Natural Contract Lab

STILL HERE – an alliance of care for the SZenne River

VIERNULVIER

Sat 02.05

10:00 - 21:00

De Vooruit

uitverkocht

What does it mean to recognise a river as a bearer of rights?

Since 2021, Natural Contract Lab has been Walking-with* the SZenne River and its kin — trees, people, mud, knotweed, nettles, seen and unseen — from its source under a willow tree in Naast to its confluence at Zennegat. Listening to its waters, attempting to learn modes of care from its beings, experiencing its resilience, and growing an alliance of care with its kin.

On May 2nd, this ongoing practice opens to a wider public during the Walking-with Symposium at VIERNULVIER in Ghent — a moment in time to share the transdisciplinary Protocol of Reciprocal Care for bodies of water amid deep ecological loss, and the process through which Natural Contract Lab has developed a proposal for the legal recognition of the Szenne River's rights in Belgium. We invite guests from the rights of nature, ecological grief, embodied knowledge and water solidarity movement.

The day unfolds in three movements. Beginning outside, Walking-with in solidarity with the waters of Ghent — a site-specific flow that activates listening, sensing, storytelling and song. Next, at VIERNULVIER, we immerse in a gathering with River allies for a transdisciplinary conversation, weaving together reflections with invited guests. Finally, a conversation with Natural Contract lab will share the restorative principles of SZenne’s Living Law alongside the emerging alliance — the people who have been Walking-with the SZenne and its beings.

The tribune culminates in an Enchoiring-with, where we are invited to become a multispecies choir voicing the Living Law through song. Together, we explore how to resonate our stewardship, share stories of connection with the river and its beings, and carry this living testimony to the parliament through attunement and care.

PROGRAMME

10:00 - 12:00 WALKING-WITH: IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE WATERS OF GHENT

We begin outside, Walking-with the waters of Ghent. These site-responsive walks are at the heart of NCL's practice — moving narratives that activate listening, sensing, storytelling and grief, while turning participants into witnessing bodies giving and receiving care alongside the river.

Location: underneath the bridge Ter Platenbrug, Ghent (51°02'17.5"N 3°43'47.1"E) https://maps.app.goo.gl/9CWcGMNAEmCE9vtf9?g_st=iw

12:30 - 14:00 LUNCH BREAK

14:00 - 16:00 A CONVERSATION WITH RIVER ALLIES

We then gather at VIERNULVIER for a transdisciplinary conversation weaving together a reflection with Youngsook Choi, Xandra van der Eijk, Hendrik Schoukens and Christiane Bosman from rights of nature, ecological grief, embodied knowledge and solidarity between water bodies— moderated by Brunilda Pali (Natural Contract Lab).

16:00 - 17:00 BREAK WITH NOURISHMENT

17:00 EMBODYING THE LIVING LAW

What does it mean to propose a law rooted in ecological grief, care and embodied relationships — weaving reciprocity, kinship and restorative justice with a river and its more-than-human communities?

We open with a conversation with founding members of Natural Contract Lab, Maria Lucia Cruz Correia, Vinny Jones, Brunilda Pali and Lode Vranken, moderated by Christel Stalpaert, in which they unfold their Protocol of Reciprocal Care and its transdisciplinary roots.

The day closes with a tribune, where Brunilda Pali and Jef Seghers share the restorative principles of the Living Law alongside the emerging alliance, people who have been Walking-with SZenne and its beings. The tribune culminates in an Enchoiring-with, inviting all participants to become a multispecies choir voicing the Living Law through song. Together, we explore how to resonate our stewardship, share stories of connection with the river and its beings, and carry this living testimony to the parliament through attunement and care.

Part of

2025 - 26 | TALKS & SPOKEN WORD

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Vocabulary

*Walking-with

Walking-with are our site-responsive artistic walks with the river. They are a moving narrative that activates sensory scores (listening and sensing), conversational circles (exchange of water memories, river stories, harms and ecological grief), storytelling and speculative ecologies (learning from the river as our teacher). While walking-with, we become witnessing bodies, giving and receiving care. Walking-with is an act of accountability, a gesture of solidarity, a moment for unlearning and reconciling with the river.

*Living Law

The Living Law is both a legal document and a Living Preamble — not written to represent the river, but to emerge from its remembrance as an embodied knowledge to become stewards. A sensing cartography of stories, songs and memories that remembers the SZenne river as an ecosystem of meaningful relationships, as a living entity. A proof of evidence: of reciprocal care, of kinship, of a legitimate alliance calling for the river's recognition in Belgian law.

*Protocol for Reciprocal Care

Rooted in an environmental restorative justice proposal by Brunilda Pali (2021), this evolving framework adapts continuously to the waters and communities NCL collaborates, exchanges and learns with. It holds together the transdisciplinary knowledge within the group — rights of nature, ecological grief, sensory scenography, embodied literacies and ancestral cosmology — flowing and mutating like a river through an ecosystem.

Credits

Natural Contract Lab was initiated in 2021 by Maria Lucia Cruz Correia in ongoing co-creation with a transdisciplinary group, including the SZenne River (ally/mentor), vinny jones (sensory scenography/dramaturgy), Brunilda Pali (restorative justice), Lode Vranken (design/philosophy), Margarida Mendes (research/sonic guidance)

STILL HERE (2023- 2027) Overview of collaborators with different temporalities of engagement: Marzia Dalfini (design), Jef Seghers LDR Advocaten (SZenne Living Law), Caroline Daish (vocal archivist), Julie Vanderhaegen/ Atelier Cartographique (Digital companion) Xandra van der Eijk (river oracles design), Melanie Matthieu (creative producer), Patricia Van Cutsem ( singer/song writer) Tania Soubry (choreographer) Christel Stalpaert (hyphenated thinker),Thessa Kruger (intern/Sound research), Saartje Monden river guardian pedagogies), Laura Eva Meuris (weaver) Flore Herman (mediation dramaturgy), Melanie Ganino (artistic assistant), Matteo Deblasio (river vessel design/conception).

Production: Hiros Coproduction: VIERNULVIER, Kanal Centre Pompidou, SoAP, Workspacebrussels, Nadine, UGent Research Centre S:PAM Local partners: Brussels Environment, Contrat de Rivière Senne, Regionaal Landschap Rivierenland, Natuurpunt Mechelen, Coördinatie Zenne, Kunsthal Mechelen Supported by: Erfgoedcel Mechelen, Werkplaats Immaterieel Erfgoed, Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen, Vlaamse Gemeenschap, European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ), Marie Toussaint (Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA), Con-fluvial (Ugent)