​​NYMPH / LYMPH: The Lymphatic Intelligence of the Polder
Hybrid talk with Simona Vermeire, in a multimedia audiovisual dialogue with Fred Adam
Nymph / Lymph is an artistic, ecological and participatory project that explores the profound relationship between the human lymphatic system and the wetland ecosystems of the polder landscape.
The project starts from a simple observation: just as the lymphatic system circulates, filters and transforms substances within the human body, wetlands perform similar functions within a territory. Water flows through channels, marshes and reed beds, while hydrophilic plants such as reeds, cattails and sedges absorb, filter and transform sediments and pollutants, contributing to the regeneration of the ecosystem.
The conference introduces the concept of the “lymphatic landscape”, inviting participants to imagine the polder not as a static environment but as a living body whose waters circulate through networks of natural filtration. Through a poetic and ecological analogy, the project establishes connections between lymph and water, lymph nodes and wetland filtering zones, human circulation and walking, bodily regeneration and landscape regeneration.
At the heart of the project lies the figure of the Nymph. Not as a decorative mythological character, but as a living embodiment of the invisible forces of care, transformation and renewal. The hydrophilic plants of the polder become the nymphs of the landscape: guardians of circulation, purification and ecological resilience. Just as lymph quietly protects and regenerates the body, these plants continuously participate in the healing processes of water and land.
The conference serves as the conceptual and poetic foundation for a participatory walking experience to be developed with the participants of the BVRN event. Following the presentation, participants are invited to engage in a guided walk through the polder landscape. The walk becomes a performative exploration of circulation and transformation, where participants move through the territory as if travelling through a living lymphatic system.
Specific locations along the route function as symbolic “lymph nodes” where observation, listening, reflection and collective exchange take place. Participants are invited to encounter the landscape through attention and embodied experience, while reflecting on the processes of purification, release, healing and regeneration occurring both within themselves and within the ecosystems they inhabit.
Combining walking arts, ecology, environmental awareness, mythology, embodied knowledge and poetic imagination, Nymph / Lymph proposes a new understanding of the relationship between human bodies and living landscapes.