the Milena principle : Made Of Walking
Made of Walking on Facebook Click here > >
[Made of Walking] • Summerschools & internationals artist meetings:
• Summer school • Delphi Greece 2016.
• Summer school • Delphi Greece 2017.
• Table of Walks • La Romieu France 2017.
• Plant(e)cape • Akamas Neo Chorio Cyprus 2018.
• Walking Bodies • University of West Macedonia • Prespes Greece 2019.
• Drifting Bodies/Fluent Spaces • MINHO University • Guimaraes Portugal 2020.
• Walking as a question • University of West Macedonia • Prespes Greece 2021.
• MINHO University • Guimaraes Portugal 2022.
• WAC – Walking Arts Encounters/Conference • Prespa (Greece), 3-10 July 2023.
• walk·listen·create • School of Fine Arts/UOWM • Walking Visions/Visions for Walking 2023.
Made of Walking is an international series of meetings and laboratories focused on walking art, initiated in 2016 by The Milena Principle and partners. These gatherings bring together artists, researchers, and communities in remote or peripheral locations across Europe, the Mediterranean region, and beyond. The program includes artist residencies, walking workshops, roundtables, performances, exhibitions, and walking interventions, with a focus on walking as an artistic, relational, and ecological practice.
The project operates at the intersection of walking art, sound art, locative media, ecological art, art and science, and socially engaged art. Its vision is rooted in the relational and ethical dimensions of transdisciplinary art practices in the 21st century, influenced by, among others, Joseph Beuys’ Soziale Plastik, the Spaziergangswissenschaft of Lucius and Annemarie Burckhardt, relational art as defined by Nicolas Bourriaud, and contemporary eco-art practices.
Concept and Methodology
Made of Walking approaches walking as a relational, ethical, and post-individual practice, considering it a form of embodied knowledge. The walking encounters create dialogue between participants, communities, and environments, emphasizing conscious perception, slowness, and “mindwalking”—the contemplation of the landscape as inseparably connected to the mind and transformable through imagination.
History
Since 2016, Made of Walking has taken place, either as artistic coordinator or co-coordinator, in Delphi (Greece), La Romieu (France) (La Dépêche), the Akamas Peninsula (Cyprus), Prespa (Greece), and Catalonia (Spain). Thematic focuses have ranged from botany and coastal ecologies to more-than-human walking and relational geographies.
A spin-off artistic laboratory and exhibition program, The Walking Body (TWB), has been organized annually since 2018 in Guimarães, Portugal, in collaboration with Lab2PT and the University of Minho, featuring week-long walkshops, lectures, and exhibitions.
Legacy
Since its inception, nearly 1,000 international artists and researchers have participated in the physical gatherings, contributing to the creation of the online platform walk · listen · create. Today, walk · listen · create is an independent online community with over 4,000 registered artists. Made of Walking has also inspired national and local networks around walking art, including the Australian Walking Artists and an interdisciplinary collective in Philadelphia, founded by writer Ann de Forest.
Made Of Walking at Prosperpolder Beveren Belgium 2026
Numerous discussions are currently underway to organise a future edition of Made Of Walking in Porsperpolder in Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht in 2026. These discussions are very promising for the new edition. We would like to thank the municipal council for their support, Hilde Reyniers from the Culture Department for her strong commitment to this project, and Ines De Smet from the Tourist Office.
Prosperpolder is an international polder and a hamlet of approximately 200 inhabitants divided between the borough of Kieldrecht in the Belgian East Flemish municipality of Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht and the hamlet of Prosperdorp in the Dutch Zeelandic Flemish municipality of Hulst. The polder dates back to 1846. The hamlet is also known as Prosperdorp or Prosper. It is located in the north of the borough of Kieldrecht, close to the Dutch border. Since 2013, there have been plans to convert a large part of the Belgian section of the polder at Prosperhaven into a nature reserve.
foto ©website Grenspark groot Saeftingen
Beveren’s unique landscape—marked by a large wetland and agricultural areas , and its proximity to industrial zones (port infrastructure and nuclear plants)—offers a powerful context for exploring the tension between nature, urbanization, and community. This duality aligns closely with the thematic focus of the Milena principle on plant life, place memory, and ecological art.
