'Today, in a world full of conflicts and shocks, art bears witness to the most precious part of what makes us human. Art is the ultimate ground for reflection, individual expression, freedom, and for fundamental questions. Art is the favourite realm for dreams and utopias, a catalyst for human connections that roots us both to nature and the cosmos, that elevates us to a spiritual dimension. Art is the last bastion, a garden to cultivate above and beyond trends and personal interests. It stands as an unequivocal alternative to individualism and indifference. It builds us up and edifies us. At a time of global disorder, art embraces life, even if doubt ensues inevitably. The role, the voice and the responsibility of the artist are more crucial than ever before within the framework of contemporary debates. It is in and through these individual initiatives that the world of tomorrow  takes shape, which though surely uncertain, is often best intuited by artists than others'.

[Christine Macel, director Biennale Arte, Venice 2017].

Above: the 'Utopia Book' [Version I] a travelling nomadic book: a first presentation by Annemie Mestdagh and a first walk in the city of Braga in Portugal, december 2016. Art work by Stefaan van Biesen. Transparent textile cover by Annemie Mestdagh.

P L A C E S / L O C A T I O N S :

Several versions of the Utopia Book are travelling and have been shown (or worked with) in: 01. Utopia, just around the corner [the Milena principle, Braga Portugal 2016], 02. Urban Emptiness Network [NeMe Art Center, Limassol Cyprus 2017], 03. Utopia, just around the corner [Lefkosia Dance House, Nicosia Cyprus 2017], 04. Utopia, just around the corner [Parsons School for Design, New York USA 2017], 05. Urban Emptiness Network [Académie Royale de Beaux Arts, Brussels Belgium 2017], 06. Independent Art Fair [Platform Projects, Athens Greece 2018], 07. Library of Walks/Libraries as Gardens [TAF: The Art Foundation, Athens Greece 2018], 08. S.T.E.P. (Saunter, Trek, Escort, Parade) [Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Park, New York USA 2018], 09. Brasilia Brazil 2018, 10. Analogio Festival Athens 2018, 11. LISTEN Festival, a summer of sound art, Frome (UK) 2019, 12. Library of Walks / Utopia [Academy of Fine Arts] Ypres Belgium 21.03.2019, 13. [END: Empirical Nonsense Daily] Jimi Dams Envoy Enterprises 2020. NYC USA.

[Utopia, just around the corner?] New York 2020.

[END: Empirical Nonsense Daily] Jimi Dams Envoy Enterprises 2020. NYC USA.

Presentation of the project. @empiricalnonsense.today

Utopia, [just around the corner?]
A performative walk and statement.
Stefaan van Biesen, Belgium.

“I got tired of hearing some people complain, over and over again, about the ugliness of some neighborhoods in their own city or village, but without wanting to do anything about it themselves. Because you can change the energy of a place with very small gestures and cheap things. That is why I started a new initiative with befriended artists and inhabitants: reading a space specific letter in a neglected place and leaving an in situ artwork behind. Kind of a love gesture for a place that is not looked after. The Utopia book emerged from that. A book that travels and that its owner can show in places that, due to their social, societal, aesthetic dysfunction, show a sign of commitment and compassion.”
Stefaan van Biesen

[Utopia and walking] : a book and a place, about the word Utopia as a gesture, how books open, walking as being together and transformation of a space, being the place, about flow, exchange, drift as a method of letting people and the environment come to you. About playing the city, about change of perspective, about inner knowledge, words and nature, words as giving attention and carrying around the word Utopia, as a gift. The book travels to many places by the intention of the travelers. Braga, Nicosia, Limassol, New York, Brussels, Athens, Brasilia, London, Ypres...

[Utopia, just around the corner?]

A walk with the students of the School of Fine arts 2019. Org: Helena Pinket.

Menin Gate and the city of Ypres Belgium > 21.03.2019.

A silent walk with the students of the Academy of Fine Arts Ypres.  The Menin Gate is the most famous Commonwealth war memorial in Flanders and perhaps the world. Tens of thousands of soldiers passed through here on their way to the front, many of them never to return. Opened in 1927, the memorial bears the names of 54 896 soldiers who were reported missing in the Ypres Salient between the outbreak of war and 15 August 1917.

LISTEN Festival, a summer of sound art, Frome (UK) Sound Walk Sunday 01.09.2019.

