A space specific practice / Actions
Like the Black Mulberry | Hortus Walk, Hof Ter Saksen, Beveren | 11.05.2025
In the early years of the new millennium, Stefaan van Biesen initiated a series of walks with the intention of encouraging participants to engage in public conversations or spoken reflections while seated on the stumps of felled trees. This collective practice led to various studies, letters, drawings, and artworks. One of the outcomes of these experiences was the sculpture “Her-Steller / Restorer” (Village square, near St. Martin’s Church, Massemen, Wetteren, 2006), commissioned by the Province of East Flanders as part of the project “A Home for a Sculpture.”
This work did not originate from the classical Greek myth of “Daphne,” but rather from an ecological and social dialogue in public space. The tree stump became a natural platform for speakers – nature offering us a stage for reflection and meaningful discourse, a sanctuary for open dialogue and the sharing of thoughts and experiences.
On May 11th, 2025, participants in the Hortus Walk shared this natural Speaker’s Corner as part of “Like the Black Mulberry,” a project exploring trees as memorial monuments. In this case, the mulberry tree stands as a symbol for the many victims of asbestos exposure in the region of Sint-Niklaas, Beveren, and the Antwerp port area.
Tree Talkers: Stefaan van Biesen, Etienne D'Hollander, Christa Maes, Rika Van de Walle, Hilde Reyniers, ...
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, inviting you to give a name to wild plants—those growing between pavement cracks, along walls, or by the roadside.
Rather than using their preassigned scientific names, you will approach these plants intuitively, naming them based on your own poetic interpretation. The name you choose may reflect their character, their beauty, or what they mean to you—personally or in relation to others in the group.
This act is a gesture of attention and recognition. A way of seeing. A way of naming the overlooked.
“Weed” is a concept that exists only in our minds.
We use the word for plants we do not cultivate—those that grow without permission in our gardens or parks.
This walk is an exercise in self-definition. By engaging with these so-called “weeds,” you are invited to use them as metaphors—to associate yourself with them, to reflect on their place in the natural world, and, through that lens, to consider your own place within society.
What do we exclude? What do we overlook? And what does that say about how we live together?
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).
Performance for Àmare:
Score for Swarmer / Zwermer (I)
[Àmare] in situ group show • Damme Belgium 2023. Curator: Annelies Ysebaert [Gallery Ysebaert].
Score for Swarmer / Zwermer (I) was created in 2003, marking the beginning of an international collaboration between artist Stefaan van Biesen and poet-curator Geert Vermeire, a student of the iconic conductor and composer Sergiu Celibidache [1912–1996].
This public performance transforms the human voice into part of a larger sound composition—drawing on voice resonance and the sonorous buzzing tones found in the natural world. Participation is open to everyone. No singing experience is required.
Following the presentation of Zwermer / Swarmer (I) in Damme—and in celebration of the work's 20th anniversary—it will be reactivated for Àmare 2023.
Anyone can participate. No singing skills are required. Following 'Zwermer/Swarmer (I)' now shown in Damme and the fact that this performance saw the light exactly 20 years ago, this event will be repeated for Àmare 2023.
Son & Heir
A reconstruction of the remains of a day in 1952
Created for the Flow Lines project by Deirdre McLeod, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK — June 2020.
In the photograph on the left, taken in 1952, my father stands in a shallow pool of water. It is a quiet, enigmatic moment on a Sunday afternoon—a year before I was born.
I have often wondered about the reason behind this act. There were no answers.
Intrigued by its mystery, I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps, to reconstruct this moment as a gesture of connection—a way of continuing a bloodline, not just in name, but in presence.
Or, as Gustav Mahler [1860–1911] once said:
“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”
Flow Lines
In human geography, flow lines trace the movement of people—commuters, migrants—traveling from one place to another. In physical geography, flow lines map the paths of ocean currents as they circulate across the globe.
This simple, solitary act invites you to become part of those invisible lines of connection.