Prosperpolder is located in the northern part of Beveren, near the Dutch border and the city of Antwerp. This historically reclaimed polder landscape is known for its flat, open vistas and agricultural use. It forms part of the Grenspark Groot Saeftinghe, a cross-border nature reserve and wetland area shaped by the River Scheldt.With the support of the Municipality of Beveren, the Belgian activities in the framework of WALC will primarily take place in this natural reserve. The initiative will engage the local community and several cultural institutions that contribute to the cultural life of Beveren.
2025 > >
The Walking Body (TWB) is an international meeting of walking artists. The 2025 meeting is dedicated to ‘communities of change’, communities that are plural, on the move, and sensitive to issues of the social and natural ecology of the environment in which we live.
Photo by Rosario Forjaz
Tell me your name is a performative walk and act where you give wild plants (growing between tiles, along walls, or roads) new names based on your own poetic sense. You ignore their scientific names and instead name them intuitively, reflecting their character, beauty, or what they mean to you or others.
Weeds exist only in our minds—plants we don’t cultivate in gardens or parks are labeled as such. This exercise uses these plants as a metaphor to explore your identity within society by associating yourself with a “weed” and reflecting on its place in nature and our social world..
TWB explores local communities as dynamic entities in constant transformation, connecting people, territories and ecologies through movement, the art of walking and the relationship between the city and the landscape of Guimarães TWB will take place from 26th of March to 12th of April in Guimarães, in Bairro C, with the meeting point at the Garagem Avenida Gallery/School of Architecture, Art and Design.
TWB includes a week of walkshops, a round table with the invited artists and an exhibition (26 March to 17 April). This event is free of charge. Anyone interested in art and the act of walking can take part in these actions.
The walkshops take place throughout the week from 7th to 12th of April, on walks around the area with a focus on Bairro C, and the meeting point will be the Avenida EAAD Garage Gallery (Av. Dom Afonso Henriques 250). TWB has 7 artists taking part in the workshops: Geert Vermeire (BE), Jordi Lafon (ES), Miguel B Duarte (PT), Montsita Rierola (ES), Natacha Antão (PT), Stefaan Van Biesen (BE) and Rosa Soares (PT).
2024 > >
The Walking Body V in Guimaraes, Portugal 2024.
Interview with Geert Vermeire
by Ellen Mueller on December 26, 2023
Ellen Mueller: What are your thoughts on walking as artistic practice?
Geert Vermeire: My walking art practice began 20 years ago, almost by coincidence, at that time not being aware of walking art, and not being aware that what I did was so much aligned with it. This embryonic beginning was a collective activity, a walk I conceived with my friend Stefaan van Biesen, for whom walking was already over a decade an essential part of his artistic practice (without calling it walking art). We created a walk in an arboretum, at equinox – with the night at its slowest, walking with handheld lanterns as a reference to the philosopher Diogenes always walking with a lantern in daylight. Our walk drifted through a “library of trees”, “writing and reading simultaneously the invisible text of the landscape by walking it together” (to paraphrase de Certeau), in silence, in a more than human language, walking with plants and as plants, listening, whispering, reading texts and collectively creating sound poems in the language of bees. The walk became the work of art, and the work of art was made by its walkers. The artwork was a background, a musical score, interpreted and transformed by its walkers. This experience of shifting, of letting go, creating conditions for the unexpected to happen, and not to produce, this was freedom, revealed by walking. Eventually there may be nothing more free than walking, it does not consume, it does not need anything, and if done together -in the right time and at the right place- it can bring about a metamorphosis of walkers becoming the walk, and of the landscape becoming the walkers. At the same time walking art is joy, the joy of being surprised, to wonder, to be together. It is joy that transforms walking into art, joy is its catalyst.
2021 > >
Drifting Bodies – Fluent Spaces
Online meeting/conference on Walking Arts
Guimarães, Portugal | 21–25 July 2020
Organized by EAUM/Lab2PT/University of Minho – Made of Walking (VII)
Main themes:
Drift/psychogeography as subversive practice, urban play, risk
The fluid body and senses: (re)writing and (re)reading the city through the body
Emptiness and silence as transformative elements
Walking stories and their intermedia translations
invited:
Hybrid/online walkshops and walking performances
Digital artworks for online exhibition
To support the cultural community during the pandemic, conference fees are waived for freelancers without regular income or creatives who lost income. Affiliated researchers pay €40.
