Made of Walking Prosperpolder
Made of Walking brings international walking art to the border landscapes of Beveren
11–17 September 2026 | Beveren, Prosperpolder, Doel, Saeftinghe and Fort Liefkenshoek
From 11 to 17 September, the border landscape around Beveren becomes a working ground for artists from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, the UK, Canada, Argentina and Pakistan. Made of Walking – Prosperpolder 2026 takes contemporary art out of the exhibition space and literally into the landscape. Walking becomes an artistic medium through which questions of ecology, heritage, community, technology and the ongoing transformation of the landscape are explored.
Since 2016, Made of Walking has developed international encounters around walking arts, bringing together more than a thousand artists in different countries. The Belgian edition is part of Walking Arts and Local Communities (WALC), a European collaborative project centred on walking arts and local communities. In Beveren, international artists enter into dialogue with residents, nature and heritage organisations, and local initiatives.
The environment is not treated as a backdrop, but as an active participant. From the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe and the polders to Doel and Fort Liefkenshoek, the programme moves through a territory where tidal nature, agriculture, port development, disappeared and threatened villages, heritage and new approaches to nature management exist side by side.
The public programme includes walking performances, film, sound and media art, storytelling, participatory mapping, talks and collective walks.
News
| 10 Aug, 2026 After the Walk |
| 3 Aug, 2026 The Unyielding Waterland |
| 27 Jul, 2026 Walking between Worlds. Made of Walking Prosperpolder : walking a landscape |
| 25 Jul, 2026 Participate in the Made of Walking Residency & Lab |
| 15 Jul, 2026 To Walk Your Life: Between History and the Present |
| 4 Jul, 2026 Made of Walking: A Living Ecology of Walking Arts |
| 4 Jul, 2026 Made of Walking Returns to Belgium |
| 4 Jul, 2026 Meet the Artists of Made of Walking 2026 |
Attendees
Made of Walking – Prosperpolder 2026
11-17 September 2026 | Beveren, Belgium
International residency and co-creation lab on walking art, landscape and local communities. Part of the Creative Europe cooperation project Walking Arts and Local Communities (WALC).
Participating Resident Artists
Ienke Kastelein (The Netherlands), Alba Sauleda (Spain), Katerina Drakopoulou (Greece), Simone Etter (Switzerland), Fred Adam (France|Spain), Marc Dhaenens (Belgium).
Contributing Artists, Researchers and Partners
Natacha Antão (PT), Annemarie Lopez (UK), Clara Gari (ES), Mary Marinopoulou (GR), Nick Verouden (NL), Maaike van Cruchten (NL), Simona Vermeire (RO), Christos Ioannidis (GR), Pieter-Jan Meire, Peter Deckers (B), Rien Van Meensel (B), Liese Stuer (B), Gigacircus (FR), Ridha Dhib (TN/FR)
Rosie Montford (UK), Feroza Gulzar (PK), Emma Bourguignon (B), Mel Anie (UK), Chris Wright (UK), Nele Brökelmann (NL), Alex Watson (UK), Barbara Silva (PT), Susana Oliveira (PT), Pierre Tremblay (CAN/FR), Milena Metalkova-Markova (BG) Claudia Ricca (AR), together with the WALC partners
Locations
Heritage House Hof ter Welle • Kieldrecht • Prosperpolder • Doel • De Doolen • De Maalderij • Fort Liefkenshoek • Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe • Melsele/Zwijndrecht • De Bron & De Stroom
Over the course of nine days, international artists, researchers, local organisations and residents come together to explore landscape, heritage, ecology, storytelling and participation through artistic research and collective creation. The programme combines artists' residencies, co-creation laboratories, performances, guided walks, lectures, workshops, installations and public gatherings in the border landscapes of Prosperpolder, Doel, the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe and the Scheldt Estuary.
Friday 11 September
Public Programme
19:00 > Is Walking Art?
Opening evening & film screening at Heritage House Hof ter Welle
Opening of the Made of Walking Residency & Lab.
Screening of the documentary Is Walking Art? by Christos Ioannidis, followed by a conversation with the resident artists and the local community.
20:00 > Reception and welcome offered by the Municipality of Beveren.
Saturday 12 September
Public Programme
11:00 > Launch of Polder Lab & Hybrid Lecture – Multimedia Performance NYMPH / LYMPH: The Lymphatic Intelligence of the Polder: Hybrid lecture & multimedia performance by Simona Vermeire & Fred Adam. An exploration of wetlands as living ecosystems through artistic research, ecology and walking.
12:00 > Sketching the Walk: Scores for the Unknown – Artist Rosie Montford (UK) presents a series of fold-out sketchbooks created in collaboration with a weaver during walks along waterways and the edges of the landscape
15:00 > Polder Lab Walk – Vingerling Path, Kieldrecht.
20:00 > Moving Images, Moving Worlds – an evening of walking, travel and migration through film and video, followed by a conversation with filmmakers Pierre Tremblay (CAN/FR), Stefaan van Biesen / The Milena Principle (BE) and the Gigacircus Collective (FR), moderated by Geert Vermeire (BE). Including the world premiere of Flowers of Ichijo, Art Walk Kyoto 2026 (25 min) by Pierre Tremblay.
Film screening and world premiere of Flowers of Ichijo, Art Walk Kyoto, 2026 (25 min). Five people each walk through Kyoto on a Sunday carrying a different recording device. By Pierre Tremblay.
