Dina Danish

With a playful eye on symbols, gestures and miscommunication, Dina Danish (b 1981) creates intriguing works from textiles and paper. Working with Cairo-based artisans, masters of the khayamiya art of decorative tents, she interweaves traditional techniques with a contemporary visual language.

Dina Danish. Protocols and other Formal Agreements is the first solo museum exhibition in the Netherlands by Egyptian artist Dina Danish.  Danish humorously questions symbols, gestures and our relationship with language. She depicts forms of miscommunication in writings and videos, through tongue twisters, chewing gum and many repetitions, for example.

Danish has a fascination with the fixed pattern by which world leaders are portrayed on official occasions, such as signing agreements and moments of shaking hands in front of the press. She captures these fleeting, interchangeable images using a highly labour-intensive technique. The works, which resemble medieval banners in shape, are made by artisans in Cairo who specialise in making the most sophisticated and decorative tents (khayamiya).