Video

 

performances - interview - documentary

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A Bom Fim Talk] A 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Meander III] performance/walk with students. Minho University Guimaraes Portugal 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.

 

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. (Stefaan van Biesen, Annemie Mestdagh) Walking is an instrument of knowledge and experience in the artistic work of Stefaan van Biesen. Concepts such as silence / time / body / mind, influenced by Eastern approaches, are situated in a Western way of thinking. Stefaan van Biesen invites you to a silent walk / performance: 'Meander' where concepts like 'turn on / let go / lead / trust / care' are the underlying ideas. In this constellation of influences (of feeling and being involved), the participant becomes, like the co-walker, the work of art! Concept and prop: Stefaan van Biesen and Annemie Mestdagh / the Milena principle. Time: 07:08.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leafless (IV)] performance Eleftheria Rapti & Lina Efstathiou.

Independed Art Fair Platform Projects 2018. School of Fine Arts Athens Greece 17.05>20.05. 2018.

Leafless IV is a: 'nomadic prop for silent gestures'. Starting from the idea of: 'a prop looking for a performer'. Stefaan van Biesen invites body or movement artists, dancers to use the prop as an instrument of introspection.

 

 

 

Special thanks to the performers: Eleftheria Rapti & Lina Efstathiou.

Stefaan van Biesen appeals to the experiences of a person to explore a public space. The fundamental fact of moving in time and space. Scanning the environment in relation to others. It is a combination of letting go and remembering. He assumes that the divine wisdom of the body knows what to do. All information is present in the body. Saved impressions and experiences are an emotional archive that can immediately be tapped or addressed to. For Stefaan van Biesen the essence of a performance is a meaningful ritual, a sacral event. No banal action without any meaning. He does not see it as a form of improvisation, rather as a state of being. In our archetypal gestures, the human legacy of our culture and civilization is shown to the viewer as an appealing memory bank. The attribute is a nomadic object that the participant can use to get started. It is an invitation to a feeling thinking.

 

Realisation prop: Annemie Mestdagh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whiff [Whispering] [Green Line] performance Urban Emptiness Nicosia Festival 2017.

 

A silent man who whispers the world. A gesture of tenderness, involvement, connection and also a discourse made visible. An image of a caring hand, a standing man, a projection of desire, words that are whispered in the hope that they will expand in time and space. Also the question to be a listening ear. It may seem like a noble but absurd and senseless act, something that won't lead to no results. But nothing is less true: the whisperer, the silent standing man becomes an image of a silent inner knowing. A question how our actions determine and shape our environment and socio-cultural biotope? What is the effect and what are the consequences of our 'Being'?

 

Whispering like a force, a deeply human gesture. Silence as a loud demand for togetherness, caring, as an ecological, socially humane instrument. Time 02:57.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Whisper] Performance Paphos Gate [Green Line] Nicosia Cyprus. Urban Emptiness Nicosia Festival 2017. With Geert Vermeire. Camera & attribute: Annemie Mestdagh. Video, concept & soundscore: Stefaan van Biesen. Thursday 7th of December 2017. Time 05:32. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Meander] Performance Faneromeni Square Nicosia Cyprus during the Urban Emptiness Nicosia Festival 2017. A silent walk / performance, where concepts such as 'connecting / letting go / leading / trust / taking care of ' are the underlying ideas. In this constellation of influences, (of feeling and being involved), you become, as the co-walker, the work of art! Participants: Frans Van Lent, Ieke Trinks, Annemie Mestdagh, Deirdre Macleod, William Mackaness, Sophia Hadjipapa Gee, Marie Christine Katz, Abdo Alrezq. Time 04:59.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Meander] Performance students/artists in the frame of Urban Emptiness Network 16.11.2017 [walking as a research Lab at Arba-EsA] Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Buxelles Belgium 2017. A silent gesture. Concept & video by Stefaan van Biesen. Attribute performance Annemie Mestdagh. Time 06:37.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Sergiu Celebidache Variations] Performance/video Venice 2017. Conducting a landscape...

