A guided walk along the artistic path of Marc Dhaenens
How can a walk become a reflection on a lifetime? How do ordinary objects, traces and landscapes reveal the beauty of living, memory and impermanence?
To Walk Your Life is a guided indoor and outdoor walk through a series of site-specific artworks by Belgian artist Marc Dhaenens, located at the historic Fort Liefkenshoek island. Through a sequence of poetic and contemplative installations, participants are invited to reflect on the journey of life, the traces we leave behind, and the beauty found in fragility and transformation.
The walk includes three interconnected works:
The Walk – a surreal and poetic evocation of the journey of a lifetime.
Secret Niche – a philosophical exploration of the marks, scars and hidden treasures that time leaves upon us.
Drops – a playful visual meditation on our perception of the surrounding landscape and the wider world.
Combining art, storytelling and walking, the experience encourages participants to discover beauty in the ephemeral, embrace reflection through playfulness, and engage with the landscape in new ways.
About the artist
Marc Dhaenens is a 77-year-young Belgian artist whose artistic practice is deeply informed by more than forty years working as a hospital nurse. Themes such as mortality, vulnerability, compassion, grief, beauty and love run throughout his work. Drawing inspiration from found objects, weathered materials and treasures gathered from nature, he creates poetic installations that celebrate the richness of lived experience and the enduring traces of life.
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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