Mayor Jan van Zanen unveiled the now-traditional NATO mural on Stadhouderslaan in The Hague on Sunday afternoon, this time designed by Estonian artist Riivo Kruuk and Dutchman Diederik Dijkgraaf. Such a mural can be found in every city that hosted a NATO summit: in Vilnius, Washington, and now also in The Hague.
In the lead-up to this week’s NATO summit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the municipality of The Hague, and NATO challenged young artists to visualize the alliance’s mission—protecting a billion people. Under the motto “Maintaining our Shared Future,” young, ambitious artists from the Netherlands and abroad then submitted their designs for a mural.
Tribute
From dozens of submissions, a professional jury, including Dutch experts Rebecca van Leeuwen and Michiel Corver, selected the two winning designs. In “A Peaceful Day,” Riivo Kruuk pays tribute to Dutch painters like Johannes Vermeer. In “The NATO Dove: Protecting 1 Billion Citizens,” Diederik Dijkgraaf incorporated the flags of all 32 NATO countries into the wing of a dove. Both designs were combined and realized in collaboration with The Hague street artist Tobias Becker Hoff. They now adorn a wall of the “De Stadhouder” building.
The Hague artists
In anticipation of the NATO summit, street art murals dedicated to peace and justice have been created in every district of the city. The Hague Street Art selected eight artists from The Hague for this project. Inspired by themes such as Peace and Justice, Democracy, Inclusion, (In)Equality and Diversity, Climate, and (Cyber)security, they visualized their visions of these concepts.