunity to marvel at incredible street art in Arnhem city centre during the fourth edition of the World Street Painting Festival. In various squares in the week leading up to the festival, street paintings will be created in 2D or 3D, varying in size between 4 and 120 m2. For the real ‘wow’ effect, the visitor needs to look through a lens (belonging to an artist or using your own camera). Only then will the 3D paintings really come to life.

The mesmerising chalk drawings will be created by international street painters. With spatial awareness, imagination, chalk and a piece of street, the street painters will create works of art which the public can enjoy for free simply out on the street. The works will be created over the first three days. On the Sunday, everyone will be able to marvel at all the completed works in the city. Even after the festival, the works of art will still be there to admire until Sunday, 3 September.

You can join!

During the opening weekend there will be workshops and activities in the city for all ages. The international “masters” (street painters) will spend three whole days passing on their skills to the “apprentices”. Anyone (18+) can sign up to create their own 2D or 3D street painting in the special Master Class.

The theme is… Nature!

The theme of Nature emerged as the winner from numerous public entries. This means that visitors may well see elephants, huge palm trees or even tigers. The 3D works of art will bring nature to life in the city this summer! On Wednesday, 5 July, the international street painters will set to work with their design based on this theme. You can follow the creative process here. The works of art will then be on show from Saturday, 8 July to 3 September.

History   

World Street Painting Festival 2017 The World Street Painting Festival is an annual festival with international artists. The festival consists of five days of live street painting action and an exhibition period of 2 months in the squares of Arnhem city centre. The World Street Painting Foundation organises the festival to make the city more beautiful and to make 3D art easily accessible to a wide audience.

What is street painting? A street painting is a chalk drawing, a work of art, on a pavement or in a square that is created live right in front of you. The creative process and the image are at the heart of this. Street painting is a perfect way to make a theme or art easily accessible to a wide audience in the city. In 3D street painting you as the audience can take a place and be part of the illusion. Photographs of people in various poses in the works of art provide for interaction with the art form and for surprising pictures!

What will happen during the festival? We want artists in the various stages of their careers to be able to participate in our festival. The master and apprentice method was used to great success in the Middle Ages as a way of passing on expert knowledge. The success of this formula lies in stimulating people’s capacity for self-learning. The festival will assume the role of a production (house) square. Alongside the international masters, 3D and 4D artists, an apprenticeship class will be set up for regional artists, students of the academies and street painters in the making. The playing field will also be reinforced with a community class for anyone who wants to paint and create art on the street. From amateur to semi-pro. All the street paintings will be created side by side so that cross-pollination occurs and people can learn from each other.

The 4th edition In recent years, thousands of visitors have witnessed the street painters going about their work. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, the festival was expanded into a summer exhibition in the public arena. Previous editions of the World Street Painting Festival focussed on the themes of Freedom, WOII (2014), Van Gogh (2015) and The Olympics (2016). The theme chosen for 2017 is Nature.

Why? The World Street Painting Foundation organises the festival to make the city more beautiful and to make topical art easily accessible to all kinds of people.