Submit proposals before May 15th to: walk.lab2pt@gmail.com
2020 > >
Made of Walking (VII) Drifting Bodies / Fluent Spaces.
Minho University Guimaraes Portugal 2020.
2019 > >
Made of Walking (VI) Sound Walk Sunday 2019.
Exploring Sound Walks - British Library / Knowledge Center - June 7th at 1.30 pm.
In the frame of Sound Walk Sunday 2019 in a partnership with Made of Walking (VI) Sao Paulo - London - Melbourne, an afternoon of presentations, videos and demonstrations of new approaches in sound walking at the British Library London. Following contributors were invited to share their ideas and practices, elaborating on contemporary evolutions and the future of sound walking : Joshua Kopeček, Marcin Barski, Babak Fakhamzadeh, Andrew Stuck, Stella Wisdom, Cheryl Tipp, Mahendra Mahey, NG Bristow, Alistair Horne, George Fort, Fred Adam and Vermeire Geert For this event a Sound Walk was created with CGeomap, in collaboration with NuSom - University of Sao Paulo. With soundscapes by Fabi Quintana, Henrique Souza Lima, Yonara Dantas, Migue Antar.
The book of the Walking Arts Encounters/Conference (WAC) 2019 is now available in print and digital formats. This full-color, 567-page publication features hundreds of photos and contributions from around the world. It covers themes like Walking Narratives, Crossing Borders, Walking and Place, Fine Arts of Walking, Long Journeys, Nature and the Anthropocene, Political Narratives, and Pedagogies of Walking. Due to its size and global scope, it is a key reference for anyone interested in 21st-century Walking Arts. Edited by Yannis Ziogas and Geert Vermeire, with design by Aspasia Voudouri. The digital version is available for a recommended donation of €20, and the printed book costs €50 plus shipping.
Made of Walking (VI) Sound and Ecology. Amazone Forest 2019.
Made of Walking (VI) Sound and Ecology calls on all interested to participate to a gathering and creative exchange in the Amazon Rainforest, between 8-14 September.
Made of Walking (VI) focuses on sound and ecology in collaboration with Sound Walk Sunday (1-8 September), a global community event celebrating sound walking through simultaneous, connected walks worldwide.
From 8-14 September, Made of Walking (VI) Sound and Ecology continues as eAmazonia, a global symposium on sustainable arts, science, and design. This immersive residency takes place in the Amazon rainforest and serves as a gathering, school, platform, and collaborative space for artists, creatives, researchers, and entrepreneurs interested in eco-arts and innovative design within the deep ecological context of the Amazon.
Participants will present artistic and scientific research, collaborate, and create projects and workshops related to sound walking and ecology.
Keynote activities and workshops led by mentors Flavia Amadeu, Tania Fraga, and Geert Vermeire will guide the six-day residency. Participants are invited to share knowledge and develop works in progress.
Outcomes will be exhibited in major art venues in São Paulo, London, and Miami, accompanied by an academic and artistic publication.
The symposium is accredited by IMATech-Institute for Arts, Technology and Mathematics in São Paulo, Brazil, and will help establish the eAmazonia network and future events. It will also form the foundation for a global online platform.
As the Amazon expedition involves significant costs, participants are responsible for securing their own funding.
The event is curated by artists Tania Fraga, Flavia Amadeu, and Geert Vermeire, who aim to address environmental issues through global and independent media. They seek to promote alternative images, ecological economies, and humane policies, challenging mainstream corporate agendas.
By uniting their artistic approaches, the curators foster a collaborative space to share practices, concerns, and solutions with others passionate about the Amazon Rainforest.
http://www.embraceamazonia.org/?fbclid=IwAR1Yvx8NbA2oK6P7PYBUvskKI-EXuT2Mtt32hzMtAeoeDXqc3HNUgQPA_5Q
Made of Walking (V) Walking Practices/Walking Art/Walking Bodies 2019.
Walking encounters/conference in Prespes Greece, July 1-7 2019. 30.06 > 07.07.2019. Walking Practices/Walking Art/Walking Bodies.Walking Arts Encounters Conference Prespes Greece. Department of Fine and Applied Arts of the University of Western Macedonia and Made of Walking (V) / theMilena Principle.