 

The musical material is, in a sense, like a landscape, it has mountains, valleys, rivers. It has its own topography. What can we do to become aware of this landscape and its different natural variances? We cannot change them, we cannot alter them […] we must integrate all the information about the landscape into a single unity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[A Conversation Piece] Venice 2017. Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Shown on the Urban Emptiness Nicosia Festival 2017. Time 03:41.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Unfolding Memories] Performance/video in front of the house of our host Gabriella Pietropaoli at La Giudecca Venice 2017. This performance was a tribute to the laundry performance of ARTICACTS (CAN) by Pam Patterson and Leena Raudvee during the international meeting Made of Walking III at La Romieu France September 2017. The video was shown on the Urban Emptiness Nicosia Festival 2017. Time 01:37.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[About Lucius Burckhardt & Joseph Beuys] a talk at Peppermint, Documenta 14 Kassel Germany. 12.09.2017. During Documenta 14, the office library of Lucius and Annemarie Burckhardt (1925–2003 and 1930–2012) resides at Peppermint. The practice of these two unconventional thinkers affiliated with the University of Kassel has substantially influenced the development of an education’s approach to “walking the city” as a way of learning. Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen are talking about the importance of this library and Spaziergangwissenschaft. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. the Milena principle. Time 15:39.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Enter The Triangle] video performance during Made of Walking Delphi Greece 2017. [By Aliki Arnaouti]. 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. Time 03:14.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Utopia Talk]. A talk by Geert Vermeire [curator] and Stefaan van Biesen [the Milena principle] about the Utopia project in Limassol and Nicosia in the house of Pandora during the Urban Emptiness Network exhibition at the NeMe Art Centre in Limassol 2017. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time 10:45.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Utopia Book] A reading ritual by Helene Black [NeMe Art Centre Limassol] Cyprus 2017 during the Urban Emptiness Network exhibition at NeMe. The Utopia Book was used in Limassol and Nicosia during a walk wiht Geert Vermeire, Stefaan van Biesen, Marielys Lely Burgos and Annemie Mestdagh. This second version of this Utopia Book was made by Stefaan van Biesen. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh.

 

[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.Time 09:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sensing Silence] registration of a group performance [curated by Geert Vermeire] at EMST [Museum of Contemporary Art] Athens Greece May 2016. At the time the brand new museum was completely empty. The collection of modern art was elsewhere and waiting to be transported. So the first work of art was this silence performance by 15 participants [theater, dancers, artists, curators]. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh and Stefaan van Biesen. Time 24:48.

 

Sensing silence the Diogenes variations a performance by Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen the Milena principle with a complementary workshop about silence and the body in the empty EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens by Geert Vermeire (performance artist), Stefaan Van Biesen (visual artist), Christos Kakalis (architect) and Andromachi Vrakatseli (sound artist). Departing from the interconnection of sound and walking as a research method and artistic practice we explore the relation between movement, body and sound in the silent spaces of the empty museum, using recording technology, drawing and writing as tools to capture trajectories through silent space. In the frame of the Urban Emptiness Network - Edinburgh-Brussels-Athens 2016. The workshop was organized in collaboration with EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art and curator Ms. Anina Valkana as part of the Museum's educational programs continuing on the educational program "Young Sound Explorers» Co-organizer: EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens Partners: DEREE-The American College of Greece / Theatre Arts & Dance Department Athens School of Fine Arts National Technical University Athens / School of Architecture Urban Emptiness Network - Edinburgh-Brussels-Athens 2016 / the Milena principle 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sketchbook Urban Emptiness]. Notes and drawings by Stefaan van Biesen & Geert Vermeire during the Urban Emptiness project at the University Edinburgh Scotland 2016. This book was shown during the Urban Emptiness Network exhibition at Sculpture Court of the ECA Main Building ⋈ Edinburgh Scotland UK June 2016.

 

Silence, Νarrative and the Ιntimacy of the city / Exhibition of actions and workshop results of the Urban Emptiness International Network, an interdisciplinary investigation of emptiness and silence in three contemporary cities: Athens, Edinburgh and Brussels. In the frame of the symposium "The Place of Silence: Experience, Environment and Affect" / University of Edinburgh. Time 02:31.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sea Born Talk] the Milena principle. A talk about the projects of the Milena principle in the past and present during all our stays in Venice since 1993. The Location was Q O2 Brussels during the Urban Emptiness Project. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time: 12:01.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Urban Emptiness / Talk]. A video registration of a video talk by Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen about the Urban Emptiness project by Stella Mygdali and Christos Kakalis [College of Art, University Edinburgh]. Location: the house of Sam Kirke where the Milena principle were the guests. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time: 19:35