On your own, keeping a self-isolating distance of at least two metres from others, make your way to the sea—or, if the sea is far, to a nearby river, stream, or canal. A canal is perfectly fine, so long as its waters eventually meet the sea.
Remove your shoes. Roll up your trousers. Step into the water.
Let it lap around your ankles. Say goodbye to this water as it flows on—towards distant shores, to places you cannot visit right now, to people you may never meet.
Place your hand in the water.
Shake hands with them.
Let the current carry your greeting.
Flow Lines | Deirdre McLeod
Flow Lines is an artistic response to the current global context—an exploration of solitude, connection, and the ways we navigate public space in times of crisis.
Since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic—and particularly during periods of lockdown—our movement through public space has shifted. Time outdoors has become both limited and precious, often experienced in solitude. Physical closeness with those outside our households remains restricted, even as we seek new ways to stay connected.
At the same time, the pandemic has revealed just how vital urban public spaces are—for individuals, communities, and our collective wellbeing.
Flow Lines consists of six short, solo performance pieces designed for individuals to carry out on their own. Each piece draws inspiration from small gestures I’ve observed in public space here in Edinburgh over the past months—moments of adaptation, expression, or quiet ritual.
One of the performances involves standing (safely) in flowing water, acknowledging the continuous movement of the natural world and our invisible connections across distance.
I’m inviting artists across the UK and internationally to take part in this project—to contribute, respond, and reflect through their own acts and interpretations.
A Tree Conversaton 2019
LISTEN Festival, a summer of sound art, Frome (UK) Sound Walk Sunday 01.09.2019.
Wander Weed Session
With Stefaan van Biesen & Annemie Mestdagh
As part of Plant(e)scape – Made of Walking IV (Akamas, Cyprus, 2018) and The Walking Body (Minho University, Guimarães, Portugal, 2019)
Now taking place in Beveren, Belgium, Wander Weed is a performative walk led by Stefaan van Biesen and Annemie Mestdagh.
Part lecture, part conversation, part embodied exercise, this session invites participants to explore their relationship with plants—through movement, dialogue, and poetic attention.
The central theme is plant intelligence: how we perceive it, respond to it, and how it challenges our understanding of consciousness, presence, and interspecies communication.
Participants are encouraged to slow down, to observe, and to engage with the living world around them in new and meaningful ways.
The Blue Parade | What The Body Knows 2019
Perfomative walk during Made of Walking (V) Prespes University of Western Macedonia Greece.
A portable nomadic Library of Walks:
[Library of Walks] [What] The Body Knows / The Bleu Parade] Made of Walking (V) Prespes Greece 2019.
Walking encounters/conference in Prespes Greece, July 1-7 2019.
Department of Fine and Applied Arts of the University of Western Macedonia.
Video: (What) The Body Knows / The Blue Parade
Location: Psarades, Prespes, Greece
Video Duration: 10:38
Camera: Annemie Mestdagh & Stefaan van Biesen (2019)
This performative walk, What The Body Knows / The Blue Parade, took place in the village of Psarades during Made of Walking (V) in Prespes, 2019. It forms part of the Library of Walks, an ongoing project initiated by Stefaan van Biesen in 1990.
Over the decades, this evolving artistic practice has taken shape across Europe and Brazil, in collaboration with curator-writer Geert Vermeire. For this iteration, Stefaan van Biesen and Annemie Mestdagh created a portable, nomadic library—a living archive carried through space by a collective of walkers.
This mobile library moves with and through the participants, embodying shared knowledge, memory, and presence. It serves as both a poetic gesture and a performative act of transmission.
Walkers included:
Yannis Ziogas, Natacha Antão Moutinho, Miguel Bandeira Duarte, Rosie Montford, Anna Villas Boas, Geert Vermeire, Christopher Kaczmar, Marie-Anne Lerjen, Kristina Borg, Katerina Paisi, Juana Miranda, Raffaella Zammit, Lucia Masu, Emanuelle Klafiger, Ienke Kastelein, and Caterina Giansiracusa.
