S+T+ARTS4Water II Challenge and STARTS Residency
PLASTIQUE FANTASTIQUE – EPHEMERAL TRANSPORT
Host / Region
GLUON / Brussels, Belgium – Scheldt Valley
Abstract
This residency, hosted by Gluon with the support of Arts Council Korea, invites artists interested in interweaving different cultural lines of thought and (art) practices in the Scheldt Valley National Park to negotiate our relationship to science, nature and water, as well as to arts as sacred and related, equally providing spiritually meaningful and revealing experiences which in themselves can be aesthetic and transformative, as our relationship with the world defines the values with which we encounter it.
Keywords
in situ, performance, open air rituals and myths, cultural traditions, river
Description of the regional challenge
The beautiful Valley around the river Scheldt engaging 24 communities between the cities of Oudenaarde and Antwerp and passing Ghent was announced a National Park only half a year ago. The Flemish-Dutch Scheldt Delta, which the Valley is a major part of, was nominated as UNESCO Geopark. A recognition reserved for areas of unique international geological significance. The area hence holds unique value to engage different publics to the beauty and relevance of clean water – and the (scientific) efforts which sustain it.
How is the mission S+T+ARTS driven?
Artists are invited to create immersive works in the Scheldt Valley National Park, interweaving diverse cultural perspectives and art practices to reimagine our connection with science, nature, and water. The work should inspire transformative experiences that challenge and redefine the values shaping our relationship with the world.
The result of the residency will be shown during the UN Ocean Conference 2025.
Artist-in-residency – PLASTIQUE FANTASTIQUE
PLASTIQUE FANTASTIQUE (Marco Canevacci, Yena Young, Lucas Sere Peltzer) – creates immersive spatial installations challenging the notion of reality and the limits of our senses. Each project invites the public to explore an imaginary landscape within the existing world, questioning the paradoxical nature of perception and the complex layers of our surroundings. These (in)visible installations merge art, performance, individual stories, people, and architecture to provide a multisensorial experience that blurs conventional boundaries and transcends the imagination. The medium is air, invisible but essential.
About The Project – EPHEMERAL TRANSPORT
Is sustainable transport compatible with our impulse for transportation? Which is our deepest connection to transport, to the urge we have to move ourselves and things? Is transport a necessity, a desire, a burden? What should we dream of if we want to imagine a future in harmony with the planet? Can we envision a transport device that is transformative in its use? A device that lives from and for transport? Can transport become a being in itself whose sole condition of existence is the journey?
With the project EPHEMERAL TRANSPORT, the artists seek to create floating pneumatic installations designed with biomaterials that, when dissolved in water, disperse regenerative elements into the ecosystem: a minimal biological layer that comes into being, that breathes with water, symbiotically intertwined with our desires to move. A future where transport technology is in synergy with nature, no longer mirroring our ambitions of consumption but existing through our movement and nurturing the environment in the process.
Installations are conceived as experimental devices that reflect on nature’s internal relationship with movement. By contrasting a strongly poetic approach with a strictly scientific application, the artistic vision is translated into potential solutions for the future and practical results for the present.
