THE SPINE

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

 

THE SPINE is a transdisciplinary artistic research project situated at the intersection of visual arts, live arts, and pedagogical practices. Through this work, we explore how one can metaphorically, visually, and physically embody a collective earth body, and whether, in doing so, we can become medicine for each other.

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To this end, THE SPINE develops an installation-performance as a research interface, cultivating relations between communities engaged in land restoration and restitution. Within this framework, we take the land as an interactive canvas where an agri- and cultural hyperspace is being explored. With THE SPINE, we seek to co-(re)generate the material and immaterial life of human and Earth bodies, aiming to promote social, ecological, and territorial justice.

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​​​THE SPINE PARKOUR 2026-2027

 

​Between 2026 and 2027, we materialize and activate THE SPINE through two trajectories spanning continental Europe and an island in Chilean Polynesia.

 

First, at Zarlardingas Farm in Belgium, we explore how this project contributes to the rewilding processes of a privately owned nature reserve. Then, with this experience in hand, THE SPINE travels to Easter Island. Here, we work in collaboration with the Rapa Nui community, researching the potential of THE SPINE to unearth ancestral traditions buried by colonialism throughout their sacred archaeological sites. Shorter residencies along the way—at Casa delle Agriculture on the Italian peninsula of Salento, Lecce, and in the Mexican jungle of Los Tuxtlas with Topote de Acahual—allow us to imagine possible futures for THE SPINE within these initiatives that repair local eco-social systems.

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By Isabel Burr Raty  In collaboration with Judith Wielander, Joachim Ben Yakoub, Pamela Hucke, An Mertens, Philip Malcorps, Rachel Zeba, Elke Van Campenhout, Camila Montero Elgueta With the support of Flanders State of the Arts & Le Fond de la Recherche en Art In co-production with Viernulvier Gent, nadine & Constant Brussels, Out of Sight Antwerp & Topote de Acahual Veracruz With the kind support of Zarlardingas Farm Geraardsbergen, Rapa Nui community Easter Island & Casa delle Agriculture Lecce With the kind companionship of Wiels & KVS Brussels