Made of Walking (V) is organized by the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Western Macedonia, Greece, and takes place alongside the international conference “Walking Practices|Walking Art|Walking Bodies” in the Prespes area. This unique natural region, featuring two lakes and a complex history, lies on the borders with Albania and North Macedonia.
The theme “Walking bodies” refers to walking together, groups on the move, embodiment, nomadism, migration, and the concept of home.
Artists and walking creatives are invited to a week-long residency in the village of Parades to develop individual or group projects exploring walking in Prespes. The results will be exhibited at the Byzantine Museum of Agios Germanos and then travel as a nomadic exhibition worldwide. The residency concludes with a three-day international conference (July 5-7) in Lemos, focused on walking art and walking bodies.
The event is coordinated by Geert Vermeire and Yannis Ziogas, in collaboration with a global scientific and artistic committee. Applications for the residency and conference presentations are welcome.
Arrival for the residency June 28th to Sunday June 30th till July 7th. Arrival for the conference latest afternoon July 4th. Also attendees are welcome to participate. Registration is open from now on. Online info group sessions about the region will be organised monthly for artists/creatives desiring to prepare a specific walking project for the area.
For students limited free accomodation is available in the dormitory of the School of Fine Arts. Free camping facilities wiil be offered in the garden of the school and at the shore of the lake. Further accommodation (to be paid by the participants) available in guest rooms and hotels for prices starting at 25 euros/individual room/night. Flights to Thessaloniki and Athens, further transportation by bus/train.
More information and/or your expression of interest via personal message: themilenaprinciple@gmail.com
2018 > >
The Walking Body. School of Architecture [Minho University] Guimaraes Portugal 15.10. > 19.10.2018.
The walking body A week of conferences, workshops and performances about walking and arts, open to the students and the public are planned in Guimarães and prepare an internation gathering Made of Walking in the Minho landscape of North Portugal later in 2019. The project is hosted by Lab2PT and EAUM Licenciatura em Artes Visuais (School of Architecture - Visual Arts) of the University of Minho and in partnership with the art collective The Space Transcribers and the Museum Nogueira da Silva.
It prepares collaborations between University of Western Macedonia - School of Fine Arts, the University of Wales - Arts and Performance Dept and the School of Architecture - Visual Arts of the University of Minho in a contemporary translation of the rural and natural landscapes throught the body and site specific arts, within the emotions and nomadic movements that define our actual anthropocene world, through questions that artists may rise and answers that they may have.
[Meander III] performance/walk with the students, Minho University.
Concept by Stefaan van Biesen & Annemie Mestdagh.
Made of Walking – Guimarães Meeting & Upcoming Prespes Gathering
The Guimarães meeting sets the stage for the fifth international Made of Walking event, titled The Walking Body. This will take place in July 2019 in Prespes National Park and the village of Prespes, West Macedonia, Greece—at the border of Greece, Macedonia, and Albania—as part of an international arts and walking conference organized by the University of Western Macedonia’s School of Fine Arts.
The event explores the dynamic interaction between body and landscape. Artists and cultural nomads treat the landscape as an open field for experience, where movement inspires ideas, concepts, and artwork. Walking through these environments evokes unique emotions that shape distinct forms of artistic expression.
Lectures & Conferences in Guimarães
Silent Walking / Augmented Walking — Geert Vermeire shares insights on silent and sound walks developed over the past decade, highlighting new technologies like sound devices, mobile phones, mobile video, and augmented reality. (In Portuguese)
Made of Walking / The Art of Walking in the Landscape — Geert Vermeire reflects on past editions in Greece, Cyprus, and France, emphasizing participatory practices and collaboration between artists, inhabitants, and curators. The discussion is framed by Spaziergangwissenschaft (Science of Walking), a discipline founded by Lucius Burckhardt. (In Portuguese)
Artist Talk: Stefaan van Biesen — Stefaan discusses his walking practice and its relation to digital media, sound, drawings, and performance, focusing on how thought manifests in environment and well-being. (In English)
Workshops & Performances in Guimarães
Augmented Walking (Geert Vermeire) — Participants learn sound walking techniques, recording and editing environmental sounds using free software and the Locosonic app. The workshop includes creating personalized sound walks, designing custom interfaces, and sharing online audio samples. locosonic.com
Meander (Stefaan van Biesen & Annemie Mestdagh) — A silent walk/performance exploring concepts of silence, time, body, and mind through Eastern and Western philosophies. Participants become part of the artwork through shared movement. Duration: 45 minutes, outdoors.
