Nuart Aberdeen will see the return of artist Hera who created the iconic Aberdeen Market mural
The line-up of world-class artists for Nuart Aberdeen which takes place from June 6-9 has been revealed and includes the return of Hera, who helped create the iconic mural on the now demolished Aberdeen Market building.
She will be joining other big names from the global street art community for this year’s festival, running from 6 th to 9 th June under the theme of “Living Heritage”.
A total of 11 acclaimed artists will travel to the Granite City from across Europe, the UK, and the Middle East, to transform walls and spaces with a range of exciting, inspiring and thought-provoking pieces that will leave a lasting legacy for Aberdeen city centre. These will range from the friendly giant and fun figures of Italian artist, Millo, to photorealistic hands bursting from buildings created by Germany’s Case Maclaim.
Organisers of Nuart Aberdeen, staged by Aberdeen Inspired in partnership with Aberdeen City Council and delivered by Reed Projects, say they cannot wait for the return of the hugely-popular and award-winning festival which sees the city transformed into a giant canvas for creativity, while bringing in thousands of visitors.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said he was delighted to welcome so many world class artists in this year’s line-up and is particularly excited about the return of Hera aka Frankfurt-born painter Jasmin Siddiqui As part of the duo Herakut, with fellow artist Akut, Hera crafted the piece “Because You Are That Light” on Aberdeen Market at the Green. The work became synonymous with Nuart Aberdeen until the building was razed to make way for the new planned new market.
Adrian said: “The Herakut mural was one of the most-loved pieces in the Nuart legacy and was instantly recognisable. To have Hera return to Aberdeen to work on something new and wonderful is a fantastic coup for this year’s festival and I can’t wait to see what she creates. She will be joined by so many other outstanding artists who will be transform our city for the better. I hope this will be the best Nuart Aberdeen to date.”
Adrian said it is now beyond question Nuart Aberdeen is one of the foremost street art festivals in the world – if not the foremost – and has put the Granite City firmly on the global cultural map since its launch in 2017. “Not only that, Nuart Aberdeen pulls thousands of people into the city centre for the festival itself and it keeps visitors coming all year round to discover the new works and enjoy the previous pieces that are still a delight. That increased footfall and the spending it brings is a real and welcome boost for our city centre economy.”
Martyn Reed, curator of Nuart Aberdeen, said this year’s theme of “Living Heritage” was also known as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” (ICH) He said:” Living heritage incorporates the parts of our shared past that live in our present – everyday rituals and practices, cultural expressions, shared memories, celebrations, festivals, stories, songs, and craft skills that help to define who we are. “The ephemeral nature of much of the culture we work with and produce in Aberdeen could itself be regarded as intangible cultural heritage, as the loss of first large scale mural from Herakut produced on the old Market back in 2017 would attest. Something many will be happy to hear we’ll be revisiting this year.
“We look forward to contributing to the city’s increasing reputation for this growing culture and hope to be both excavating and producing memories that live significantly longer than some of the works.”
There is, as always, a strong international flavour to Nuart Aberdeen, but the event will also lean heavily into UK talent – and see the return of Aberdeen’s own acclaimed street artist, KMG.
She created her first Nuart mural in 2021, with a large-scale work at Union Square on Palmerston Road and also led last year’s popular Chalk Don’t Chalk, the Nuart Aberdeen event for local schoolchildren at Marischal Square.
Nuart Aberdeen 2024 will also include fringe events and exhibitions, workshops, walking tours and an Urban Art Conference which is attracting a host of international media agencies to the city resulting in global media coverage.
The full line-up of artists for this year’s Nuart is:-
Addam Yekutieli aka Know Hope (Tel Aviv):
Bahia Shehab (Cairo):
Case Maclaim (Germany):
Cbloxx (Yorkshire Pennines)
Hera (Germany):
KMG (Aberdeen):
Mahn Kloix (France):
Millo (Italy):
IMolly Hankinson (Glasgow):
Niels Shoe Meulman (Netherlands):
Wasted Rita (Portugal):
The walls which will be part of this year’s Nuart Aberdeen will be announced in the coming weeks.