Sunday 13 1September
Public Programme
09:30 > Gathering and coffee at Café Saeftinghe
10:30 > Guided walk through the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe – Local guide
12:30 > Optional lunch at Café Saeftinghe
14:00 > Stories from the Marsh – Storytelling performance: Rien Van Meensel
20:00 > Microcosmos Walk – Walkshop: Fred Adam – Prosperpolder“
Monday 14 September
Residency Open Lab all day
Public Programme
16:30 > Heritage tour: Peter Deckers – De Maalderij
17:30 > Border Landscapes in Transition, lecture: Pieter-Jan Meire
18:30 > Communal soup dinner
19:00 > The Mobile Wetland, immersive audiovisual experience: Fred Adam
19:30 > The Landscape as Performance, performative walk: Ienke Kastelein
Tuesday 15 September
Residency Open Lab of the resident artists
Public Programme
10:00 > Common Ground: Embroidering the Map of Beveren – Participatory walking workshop: Natacha Antão
10:30 > Sketching the Walk: Scores for the Unknown – Rosie Montford (UK) presents a series of fold-out sketchbooks created in collaboration with a weaver
11:00 > Storylarking – Creative storytelling walk workshop: Annemarie Lopez
13:30 > Film screening and conversation with filmmaker Pierre Tremblay (CAN/FR): A Walk with Artist Magali Desbazeille (2022).
14:30 > Walking with Le moindre geste – Presentation & conversation: Clara Gari & Eva Marichalar Freixa
17:00 > Visit to the community garden and food forest of De Doolen, Doel
18:00 > Lecture on nature, environment and sustainability: Liese Stuer
19:00 > Community pancake gathering
19:30 > 22 Stops – Participatory walking performance: Katerina Drakopoulou – Doel
Wednesday 16 September
Residency Artists' Open Lab
Public Programme
10:00 > Data Walking, workshop: Nick Verouden & Maaike van Cruchten
13:30 > The Walking Oracle: Devices for Delaying the End of the World – a playful walking tarot reading by Claudia B. Ricca (Argentina).
14:15 > A Quiet Game Around an Art and Health Project, interactive session: Clara Gari
16:30 > Boat trip from Zwijndrecht to Fort Liefkenshoek (optional)
18:00 > To Walk Your Life, guided art walk: Marc Dhaenens – Fort Liefkenshoek
19:30 > Optional dinner – Fort Liefkenshoek
21:00 > Boat trip from Fort Liefkenshoek to Zwijndrecht (optional)
22:00 > Night Walk: Walking in Lessness, participatory walk with Simone Etter, Melsele / Zwijndrecht
Thursday 17 September
Residency Artists' Open Lab
Public Programme
08:00 > Listening to the Edges, listening walk in Prosperpolder by Chris A. Wright
10:00 > Absorb Ensemble, Walkshop: Mary Marinopoulou
11:30 > Healing Landscapes – Presentation on walking, heritage and communities by Milena Metalkova-Markova
14:00 > Walking with Io, participatory walk: Alba Sauleda with participants from the day centres De Bron & De Stroom in Beveren.
17:00 > A participatory and performative walk on collecting lost objects: Mary Marinopoulou
18:00 > Residency presentations: presentation of the artistic works and research developed during the residency. WALC Network Exchange, presentations by the European WALC partners on future collaborations leading towards 2027.Participating Partners
Belgium: The Milena Principle / Locative Media Supercluster / walk · listen · create
Spain: Nau Côclea
Portugal: Lab2.Walk.PT & The Walking Body
Greece: Action Synergy
Greece: Visual March to Prespa / UOWM
France: Gigacircus
19:00 > Migrating Voices, a participatory immersive multimedia performance that transforms stories of migration into a collective ritual of listening, solidarity and hope. Gigacircus (France) with Ridha Dhib (TN/FR)
20:00 > Closing reception – Meulenberg Senior Residence (by invitation only)
Walking Arts & Local Communities (WALC) is an artistic cooperation project, co-funded by the European Union, Creative Europe, starting in January 2024 for four years. With seven partners from five countries, WALC establishes an International Center for Artistic Research and Practice of Walking Arts, in Prespa, Greece, at the border with Albania and North Macedonia, backed up by an online counterpart in the format of a digital platform for walking arts.
WALC builds on the previous work of hundreds of artists and researchers already practicing Walking Arts as a collaborative medium, and having met at the significant previous walking arts events and encounters in Greece, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, and during online activities at walk · listen · create.
We acknowledge the support of the EU Creative Europe Cooperation grant program in the framework of the European project WALC (Walking Arts and Local Community).
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
On WLC, this conference is maintained by: Geert Vermeire
Stories from the Marsh
Explore the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe on a guided walk through Europe's largest tidal wetlands, followed by Stories from the Marsh, a storytelling performance by Rien Van Meensel. The walk and storytelling session can be joined independently.
• Microcosmos walk
Slow down and discover the hidden world of insects in Prosperpolder. Walk in pairs, follow their tiny journeys, map their movements, photograph them, and identify species together. A playful outdoor adventure combining nature, creativity and discover
• Common Ground: Embroidering the Map of Beveren
Common Ground invites participants to explore Beveren through walking, storytelling and embroidery. Together they create a collective map by stitching memories, trees and meaningful places into a shared tapestry celebrating local landscapes and ecolo
• Walking with “Le Moindre Geste”
Discover the visionary work of Fernand Deligny through film excerpts, projections and conversation. Clara Gari and Eva Marichalar Freixa explore how his radical ideas on gesture, mapping and care continue to inspire participatory practices in walking
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Storylarking
Storylarking is a 90-minute walking workshop using playful rituals, prompts and field notes to discover stories hidden in everyday places. Participants gather fragments through attentive walking, transforming observations into the beginnings of new n
• Absorb Ensemble
A playful participatory walkshop combining somatic practices, chance-based games and collective creative writing. Journey from inner awareness to shared imagination, discovering new ways to connect body, place, others and the stories that emerge betw
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