Wander Weed (Stefaan van Biesen & Annemie Mestdagh) — A performative walk with poetic readings (Letters to a Tree) shared among small groups, inviting reflection on nomadic art. Outdoors.
Made of Walking (IV) 2018 Neon Chorio [Akamas Peninsula Cyprus] 29.06 < 08.07.2018.
Sites embodied / Nature Embodied 2018 is a continuation of the project Sites Embodied Cyprus during Pafos 2017: Plant(e)scape in the Akamas Peninsula
Pafos2017 focuses on the villages of Neon Chorio and Smigies in the Akamas Peninsula, hosting Made of Walking / Plant(e)scape in collaboration with Dance Gate Lefkosia, University of Nicosia Fine Arts, and Neapolis University Pafos School of Architecture.
The theme, Plant(e)scape, explores human motion and emotion within a rich botanical environment. It combines walking as a creative practice with two emerging fields: Spaziergangwissenschaft (Promenadology) and Critical Plant Studies (Vegetal Philosophy). Promenadology serves as a tool to investigate everyday environments and share knowledge, while Critical Plant Studies views plants as conscious, sentient beings—active agents in meaning-making rather than passive objects. This symbiotic perspective challenges anthropocentrism, inviting a vegetal point of view that enriches ecological, symbolic, and aesthetic understanding.
The event features live performances, workshops, lectures, and roundtables with established and emerging performance and walking artists alongside researchers.
Live Performances: Taking place throughout the landscape and countryside, involving both the public and local residents.
Workshops: Led by artists for the general public, local communities, and students across participating institutions.
Public Talks & Conferences: Open to all interested attendees.
An international digital platform will extend the event globally during and after the gathering, offering streaming and live podcasts connected to the Made of Walking and Talking Walking / Museum of Walking networks.
Concept Simona Vermeire.
2017 > >
Walking on, after Made of Walking in Delphi and in Le Romieu in Summer 2017. 80 artists, dancers, movement artists, composers, sound artists, theatre artists, writers, poets, researchers and other walking experts/practitioners from literally around the world found each other in the Greek Parnassos and in the French Midi Pyrenees to share, to learn, to question, and to gather. One conclusion emerged: walking is a yes in our world, walking is utopic. Walking works. Marcher, ça marche.
Made of Walking | Geert Vermeire and the art of walking the urban landscape.
Geert Vermeire: Urban Emptiness & Made of Walking
Geert Vermeire presents key highlights from his 20-year art and walking practice: Urban Emptiness and Made of Walking.
Urban Emptiness is a collaborative project uniting artists, dancers, architects, and researchers to explore the hidden, silent, and imaginary aspects of cities like Brussels, Athens, Nicosia, New York, and Tirana through critical and utopian perspectives.
Made of Walking brings together walking artists and experts in rural pilgrimage landscapes (such as Delphi and the Way of Santiago) to investigate how perception shapes the landscape, revealing its unique qualities and potentials.
Vermeire is a Belgian curator, writer, and artist with a background in musicology and performance arts. His interdisciplinary work focuses on mixed reality in movement, sound, and text-based public art, emphasizing the ethical dimensions of cultural practice. His projects span Albania, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, and the US.
This program is presented in partnership with walkBoston, a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing pedestrian environments across Massachusetts.
Made of Walking | Table of Walks walking artists La Romieu France: 27.08.2017 > 01.09 2017.
Table of Walks
Initiated by the Milena principle (Belgium), Table of Walks is a multidisciplinary project exploring walking as an artistic and cultural practice. Its pilot year featured the Summer School of Walking in Delphi, Greece — a forum combining walks and workshops that fostered dialogue across performance, arts, literature, and new media. The event brought together 100 participants, including 25 walking artists and experts from the US, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, India/France/UK, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece.
The La Romieu Forum, co-curated by Isabelle Clermont, Gilles Malatray (Desartssonnants, Lyon), and Geert Vermeire (Milena principle / Urban Emptiness Network), in collaboration with Robin Decourcy (TrekDance) and Andrew Stuck (Museum of Walking / Walking Artist Network UK), is hosted by the artistic organization Le Bouc qui Zouke and the municipality of La Romieu. This forum aims to create connections between researchers and artists focused on walking practices, with CRESSON Grenoble as an academic partner.
