Public Programme | 11–17 September 2026
Made of Walking is first and foremost an international artist residency, organised in 2026 and 2027 within the Creative Europe Cooperation Project Walking Arts and Local Communities (WALC). At the same time, many of its activities are open to the public. Whether you join us for a single afternoon, a full day or several days, you are warmly invited to walk, explore, learn and create alongside artists, researchers, local communities and environmental organisations.
Each day offers a different perspective on the landscapes of Prosperpolder, Doel, the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe and the Scheldt estuary. Walks, performances, workshops, lectures, artistic interventions and informal conversations gradually reveal the many ecological, historical and cultural layers of this remarkable border region.
Friday 11 September
Opening the Journey
The public programme opens with the official launch of the Made of Walking Prosperpolder Residency & Lab.
The evening begins with the screening of Is Walking Art?, Christos Ioannidis’ documentary about the first international Walking Arts gathering in Prespa, Greece. The film follows artists, researchers and walkers as they explore walking as artistic practice, ecological inquiry and collective imagination. A conversation with the residency artists and the local community creates a bridge between the origins of Made of Walking and its current evolution in Belgium.
Saturday 12 September
The Intelligence of Wetlands
The second day introduces the ecological and poetic foundations of the residency through NYMPH / LYMPH: The Lymphatic Intelligence of the Polder, a hybrid lecture-performance by Simona Vermeire in multimedia dialogue with Fred Adam.
Inspired by the human lymphatic system, the presentation explores wetlands as living ecosystems whose invisible circulations sustain life. Walking, observation and artistic research become ways of understanding ecology, care and landscape through embodied experience.
Sunday 13 September
Entering the Wetlands
The public programme continues in the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe, one of Europe’s largest tidal wetlands.
A guided walk introduces participants to this unique cross-border nature reserve, where tides, migrating birds and centuries of human intervention have shaped an extraordinary landscape. During the afternoon, storyteller Rien Van Meensel presents Stories from the Marsh, weaving together family histories, local memory and disappearing wetland landscapes.
The day concludes with Microcosmos Walk, in which Fred Adam invites participants to discover the hidden world of insects and small organisms inhabiting the polder. Combining artistic observation, ecology and digital tools, the walk reveals how entire worlds exist beneath our feet.
Monday 14 September
Landscape, Borders and Heritage
How do landscapes remember?
Monday explores the historical, ecological and cultural transformations of the Scheldt estuary through lectures, heritage and artistic interventions.
Nature reserve network director Pieter-Jan Meire introduces the evolving border landscape of Saeftinghe, followed by a guided visit to De Maalderij, where Peter Deckers presents the heritage of the polders and their continuing relationship with local communities.
After a community soup dinner, Fred Adam presents The Mobile Wetland, an immersive audiovisual experience in which smartphones become portals into the hidden life of wetlands after sunset. The evening concludes with The Landscape as Performance, Ienke Kastelein’s performative walk inviting participants to experience Prosperpolder as a living choreography of people, nature and movement.
Tuesday 15 September
Common Ground
Tuesday centres on participation, creativity and community.
Visitors are invited to join Common Ground, Natacha Antão’s participatory walkshop in which walking, storytelling and collective embroidery gradually create a living map of Beveren’s ecological and cultural landscape.
This is followed by Storylarking, where Annemarie Lopez invites participants to discover overlooked stories through walking, observation, playful rituals and field notes, and Walking with Le moindre geste, in which Clara Gari introduces the visionary work of Fernand Deligny and reflects on walking, pedagogy, cartography and artistic practice.
The afternoon moves to Doel, where the community initiative De Doolen welcomes visitors to its food forest and community garden. A public lecture by Isolde Vandemoortele explores ecology, sustainability and community action, followed by a communal pancake gathering.
The day concludes with 22 Stops, Katerina Drakopoulou’s participatory walking performance transforming the abandoned village of Doel into a choreography of attention, memory and imagination.
Wednesday 16 September
Mapping, Care and Night Landscapes
Wednesday explores new ways of understanding landscape through artistic research, data, health and memory.
The morning begins with Data Walking, where Nick Verouden and Maaike van Cruchten demonstrate how walking can become a creative methodology for collecting, interpreting and visualising environmental observations.
During the afternoon, Clara Gari presents A Quiet Game Around an Art and Health Project, introducing the pioneering Catalan initiative Artistic Pairs and the Tarot of Emotions, exploring the relationship between collaborative artistic practice and mental health.
Later, Belgian artist Marc Dhaenens guides visitors through To Walk Your Life, a poetic journey of site-specific installations at Fort Liefkenshoek reflecting on memory, vulnerability and the landscapes that shape our lives.
The evening concludes with Night Walk, Simone Etter’s participatory nocturnal walk through the peri-urban landscapes of Melsele and Zwijndrecht, developed together with local young people and exploring how everyday places can become spaces of imagination, exchange and belonging.
Thursday 17 September
Sharing Practices
The final public day brings together the many threads developed throughout the residency.
The morning opens with Absorb Ensemble, Mary Marinopoulou’s participatory walkshop combining movement, somatic awareness, play and collective writing into a shared artistic experience.
In the afternoon, Walking with Io, created by Alba Sauleda together with participants from Day Centres De Bron and De Stroom, transforms conversations, memories and dreams into a collective dérive through Beveren.
This is followed by A Participatory Walk in Disappearance, another performative work by Mary Marinopoulou exploring disappearance, recycling, presence and collective attention through walking.
The residency culminates with the Residency Presentations and WALC Network Exchange, where participating artists share the works and research developed during the week, followed by presentations from the European WALC partners outlining future collaborations and the continuing development of the international network towards 2027.
The closing evening features Migrating Voices, Gigacircus’ participatory multimedia performance bringing together testimonies of migrants, poetry and ritual in an immersive audiovisual experience. A closing reception concludes the residency and celebrates the relationships, exchanges and collaborations initiated during the week.
Join for a Day—or Stay for the Week
There is no single way to experience Made of Walking.
Some visitors may choose to join a guided walk through the wetlands, others may attend an evening performance, a workshop or a lecture. Many will discover that the most memorable moments arise in between: during shared meals, spontaneous conversations, unexpected encounters and slow walks across the polders.
Whether you come for one afternoon or return throughout the week, you are invited to become part of a temporary community exploring how walking can connect people, places, histories and the more-than-human world.
Participation is free of charge. As many activities are designed for small groups, places are limited and advance registration is recommended.
Expression of interest: themilenaprinciple@gmail.com
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.
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