Participants carry a portable library shaped as a gently meandering, streamlined ultramarine blue canvas—a colour that had no name in ancient Greece.*¹ This vivid hue references the nearby Little Prespa Lake, while also symbolically connecting to the experiences and fate of refugees.
During the walk, participants are invited to observe their surroundings closely and collect small, meaningful items found along the route—natural or human-made artifacts that capture the spirit of the place. These objects are placed in PET bottles or glass jars, which are then attached to the blue canvas.
This ritualistic act transforms the walk into a living archive—a collective collection that embodies the biotope in which the performance unfolds. Through this process, both the natural environment and the social identity of the place are documented and preserved.
*¹ In ancient Greece, there was no distinct word for the colour ‘blue.’
Being together in silence, carried away by a human energetic stream, walking as a sensitive experience, must lead to a collective act that sensitively reinforces the walk.
Cinematography: Michaele Mitkoudi. International encounters - conference 2019. WAC.
Video Duration: 6:27.
The project of Made of Walking (V) on Kozani TV.
Download pdf of 'The Bleu Parade' [extract catalogue WAC University of West-Macedonia] > >
Meander (III) 2019
Perfomative walk at 'Viv'a Soares'. Escola Artistica Soares dos Reis in Porto Porugal 18.01.2019.
Leafless (IV) 2018.
Body performance. Platform Projects / Independed Art Fair. the Milena principle. Athens Greece 2018.
Wander Weed Variations Guimaraes Portugal 2018
A performative walk/workshop during 'The Walking Body' Minho University Guimaraes Portugal 2018.
Wander Weed Variations Neo Chorio Cyprus 2018.
A performative walk/workshop during 'Made of Walking (IV)' Neo Chorio Cyprus 2018.
Leafless (III) Athens Greece 2018
Body performance. Platform Projects / Independed Art Fair. the Milena principle. Athens Greece 2018.
Unfolding Memories Venice Italy 2018
Conversation Piece Venice Italy 2018
Leafless (II) Nicosia Cyprus 2017
Dance performance Maya Dalinsky [USA/B] at Dancehouse Lefkosia. Urban Emptiness Festival Nicosia 2017.
Meander (II) 2017
Silent Group Performance
Faneromeni Square, Nicosia
Urban Emptiness Festival, Nicosia 2017
Walking is an instrument of knowledge and experience in the work of Stefaan van Biesen. Influenced by Eastern philosophies, concepts such as silence, time, body, and mind are explored within a Western intellectual framework.
Like Joseph Beuys, who sought to bridge Asian intuition and spirituality with European realism and rationality, Stefaan van Biesen moves beyond the idea of the ‘Eurasian man’ as self-focused, instead emphasizing a shared humanity and cultural dialogue.
Meander is a silent walk and performance that invites you to engage with ideas of connection, letting go, leading, trust, and care. Through this constellation of feelings and presence, participants become more than observers—they become co-creators, embodying the artwork itself.
Leafless (I) Nicosia Cyprus 2017
Dance performance Anastasia McCammon at Dancehouse Lefkosia. Urban Emptiness Festival Nicosia 2017.
Whisper (II) — 2017
Silent Performance at the Green Line, Nicosia
Urban Emptiness Festival, Nicosia 2017
A silent man who whispers to the world.
This performance is a gesture of tenderness, involvement, and connection—a discourse made visible through quiet presence. It evokes the image of a caring hand, a standing figure, a projection of desire; words whispered with the hope they will ripple outward through time and space.
At its heart lies the invitation to become a listening ear. Though the act may seem noble yet absurd, senseless and unlikely to yield results, nothing could be further from the truth. The whisperer—the silent, standing figure—embodies a quiet, inner knowing. It raises questions about how our actions shape our environment and the socio-cultural biotope we inhabit. What effects and consequences arise from our very Being?