Theme:
“Sometimes we walk on the ground, sometimes on sidewalks or asphalt, or other surfaces. Can we find ground to walk on and listen for the sound or sounds of ground? Are we losing ground? Can we find new ground by listening for it?” — Pauline Oliveros, October 22, 2016.
Sound Walk Sunday – Open Call for Contributions
On Sunday, 27 August, we launch Sound Walk Sunday, a global event initiated by Made of Walking in La Romieu, in collaboration with Andrew Stuck and the Museum of Walking. We invite you to share your audio, geo-located, immersive performances, or sound walks to help us build a global directory and map in time for the event.
We’re seeking artists, performers, and producers who have created audio walking pieces — past or present. Even archived works are welcome, as well as current pieces that the public could experience on Sound Walk Sunday.
Please contribute by filling out our simple submission form here:
http://www.museumofwalking.org.uk/events/sound-walk-sunday/
Do you have budget, time, or networks we can connect with in the weeks leading up to 27 August? Can we join a show or write a blog to share our goals? Get in touch — we’re currently supported by volunteers.
Our vision is to crowdsource a worldwide collection of walking pieces. While early directories emerged during the rise of Web 2.0 and geo-located media, few comprehensive maps exist today despite the ease of creating new works. Sound Walk Sunday aims to revive this effort and offer a popular platform for digitally enhanced walking experiences.
Bom Fim Talk Rosária Forjaz & Stefaan van Biesen.Made Of Walking (III) La Romieu France 2017.
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A Bom Fim conversation between the Portugese artist Rosário Forjaz and Stefaan van Biesen (Belgium) about the art project 'Meander' and 'the Library of Walks' in the Escola Artistica de Soares dos Reis in Porto 2019 by Stefaan van Biesen & Annemie Mestdagh.
Also a conversation about their contribution and performative walks: ['Light Walk' and 'Enter The Triangle'] during Made of Walking (III) in La Romieu France August 2017, an international meeting of artists who work on the theme of 'walking'. Camera: Annemie Mestdagh / the Milena principle 2019. Time: 21:53.
Listening: On The Architecture of Aging. Made of walking La Romieu 28.08.2017.
ARTIFACTS : Pam Patterson & Leena Raudvee [CAN].
Registration and video by Stefaan van Biesen/the Milena principle.
Midamble Peter Jaeger [CAN/UK] Made of Walking La Romieu France 30.08.2017.
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Midamble | 31.08.2017
Excerpt from a durational walk & reading performance by Peter Jaeger (CAN/UK) during Made of Walking at La Romieu, France, 2017.
Location: Le Lavoir (historic washing place)
Text and performance: © Peter Jaeger
Video: © Stefaan van Biesen / the Milena principle
Midamble is a lengthy text composed at sacred sites and pilgrimage routes across Asia, Europe, North America, North Africa, and the Middle East. The durational reading-performance is staged along the Camino route, engaging in dialogue with the natural sounds, walkers, and pilgrims over several hours—mirroring the time required to traverse long-distance paths.
Enter the Triangle Stefaan van Biesen [B] Made of Walking La Romieu France 2017.
Enter the Triangle. 27.08 > 30.08.2017. A silent meditative walk/performance for 3 walkers, during Made of Walking La Romieu 2017. With Annelies Vantyghem (B), Niran Baibulat (FIN), Rosario Forjaz (PT), Andrew Stuck (UK), Mel Sutton (UK), Ivana Pinna (IT/ES), Guendouz Nawal (ALGERIA/ FR), Carol Mancke (US), Phillip Mckenzie (UK), Leo Kay (B/UK), Pam Patterson (CAN), Leena Raudvee (CAN), Ruth Roadbent (UK).
Enter the Triangle (Silent Movements)
Enter the Triangle is a gentle walking performance for three participants focused on listening to and responding to each other’s bodily movements. It explores how we relate to another’s physical language, fostering awareness of both the others and the urban environment.
The performance highlights the simultaneous connection and disconnection we experience—being able to touch while remaining distant. It serves as a mental exercise in trust and presence, where the three moving bodies flow together to form a constantly shifting human sculpture: a living triangle shaped by interaction.
[Made of Walking 2017] - La Romieu France 27.08 > 01.09.2017.