LISTEN: Utopia, a drift for dancers and silent walkers. A silent walking and movement performance directed by Geert Vermeire conceived on the “Utopia” book by Stefaan van Biesen. Dancers: Soo Wright, Karen Burnett and Jackie Adkins

Dancers move around – in silence- through the city, with no other intention then to get lost, with a book, inspired by Thomas More’s Utopia, but containing in this version only one word and in a format that challenges the very idea of a book.

https://www.museumofwalking.org.uk/events/utopia-a-drift-for-dancers-and-silent-walkers/

It is a book that resembles a walk – a movement, it is not linear, it opens from different angles, it has pages folded in pages, you can open and browse through it in different directions, actually it is not a book to be read, it is a book to be shared spontaneously between the silent dancers/walkers, carried around and to be opened on places that come towards the performers/walkers, symbolically opening the places, inviting to read the place, the walker and the moment in which they stand. The public is invited to join in with the dancers.

A silent walking and movement performance directed by Geert Vermeire, conceived on the “Utopia” book by Stefaan van Biesen, together forming an artistic walking duo since 2001 developing in a collaborative practice called the Milena principle.

Photos by Mel Day.

2 Bridge Street, Frome a drift for dancers and silent walkers – with Geert Vermeire. 

A silent walk at the LISTEN, A Season of Sound Art, Frome (UK).

Dancers move around – in silence- through the city, with no other intention then to get lost, with a book, inspired by Thomas More’s Utopia, but containing in this version only one word and in a format that challenges the very idea of a book.

As a duo of walkers, they invite guest artists and the public to perform with them in a continuous series of walking performances in contemporary cities around the world. Interview video. Utopia is a performative silent walk, adapted to each place and shaped by the participating dancers/walkers, and organized since 2016 in Braga (Portugal), Nicosia (Cyprus) 2017, Brussels (Belgium) 2017, Brasilia (Brazil) 2018, New York (USA) 2017/2018, Athens (Greece) 2018, Queens 2018 (New York USA), Ypres (Belgium) 2019.

The walk goes along with an Utopia soundscape, called ‘Hythlodaeus 2015’ composed out of the poem ‘Unfolding the City’ by Geert Vermeire and ‘Siren’ by Stefaan van Biesen. Voice and composition by Stefaan van Biesen. Field recordings by Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen. The name of the sound piece is inspired by the explorer of Utopia, originated during field recordings of walks of the artists in Venice and in Antwerp where Thomas More wrote his book. This digital material was composed to a soundscape for the Utopia sound project for Cities and Memory.

Utopia Book [version IX] Brasilia Brazil 2018.

Utopia Book [version IX] Brasilia Brazil 2018.

Utopia Book [version IX] Brasilia Brazil 2018.

Utopia Book [version X] Analogio Festival Athens Greece 2018.

[Analogio Festival] Athens Greece 2019 . Director: Sissy Papathanassiou. Curated by Geert Vermeire.

Utopia Book walkers: Olia Olina, Anna Maria Makri, Teti Nikolopoulou & Geert Vermeire. Video and photographs of the performance: James M Lang.

Utopia - a drift for three performers and silent walkers... Three performers move around the now invisible Ilissos river banks in Athens, starting at the St Foteini Ilissos Church with no other intention then to get lost, with a book, inspired by Thomas More's Utopia, but containing in this version only one word and in a format that challenges the very idea of a book.

It is a book that resembles a walk and a movement, it is not linear, it opens from different angles, it has pages folded in pages, you can open and browse through it in different directions, actually it is not a book to be read, it is a book to be shared spontaneously between the three silent performers, carried around and to be opened on places that come towards the walking performer, symbolically opening the places, inviting to read the place, the walker and the moment in which he stands.

Performed by Anna Maria Makri, Teti Nikolopoulou and Olia Mourouzidou. The public is invited to join in the silent walk. A silent walking and movement performance curated by Geert Vermeire, conceived on the "Utopia" book by Stefaan van Biesen, together forming an artistic walking duo since 2001 developing in a collaborative practice called the Milena principle. As a duo of walkers, they invite guest artists and the public to perform with them in a continuous series of walking performances in contemporary cities around the world. A performance in the frame of I wish we were like water / Utopia - Library of Walks Exhibition at TAF - the art foundation /Analogio Festival and Multimation 2018 Ilissos.

Art work & concept: Stefaan van Biesen.