Whispering here is a powerful, deeply human act. Silence becomes a loud call for togetherness and care—a social and ecological gesture of profound urgency.
Whisper (I) Nicosia Cyprus 2017
Silent performance at Paphos Gate Nicosia (Green Line). Urban Emptiness Festival Nicosia 2017.
Meander Bussels Belgium 2017
A silent performance. [Urban Emptiness Network]. Académie Royale de Beaux Arts Brussels Belgium.
Utopia, just around the corner 2017
A walking performance with a group of people [the Milena principle] Brussels Belgium & New York USA].
C O N V E R S A T I O N P I E C E S [ W A N D E R L U S T ] [ 2 0 1 7 ] .
Walking talking performance/workshop. Made of Walking La Romieu France.
E N T E R T H E T R I A N G L E [ 2 0 1 7 ] .
Performance/workshop with 3 walkers. Made of Walking La Romieu France.
Stefaan van Biesen. '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 (Belgium), Niran Baibulat (Finland), Rosario Forjaz (Portugal), Andrew Stuck (UK), Mel Sutton (UK), Ivana Pinna (Italy/Spain), Guendouz Nawal (Algeria/france), Carol Mancke (USA), Phillip Mckenzie (UK), Leo Kay (Belgium/UK), Pam Patterson (Canada), Leena Raudvee (Canada), Ruth Roadbent (UK).
Silencer | Monochord — Delphi, Greece 2017
One-Tone Performance
A Tribute to Pythagoras’ Last Words
Part of Made of Walking Summer School, Delphi
Consonance and dissonance.
Pythagoras conceived the universe as a vast monochord—a single string stretched across the cosmos, vibrating in harmonious proportions. Instruments derived from this ancient concept, with their movable bridges, include the guqin, dan bau, koto, vina, hurdy-gurdy, and clavichord—ultimately inspiring all keyboard instruments.
Harmony, as recognized by great philosophers, is the essential prerequisite of beauty. A composite is deemed beautiful only when its parts exist in harmonious balance. The world itself is called beautiful, and its Creator labeled the Good, because true goodness acts in accordance with its nature—manifesting as harmony. Beauty, therefore, is harmony revealing its intrinsic nature through form.
A monochord, or sonometer, is an ancient musical and scientific instrument featuring a single string stretched over a resonant body. The term can also describe any one-stringed instrument with a stick-shaped body, known as a musical bow. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification, string bows are bar zithers, while monochords are traditionally board zithers.
The harmonical canon or monochord consists of a string stretched over a board of precise length, with marked points indicating where the string must be stopped to produce specific notes—allowing direct comparison of intervals.
With its fixed string, movable bridges, and graduated scale, the monochord bridges notes and numbers, intervals and ratios, sense perception and mathematical reasoning. In the ancient worldview, music, mathematics, and astronomy were inseparably linked through the monochord’s logic and sound.
Enter the Triangle — Delphi, Greece 2017
Performance/Workshop with Three Walkers and Dancers
Part of Made of Walking Summer School, Delphi
Enter the Triangle is a gentle, silent walking performance designed for three participants who engage in attentive listening—to each other’s bodies and the movements they make toward themselves and one another.
This performance explores how we relate to others through physical movement—a kind of bodily dialect that fosters awareness of the other(s). At the same time, it highlights the paradox of connection and distance within an urban environment: though connected through movement, there remains an undeniable sense of separation.
Participants experience the delicate balance of being able to touch yet remaining apart, trusting each other’s presence without verbal communication. The exercise invites the group to follow each other’s moving bodies, becoming a flowing, living human sculpture—a constantly shifting triangular shape formed by their interactions.
Enter the Triangle is an interactive performance and workshop involving walkers and dancers, realized during Made of Walking Delphi 2017.
