AMMAN -- The First International SYMPOSIODESIGN - Amman 2006 seeking to promote collaboration among graphic design educational institutions worldwide opened on Sunday.
HRH Princess Wijdan Ali, who inaugurated the forum yesterday, said the event was an important step towards holding more such activities in the country to enhance cooperation and exchange of knowledge in this field between Jordanian specialists and their counterparts in other countries.
Princess Wijdan, an art historian, academic, painter and art curator, is founder and dean of the faculty of arts and design at the University of Jordan.
She is also founder and president of the Royal Society of Fine Arts in Jordan, which established the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in 1980.
Some 700 people visited the exhibition on Sunday, where graphic designs by students from various parts of the world are on display.
The six-day event is designed to examine the current and future needs and challenges of graphic design and visual communication in Jordan and other countries and create local, regional and international opportunities for exchange.
Organised by the Applied Science Private University's (ASPU) department of fine arts, the forum is also designed to promote graphic design education, practice, and exchange of information, views and research in Jordan and the region.
Design experts and educators from Canada, Bahrain, the UAE, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Croatia, Egypt, India, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the UK, the US and Turkey are taking part in the forum.
Several workshops on topics such as digital photography and the state of graphic design education in Jordan will be held during the event.
By Mohammad Ghazal
© Jordan Times 2006