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Diogenes Variations]. the Milena principle. A wandering perfomance by Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen at the College Of Art, University of Edinburgh during the Urban Emptiness project by Stella Mygdali and Christos Kakalis (University Edinburgh). Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Location: Sculpture Court. Time: 02:05.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Unisono] the Milena principle. A silence perfomance by Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen at the College Of Art, University of Edinburgh during the Urban Emptiness project by Stella Mygdali and Christos Kakalis (University Edinburgh). Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Location: Sculpture Court. Time: 02:56.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Talk at The Bath House Of The Winds] the Milena principle - Athens Greece 2015. A talk by Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen in this historical bath house about the project in the Italian Cultural Institute in Athens during the Invisible Cities project curated by Maria Saridaki. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time: 10:33.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[On The Surface] the Milena principle. Performance by Geert Vermeire, writing a poem on the surface of the water of Venice. Location Campo San Pantalon, in the centre of the old city. This performance was shown during the 'Invisble Cities' project in Athens Greece later that year. Camera by Stefaan van Biesen. Time: 04:13

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Unfolding The City] the Milena principle - perfomance by Geert Vermeire, writing a tekst on the pavements of Campo San Pantalon in Venice. This performance was shown during the 'Invisble Cities' project in Athens Greece later that year. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time: 04:32.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sea Born] A talk By Geert Vermeire and Stefaan van Biesen [the Milena principle] at Giudecca in the house of Valentina Genio, about the Sea Born performance of the Milena principle in Venice 2015. Project for 'Invisible Cities' Italian Cultural Institute Athens / Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Atene 2015. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time 14:23.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sea Born Talk] the Milena principle. A talk about the projects of the Milena principle in the past and present during all our stays in Venice since 1993. The Location was Giudecca in Venice where the members of the Milena principle were the guests in the house of Valentina Genoa. Camera by Annemie Mestdagh. Time: 14:23.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Writing and reading the city through the body...] Interview for B_Tour Festival Leipzig Germany 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Urban Rituals / Resounding Cities] A wall installation at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon Lisbon Portugal 2015. A sound project connection Athens, Brussels and Lisbon with the students of RITCS Brussels Belgium.

 

Installation of the workshop at the Faculty of Fine Arts - Universty of Lisbon, connected with workshops and soundwalks in Brussels and in Athens. the Milena principle presents together with befriended collectives and organisations in Lisbon and Athens a collaborative sound-and visual installation, demonstrating the effect towards other cities, through a network of artistic interventions with remote users from other cities. The juxtaposition of artistic interventions and experiences of different urban environments suggesting the acknowledgement of coherence emphasized in the practices of everyday life-urban rituals, rather than the contrast implied by the geographical and cultural differences. Time 03:29.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Water Carrier - for I am water now] Museu Nogueire da Silva Braga Portugal 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Liquid Islands] the Milena principle - perfomance Venice Italy. the Milena principle proposed an intervention, 'Liquid Islands' [washing the feet of strangers], in the old Renaissance city surrounded by sea. Myriam Bosschem [Belgium], accepted and asked several people who passed by if she could wash their feet as an urban gesture of caring and making connection. Starting in the early morning at Campo San Margherita, asking people to participate, finaly she found a traveling couple form Norway who accepted the offer: Jette KJ Øigard and her husband Bjarne Bjerkeland. The final location, where this unannounced event took place, was Campo San Zaccaria near San Marco, an old square where many people pass by. This urban ritual took place in the evening near an old waterfountain. People stopped and wondered. Time: 12:46.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Uma orelha sobre a relva] video Stefaan van Biesen. 5 poems in the Portugese language by poet Geert Vermeire 2012. the Dürer connection: uma orelha sobre a relva / Uma biblioteca imaginaria (Brasilia, Biblioteca Nacional - October 2011). Exhibition about the library as a space of imagination, writing performances on video and video poetry in the National Library of Brasilia with the concepts of travelling as an artistic instrument and thematically connected with the novel Blindness of José Saramago. Artists: Stefaan Van Biesen, Geert Vermeire and Yiannis Melanitis. Curator: Geert Vermeire. Literary Consultant: Simona Vermeire. In collaboration with EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture and UnB – University of Brasilia. Time 07:55.

 

© private foundation van biesen-mestdagh 05.09.2021