Made Of Walking 2017, La Romieu France | 27.08 > 01.09.2017
We are pleased to invite you to the inauguration of a Point d’ouïe followed by the roundtable discussion “On the Proper Use of Walking” and the Talking Walking Salon on August 30 at 6:30 pm in the town hall of La Romieu. Participants include Gilles Malatray (Desartsonnants), Jules Desgouttes and Fred Ortuno (Artfactories/Autresparts), Nawal Guendouz (University of Lyon), Andrew Stuck (Museum of Walking), and international artists.
Made of Walking is originally a traveling school, a pedagogical platform, and an international nomadic festival focusing on interdisciplinary walking practices. These initiatives bring together walking artists and experts who explore walking through artistic, philosophical, and research-based approaches.
2017 > >
Made of Walking (II) the Milena principle summerschool Delphi Greece 10.07 > 23.07.2017.
https://animartgreece.eu/2017/en/events/13/
10th of July to 24th of July, Delphi Greece 2017.
Animart Experiential Arts School and Forum of Contemporary Artists
In collaboration with the Milena Principle, Animart organizes a forum featuring walks and walking workshops that explore the intersections of performance, arts, literature, and new media. Artists, writers, walkers, performers, musicians, composers, sound designers, new media artists, developers, teachers, researchers, experts, and scientists from diverse fields and countries—including the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, India, France, the UK, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece—come together to share experiences and explore walking practices.
The 10th Animart Experiential Arts School and Forum for Contemporary Artists will take place in Delphi from July 10–24, 2017, in collaboration with the Athens School of Fine Arts (Greece), Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design (Jerusalem, Israel), and the Milena Principle (Belgium). This event brings together academics, students, experts, and renowned artists from Greece and abroad.
The Milena Principle is an international platform and artistic research lab focused on interdisciplinary practices in performance arts and new media, with special attention to ecology, sound, science, society, and awareness.
Made of Walking, organized by the Milena Principle during Animart, includes screenings, workshops, and conferences centered on walking as a creative practice. The program invites students, (emerging) artists, writers, walkers, performers, musicians, composers, sound designers, new media artists, developers, teachers, and researchers to engage in dialogue and share their experiences. Performances and projects will take place in outdoor venues such as the courtyard of the Delphi Archaeological Museum, the archaeological site of Delphi, and Delphi village.
Animart Greece: https://animartgreece.eu/2017/en/news/7/
The Milena principle:
Annemie Mestdagh: https://animartgreece.eu/2017/en/tutors/mestdagh/
Stefaan van Biesen: https://animartgreece.eu/2017/en/tutors/biesen/
Geert Vermeire: https://animartgreece.eu/2017/en/tutors/vermeire/
Enter the Triangle Made of Walking (I)] summerschool Delphi Greece 20.07 > 21.07.2017.
Enter the Triangle performance Made of Walking Delphi Animart Summer School 2017.
Enter the Triangle. Performance for 3 walkers and dancers during Made of Walking Delphi 2017. Concept and video: Stefaan van Biesen/ the Milena principle. Attribute made by Annemie Mestdagh / the Milena principle. Performers: Lina Efstathiou, Eleni Nakou, Julia Redei, Penny Finiri, Leand Kalaja, Panagiotis Lezes, Aliki Arnaouti, Ioanna Thanou - Mikro Skordopsomo, Chara Tzoka, Marianna Makri, Vermeire Geert and Haris Pellapaisiotis.
The Tortoise and the Spider a walking harp, Delphi 23 juli 22:48.
Made of Walking Delphi 2017 centered on outdoor movement practices combined with new technologies and live electronics, exploring collaborative sound and movement within walking “webs” of people. Ros Bandt, Jon Drummond, Geert Vermeire, and Katerina Drakopoulou worked with movement artists and dancers to create a giant illuminated “people spider” aeolian harp. Connected by strings, this human harp was played and moved at night, with portable speakers and sound elements attached to the performers.
The performance involved creating a “human harp”—a group moving in connection—and a tortoise harp that played the connecting strings, resonating with the ground and surrounding landscape.
This work continues as a digital platform linking walker-webs worldwide. The project evolves walking as sound waves and webs, aiming to unfold footsteps that generate a sound score reflecting the dialogue between humans and the earth. Ultimately, it proposes an ecological “sculpture” of the earth through these walking webs, creating an orphic mapping of erratic places and spaces.
