School of Nomadic Urbanism

The Italian collective Stalker is inviting artists, residents, and activists to join its School of Nomadic Urbanism from 9th to 17th September to delve into the artistic, scientific, and eco-activist issues at stake in the Wiels Marsh and its Italian twin, Lake Bullicante.
These ecosystems emerged spontaneously from the industrial remnants of the Wielemans brewery in Brussels and the SNIA artificial silk factory in Rome.

The School is an opportunity to build "Circumstance #8", an artistic, collective, and ritual action that will celebrate the 1st anniversary of the alliance between the ASBL Marais Wiels Moeras (BE) and the Forum Territoriale Parco delle Energie (IT). A convergence of initiatives that have been fighting for years to promote and preserve the unprecedented ecological, social, and poetic potential of resurgent urban ecosystems.

The School of Nomadic Urbanism is a co-learning pathway to learn about social creativity and collective action. On the programme: listening to places and the people living in them, the unexpected, and interactions with the land. Together, we'll be sharing our strategies and experiences to think about the emergence and sustainability of resurgent urban ecosystems.

The School is convivial, playful and open to all without distinction.

To take part, you can:

1/ Become a student of the School
Monday 11th > Saturday 16th September

2/ Come and meet the School
Saturday 9th September: meetings and discussions (free accessl)
Sunday 10th : exploratory walk (free access)
Sunday 17th: collective action "Circumstance #8" (free access)

Stalker

Stalker is a Rome-based collective founded in 1995. Their research and actions on and in the landscape pay particular attention to the margins of the city, forgotten urban spaces, abandoned areas and territories in transition, which they call Current Territories.

Stalker's practice consists of exploring space, listening, connecting and creatively interacting with the environment, its inhabitants and their 'memory archives'. These processes aim to generate social and environmental relationships that are self-organising and evolve over time. Stalker's practice exists through knowledge sharing and collaborative projects, aimed at raising communities' awareness of their territories and cultural environments.

stalker/noworking labstalker website

Applications

Call for applications is now closed.

Terms and conditions

Free (lunches included)
It is necessary to be able to follow the whole programme.
Working languages: English and/or French.

Programme

Saturday 9th September

18:00 Opening lecture
Free access @ La Bellone

Sunday 10th September

11:00 > 17:00 Exploratory walk to the Marais Wiels
Free access RDV @ La Bellone

Monday 11th - Saturday 16th September

10:00 > 17:00 School of Nomadic Urbanism
@ Le Brass

Monday 11th September

19:00 (EN)
Encounter with Lieven de Cauter and his book _Ending the Anthropocene: Essays on Activism in the Age of Collapse__ @ Librairie Par Chemins

In this book, Lieven de Cauter investigates the idea that if we want to avoid collapse, we have to end the Anthropocene – the geological era of the gigantic, devastating impact of our species on planet Earth. It might even be, he argues, that the collapse of our current, growth-maximizing system is the only hope for the biosphere.

Wednesday 13th September

19:00 (FR)
Encounter with Charlotte Cosson and her book Férale
@ Librairie Par Chemins

Can art give us a better view of the life that teems in our daily lives? To build a bridge between art and ecology, Charlotte Cosson set out in search of works of art that are turned towards the earth and the wild world: hens that are works of art, mushrooms that form temples, paintings that save forests, a collective that dances for plants... "Férale" presents an art that composes with flora and fauna and uproots the mechanisms of "masters and dominators" to replace them with gestures of humility towards those without whom breathing would be impossible. Conceived from a place dedicated to permaculture, this essay responds to concrete issues with works that stem from this new sensibility of love for the living.

Sunday 17th September

11:00 > 14:00 Collective Action "Circumstance #8" Celebrating the second anniversary of the alliance between ASBL Marais Wiels Moeras (BE) and the Forum Territoriale Parco delle Energie (IT). Free access @ Marais Wiels

La Bulle du Marais

Discover the newspaper published at the end of the School of Nomadic Urbanism, on the occasion of "Circumstance #8 Fêtons l'Alliance !" → here