
At the end of June, our talent project finally started! Five young makers created a mural on the grounds of PLOEGENDIENST Festival. There was sunshine, fun, excitement and one artist won the commission for a public mural.
With the Blind Walls Talent Call, we offer young makers the chance to develop their practice under the guidance of experts. Those selected receive intensive guidance from a coach, create a large-format mural, get the chance to exhibit with their own solo exhibition in our Gallery, produce a screen print and are invited to various knowledge sessions.
We received 170 portfolios from makers from the Netherlands and Belgium. The jury, consisting of Robert Jan Lechner (winner Open Call 2023), Linda van der Vleuten (co-founder Opperclaes) and Dennis Elbers (founder Blind Walls Gallery), looked at originality, experience, diversity of style and motivation.
Five talents
Mans Weghorst, Iris van den Bersselaar, Ivo Janss, Leyli Rashidirauf and Jori van Boxtel are the five selected talents of 2024. Inspired by a briefing on the synergy between nature and music, they set to work on their first assignment: a mural at PLOEGENDIENST Festival. In the process, they were coached by artists and designers Ilse Weisfelt, Joren Joshua, Zenk One, Bruce TMC and Marloes de Kiewit. The coaches are experienced in working on a large scale, enabling them to provide the talents with the right advice.





Painting
30 degrees, no shade and lots of sunscreen: the heat provided an extra challenge for the talents. But with the Galderse Meren as a location, luckily you can take a splash in the refreshing water every hour. On Thursday afternoon, the five murals were ready to be judged. One briefing, but five completely different interpretations and images. Who best fits the follow-up assignment: a mural at Poppodium MEZZ?
With the coaches, jury, Keep an Eye Foundation and the Blind Walls team in attendance, each talent was given plenty of opportunity to present their work. Of course, the jury was also very curious about how everyone had experienced the process of painting. Robert Jan, Linda and Dennis spoke highly of the five talents and their murals.
The jury saw the best match between Mans’ mural and the follow-up assignment. “The concept fits well with the context of the festival and the location. From your own experience, you take the viewer into the depths,” Dennis spoke on behalf of the jury. Mans will start a public painting at MEZZ in August. This mural will be included in our collection.

Talents, coaches, jury & team – Photo by Rob Lipsius
Audience Award
On Saturday, the festival grounds filled up and visitors had the chance to vote for their favourite mural. Through a sticker system, 1,000 visitors made their voices heard. Every mural was popular but Ivo’s was the most popular. He is designing the PLOEGENDIENST 2025 T-shirt!




💙 Blind Walls Talent Call is supported by Keep an Eye Foundation and Gemeente Breda
🎨 Materials sponsored by Anza Pro Benelux and Verfplaza Breda