the Milena principle : Contact

 

Private Foundation [private stichting] van Biesen-Mestdagh, Estate & Archive.

 

 

the Milena principle

Annemie Mestdagh & Stefaan van Biesen
Kleine Boomgaardstraat 14

9120 Melsele Beveren Belgium.

Mobile : +32(0)472862542

 

 

 

contact projects & info: themilenaprinciple@gmail.com Geert Vermeire.

 

 

 

Members of the board

 

The Private Foundation Van Biesen-Mestdagh (PFVBM) is a non-profit legal entity based in Beveren (Belgium). It serves as the legal and administrative structure for the Milena principle, an interdisciplinary artistic and cultural platform. This platform initiates and supports a wide range of artistic and cultural events centered around walking as an art form and art as a nomadic, site-responsive practice, with a strong focus on long-term and international initiatives in walking arts, ecological engagement, and place-based research.

 

 

 

Anna Maria (Annemie) Mestdagh (B) Co-founder PFVBM, production assistant for exhibitions and art projects in Belgium and Europe within the Milena principle. Active with non-native speakers and refugees with language classes. Assists and advises artists and art organisations with media design. Trained in digital techniques and web design. For various art organisations (WIT urban Team, the Milena principle) and individual artists, she realised attributes for performances and assistance during the preparation and production. During art projects or performances she works as a collaborator and photographer. Her role in WALC goes throughout all work packages as one of the project managers, and as well supervising web design, digital design, documentation, production and post production of the activities.

 

Stefaan van Biesen (B) Co-founder and president of PFVBM. Artist with a central role for walking in his practice, serving as tools for ecological and social engagement. Active with non-native speakers and refugees with language classes. He invests heavily in collaborations with artists, scientists, and multidisciplinary experts. He is managing archives for The Milena Principle.  Co-founder of The Milena Principle (international art platform) and Made of Walking. Co-founder of Earth Connections, a traveling art archive. His works are held in private collections and museums across Europe, Brazil, and China, with projects in 15+ countries. His role in WALC goes throughout all work packages as one of the project managers, curatorial lead, and as well supervising web design, digital design, documentation, production and post production of the activities.

 

Filip Van de Velde (B) Member of the board of PFVBM. Public care coordinator, guides & volunteers. He studied art history (University Ghent and teacher training. He works as a public relations officer at S.M.A.K. Ghent (urban museum of contemporary art). Together with Aline Nereaux, he wrote the texts for “The Little Catalogue of the S.M.A.K. Collection”, the first art collection catalogue designed for children. He was curator for various exhibitions and was closely involved in the establishment of the Milena principle. He was also involved in a number of performances that he realised or shaped himself.

 

 

 

Research:

 

  

 

Simona Vermeire (B/ROM) PhD in Comparative Literature, Post Doc Researcher in the Ontology of plants (Critical Plant Studies) Uminho University, PT. Specific research interest in the connection between literature, arts, and science and the concept of consilience, in plant-human relations, along with promenadology. Participates and contributes to exhibitions and art projects in Belgium and worldwide within the Milena principle and Made of Walking, as curator, researcher, trainer and writer.

Her role in WALC goes throughout all work packages as one of the project managers, curatorial assistant, lead of the Plantescape project, lead of the publication, researcher and trainer, editor, administration supervision, logistics, communication and promotion.

 

 

Resume activities:

 

CKV | Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen ( Center for Art Archives of Flanders) is a central hub for the distributed care of art archives and estates. It is an operationally autonomous organization within M HKA (Museum Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen/ Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp), focused on the preservation, sustainable public access and active fielding of visual art archives in public and private management.

 

The private Van Biesen-Mestdagh Foundation manages the archives of the Milena principle (independent international art platform), Wit Urban-Team and Stefaan van Biesen's own artistic legacy and is in consultation with the CVK.

 

 

One of its flagship initiatives, Made of Walking was launched under PFVBM and has grown into an international gathering that brings together artists, researchers, performers, writers, ecologists, and activists from around the world who explore walking as a form of embodied knowledge, creative expression, ecological engagement, and interdisciplinary research.
Through Made of Walking, PFVBM has played a key role in several previous and major collaborations with WALC partners:

 

 

 

• It has been actively involved in the Walking Arts Encounters in Prespa since 2019, organized by the University of Western Macedonia (UOWM).
  

It has maintained a long-term relationship with walk listen create (WLC), an online community whose main annual activity, Sound Walk September, has its origins in the Made of Walking encounters.

Through these collaborations, PFVBM not only shares a strong conceptual affinity with the themes of WALC (Walking Arts and Local Communities) but also demonstrates a proven track record of active cooperation with four of the six remaining WALC partners.
Additionally, PFVBM coordinated the Grundtvig European project "A Knocking Bird", an urban e-culture initiative focused on walking as a means to explore the relationship between city inhabitants and birdlife.