Concept and video: Stefaan van Biesen / The Milena Principle
Prop: Annemie Mestdagh / The Milena Principle
Performers:
Lina Efstathiou (Greece), Eleni Nakou (Greece), Julia Redei (UK/Germany), Penny Finiri (Cyprus), Leand Kalaja (Albania), Panagiotis Lezes (Greece), Aliki Arnaouti (Greece), Ioanna Thanou (Greece), Chara Tzoka (Greece), Marianna Makri (Greece), Geert Vermeire (Belgium), Haris Pellapaisiotis (Cyprus)
M I N D S E T F O R T W O G L O B E S [ 2 0 1 7 ] .
Performance with soundcomposition Hythlodaeus video. [Opdonder4] Mercatormusuem Sint-Niklaas Belgium.
W O R L D K I T C H E N [ 2 0 1 7 ] .
(reprise) Tribute to Pieter Breugel [1525-1569] Public walk project 'Happen & Stappen' Melsele Belgium.
U T O P I A [just around the corner] [ 2 0 1 7 ] .
A walking performance [the Milena principle] Limassol & Nicosia Cyprus.
U T O P I A B O O K [just around the corner] [ 2 0 1 6 ] .
A walking performance [the Milena principle] Braga Portugal.
E X V O T UM [ 2 0 1 6 ] .
Walking performance 'Passages' solo exhibition La Romieu France.
S E N S I N G S I L E N C E / D I O G E N E S [ 2 0 1 6] .
Silent walking group performance EMST [National Museum of Contemporary Art] Athens Greece.
U N I S O N O [ 2 0 1 6 ] .
Performance the Milena principle Urban Emptiness. Sculpture Court ECA University Edinburgh Scotland.
F A D E I N T O S I L E N C E [ 2 0 1 6 ] .
Performance [part II] Urban Emptiness. Sculpture Court ECA University Edinburgh Scotland.
T H E D I O G E N E S V A R I A T I O N S [ 2 0 1 6 ] .
Performance the Milena principle Urban Emptiness. Sculpture Court ECA University Edinburgh Scotland.
W A T E R C A R R I E R II [ 2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 6 ] .
Performance/Tea Ceremony [Invisible Cities] the Italian Cultural Institute Athens Greece.
S E A B O R N [archive of the waters of Venice 1993-2017] [ 2 0 1 5 ].
Silence performance [Liquid Cities] the Milena principle Venice Italy.
T R A C E S O F R A I N[ 2 0 1 4 ] .
An archive of rain falling in several cities in Europe.
W A T E R C A R R I E R [ 2 0 1 4 ] .
Performance Museu Nogueira Da Silva [Minho University] Braga Portugal.
T H E T Y R A N N Y O F H A B I T S [ 2 0 1 4 ] .
Every day walk performance [attribute]. On location in Belgium.
H Y S T A C K R E A D I N G S [ 2 0 1 3 ].
Reading performance Melsele Beveren Belgium.
[ R E A D I N G ] T H E B O O K I A M [ 2 0 1 2 ].
Performance Museu Nogueira da Silva. Minho University Braga Portugal.
L E T T E R T O A S C A R E C R O W [ 2 0 1 1 ] .
Writing Performance garden of the Biscainhos Museum Braga Portugal.
H A N D W R I T I N G S [ 2 0 1 1 ] .
Writing Performance for exhibition the National Museum Brasilia Brazil.
T H E G O - B E T W E E N [ 2 0 1 0 ] .
Whisper performance [How Long Is Now?] Museu Nogeuira da Silva, Minho University Braga Portugal.
T H E C O L O U R Y O U A R E [ 2 0 1 0 ] .
Performance/workshop Museu Nogueira da Silva Minho University Braga Portugal.
E N T E R T H E C I R C L E [ 2 0 1 0 ] .
Conversation performance/workshop Museu Nogueira da Silva Minho University Braga Portugal.
W I T U R B A N T E A M [ 2 0 1 0 > 2 0 1 7 ] .
Street interventions & performances 'Coup de Ville' Sint-Niklaas Belgium.
M A X I M I Z I N G T H E A U D I E N C E [ 2 0 1 0 ] .