Utopia Book [version III] a silent drift for three walkers or more. New York 01.11.2017.

This walk, some days ago in Manhattan, as a tender and slow gesture towards the city, suddenly moves into another perspective after the terrorist attack some hours ago in the same place that was walked. Sharing the images as a balm for a city where today pedestrians and bikers were savagely attacked.

U T O P I A [just around the corner] [ 2 0 1 7 ] .

A silent walking performance by the Milena principle (Belgium) with Geert Vermeire (performance artist), conceived on the Utopia book by Stefaan van Biesen (visual artist), and together forming an artistic walking duo since 2001 developing in a collaborative practice. As a duo of walkers they invite guests artists and the public to perform with them in a continuous series of walking performances in contemporary cities around the world. Photographs: Freddie Dessau, Jose Ernesto Rivera Perez, Geert Vermeire, John Gorgone.

Utopia Book [version IV] Platform Projects [Independent Art Fair] Athens 2018.

Presentation of the Utopia Book at Platform Projects [the Independed Art Fair] School of Fine Arts Athens 2018. Booth 29 the Milena principle. Curated by Artemis Potamianou (Moma NY & Tate London).

'Utopia (just around the corner). A silent group walk, moving in a flow through Nicosia, Brussels, NY City, with no other intention then to get lost, with a book, inspired by Thomas More's, but containing only one word, "Utopia". It is a book that resembles a walk, it is not linear, it opens from different angles, it has pages folded in pages, you can open and browse it in different directions, not a book to be read, but a book to be shared spontaneously between the participating walkers, to be carried around in silence and to be opened on places that come towards them, as an inviting to open and read the place, the walkers and the moment in which they stand.

[Slow walking / silent walking]

Utopia Book [version II] a mindset for students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels 2017.

A walking performance with a group of people [the Milena principle] Brussels Belgium. An exciting start of the Walking Lab Brussels as part of the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, initiated by Vermeire Geert in collaboration with Lydia Bollen (ARBA - Architecture School University of Mons), Alice Finichiu (ARBA - Urban Design / ULB University of Brussels) and Enzo Pezzella (artistic director ISAC - Higher Institute of Arts and Choreography) together with the Urban Emptiness Network.

From October till end of December 2017: seminars, walks, talks, workshops, simultaneous with other Walking Labs in New York and Athens (Parsons - Fine Arts and Odeon - Conservatoire Athens), a creation lab and joint exhibition with CSCA Lab / European University Nicosia and Dance House Nicosia, Cyprus, with Sophie Gee and Arianna Economou.

http://portail.arba-esa.be/…/urban-emptiness-la-marche-com…/

U T O P I A [just around the corner] [ 2 0 1 7 ] .

A walking performance [the Milena principle] Nicosia Cyprus. Walks in Limassol and Nicosia

with Stefaan van Biesen, Annemie Mestdagh, Vermeire Geert and Marielys Lely Burgos.

Utopia. A book of longing. During the Urban Emptiness Network exhibition at NeMe Limassol Cyprus. Following on walks and interventions in Limassol and Nicosia February 2017. Curated by Geert Vermeire. Book by Annemie Mestdagh & Stefaan van Biesen. Project started as a pilot in Braga Portugal December 2016. Photo's (of the walks and interventions by Stefaan van Biesen and Annemie Mestdagh) : Marielys Lely Mendelez (Porto Rico) walking with us in the devided and occupied city of Nicosia.

Video talk between Stefaan van Biesen and Vermeire Geert about the work Utopia [Just Around The Corner?]. A drift for three walkers (or more), walks in Limassol-Nicosia and the related walking score, as part of the Urban Emptiness exhibition at NeMe, Limassol.

Video in the house of Pandora in Limassol during Urban Emptiness Network at NeMe Art Center.

[Utopia, just around the corner?]

A score for walkers. Exhibition Urban Emptiness Network. Neme Art Centre,Limassol Cyprus February 2017.

Installation in the Art Centre. Another version of an Utopia book with the registrations of a walk in Braga december 2016. A seminar at the University of Limassol about media, silence, walking/movement in urban space in relation to Urban Emptiness. Geert Vermeire moderating a conversation/presentation. A talk about your experiences within Urban Emptiness 2016 and possible future approaches.

[Utopia, just around the corner?] Limassol and Nicosia Cyprus 2017 [download pdf file].