Dancers/movement artists: Katerina Drakopoulou, Lina Efstathiou, Aliki Sea Georgoulopoulou, Medea Kastanou, Marianna Makri, Eleni Nakou, Eleutheria Rapti, Julia Redei, Nefeli Stamatogiannopoulou, Ioanna Thanou / Mikro Skordopsomo, Chara Tzoka Art work / Found Threads: Alexandra Pambouka.
Found Threads Made of Walking Amfissa 2017
Alexandra Pambouka, Cyprus. July 17- 23, 2017.
Human beings have always moved for survival or progress. Memories, customs, and traditions are their only heritage—Home.
In times of change, traditional patterns no longer repeat themselves exactly. One can “knit” their own history by using “found threads” shaped by personal measures. The artwork becomes ever-changing, like humanity itself. It can adapt to any space—rolled, stretched, or packed in a suitcase—and will appear differently with each exhibition. The installation process can be performative and public, inviting the audience to add their own woven pieces. Thus, the artwork becomes a socially engaged practice.
Inspired by Amfissa’s urban and natural environment and its history, Alexandra creates an installation using weaving techniques. The project is interactive, inviting Amfissa’s residents to contribute woven pieces to the existing work Found Threads.
A participative art work by Alexandra Pambouka during Made of Walking Delphi 2017.
2016 > >
Made of Walking (I) the Milena principle summerschool Delphi Greece 16.07 > 24.07.2016.
As a pilot project within the Animart Experiential Arts School and Forum of Contemporary Artists, the Milena principle organizes a forum featuring walks and walking workshops that foster dialogue between performance, arts, literature, and new media. The forum invites artists, writers, walkers, performers, musicians, composers, sound designers, new media artists, developers, teachers, researchers, experts, and scientists from diverse fields to share experiences and explore walking practices together.
Contributors come from the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, India/France/UK, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece.
The 10th ANIMART – Experiential Arts School and Forum for Contemporary Artists will take place in Delphi from July 16–24, 2016, in collaboration with the Athens School of Fine Arts (Greece), Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design (Jerusalem, Israel), and the Milena principle (Belgium), bringing together academics, students, experts, and renowned artists from Greece and abroad.
The Milena principle is an international platform and research lab focused on interdisciplinary practices in performance arts and new media, with a special interest in ecology, sound, science, society, and awareness.
Walking performance by Adonis Volanakis (New York/Athens).
Made Of Walking is organized by the Milena principle during ANIMART, with a series of screenings, workshops and conferences relating to walking, focussing on dialogues between performance, arts, literature and new media, inviting students, (young) artists, writers, walkers, performers, musicians and composers, sound designers, new media artist, developers, teachers, experts and scientists of different fields, to share their experiences. Projects/performances are meant for following outdoor venues: yard of the Delphi Archeological Museum, the archeological site of Delphi and Delphi village.
2015 > >
Reading the moment [Walking - Observing - Sensing - Being] Athens Greece 2015.
Reading the Moment is a collective walking experience through the streets of Athens, inviting participants to explore place and space without expectation—allowing their bodies to archive personal versions of the city. Born from a spontaneous convergence of people, practices, and ideas, this initial exploration is a collaboration between Geert Vermeire, Stefaan Van Biesen, and Marielys Burgos Meléndez. It takes place within the framework of Episodes of Urban Emptiness: Real and Imaginary Explorations of Silence in the Contemporary City in Edinburgh, Brussels, and Athens.
“There is so much to discover in every step. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. Attention shifts to awareness. Let’s walk together and wonder around... We are the space we inhabit. Have we looked at it carefully? We move and so does our relationship with our world. Let’s (re)encounter our place. We become the place.”
Geert Vermeire is a Belgian curator, artist, and writer working between Athens, Lisbon, and Brussels. His work explores ‘the body as a unit of measurement,’ using the senses and body as tools for knowledge, experience, and creativity, with an emphasis on social practice, community, and ethical cultural action.
Stefaan Van Biesen is a Belgian visual and sound artist and writer, whose work focuses on walking as a tool for knowledge and artistic creation.
Marielys Burgos Meléndez is an independent artist and researcher from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her multidisciplinary practice spans dance, performance, video art, and creative writing. Her current research, ISLA en FUGA, explores themes of mobility and survival through dislocation.