[Skulls, skeletons & bones] contribution work (cover) catalogue Ensor exhibition Ostend Belgium.
E C O N C E R T O [ 2 0 0 6 ] .
Silence performance [3 hours] the Milena principle [Natuurpunt-ecological parcours] Willebroek Belgium.
T H E N A U M B U R G V A R I A T I O N S [ 2 0 0 6 ] .
Whisper performance the Milena principle Friedrich Nietzsche Seminar Naumburg Germany + Venice Italy.
S K I N O N S K I N [ 2 0 0 4 ] .
Performance the Jerónimos Monastery Monastery Belém Lisbon Portugal.
T I M E S P A N / T I M E L A P S E [ 2 0 0 4 ].
Night walking performance the Milena principle [Omtrent Melancholie] De Campagne Drongen Belgium.
( F ) L U I S T E R E N / W H I S P E R I N G [ 2 0 0 4 ] .
Whisper performance the Milena principle [Omtrent Melancholie] De Campagne Drongen Belgium.
A X I S M U N D I [ 2 0 0 4 ] .
Tree performance Beeldig Hof Ter Saksen CC Ter Vesten Beveren Belgium.
S C O R E F O R B U Z Z E R ( I) [ 2 0 0 3 ] .
Buzz performance the Milena principle Beeldig Hof Ter Saksen CC Ter Vesten Beveren Belgium.
D I S C U S S I O N F O R U MS [ 2 0 0 3 ] .
Performance/talk/speakers corner for social and environmental issues & solutions [several places in Europe].
M A S K I N G T H E M A S K [ D R E A M E R ] [ 2 0 0 2 ] .
Library performance Melsele Beveren Belgium.
W E R E L D S T E D E [ S L E E P E R I I ] [ 2 0 0 4 > 2 0 1 1 ] .
Performance with Julie Snauwaert. [Omtrent Melancholie] De Campagne Drongen Belgium.
M E T A M O R P H O S I S [ 2 0 0 0 ] .
Video performance [het Gewicht van Vuur / the Weight of Fire] Zonnebeke 2000.
E N É C O U T A N T D U S C H U M A N N [ 1 9 9 9 ] . [Melancholia].
Performance Based on a dispute between Fernand Khnopff and James Ensor. Sint-Niklaas Belgium.
W I L D M A N V A R I A T I O N S [ 1 9 9 8 ] .
Performance Corpus, Cortewalle chapel CC Ter Vesten Beveren Belgium.
M Y T H I N S K I N O F T H O U G H T S [ 1 9 9 8 ] .
Performance Corpus, Cortewalle chapel CC Ter Vesten Beveren Belgium.
L E T T E R S T O A N O R C H A R D [ 1 9 9 8 ] .
Silence performance in an orchard soon disappearing. Melsele Belgium.
T H E U N I T Y O F T H E O P P O N E N T S ( I & II ) [ 1 9 9 6 ] .
Silence performance & presentation exhibition 'Index'. Vierkante Zaal SASK Sint-Niklaas Belgium.
L' A M O U R D E S D I E U X [ 1 9 9 4 ] .
Performance with an apple finch for an installation [My Load Is Undefined] CC De Ster Willebroek Belgium.
T O H I D E M Y S E L F V I S I B L E / P R O V O C K I N G A L A N D S C A P E [ 1 9 9 3 ] .
Landscape performance Melsele Belgium.
B L I N D W A L K [ T H E B O O K I A M . 1 9 9 2 ] .
performance Melsele Belgium.
I O . [ T H E M E E T I N G P L A C E ] [ 1 9 9 1 ] .
Landscape 'twins' performance (photo assembly) Prosperpolder Beveren Belgium.
O N B E S T E M D I S M I J N V R A C H T [My load is undefined] [ 1 9 9 0 ] .
2 day walking performance on several locations in Belgium.
S K I N O N S K I N [1 9 9 0 ]
Silence performance i n an orchard soon disappearing. Melsele Belgium.