Michelle Adriaense & Ilse Strobbe - HOW, a silent walk (De Langste Dag)

A silent parade along the tide line, in which participants and objects become carriers of meaning and, while letting go, are on their way to a new world. Kunstenares Michelle Adriaense and healer–therapist Ilse Strobbe take a silent walk with the walker along the tide line of Ostend. Inspired by the cycles of the sweat lodge ritual, Michelle and Ilse guide a group through an experience in which small, found objects - objets trouvés - that the sea left behind for us, souvenirs from someone's past, or ceramic sculptures made with great care and artistic precision - grow into personal signs. These objects become light sculptures of what lives within us: memories that suddenly light up, thoughts we cannot let go of. In this journey, in which there is room for playful and quirky turns, we leave behind what became too heavy and hold on to what nourishes us. The silence opens a new way of being present, with ourselves and with the others walking the same path. This creates an individual experience that naturally breathes with the group, and a group dynamic that leaves room for everyone's inner world. From a distance, this silent walk takes the form of a procession, a living caravan. A group of people moving slowly along the water's edge, connected by ropes, branches, suitcases, bundles… A slow parade unfolds: a line of bodies carrying, dragging along what has gained meaning, slightly absurd, playful in its unusualness, and at the same time visually layered. In this image, larger stories resonate. The procession evokes echoes of groups of people who were on the move in other times and in other places: travelers, refugees, seekers, carriers, people in transit. It is almost a choreography of steps and objects in which something also resonates of the vulnerability and dignity of those who were forced to leave, with their possessions bundled into what they could carry. Thus, the walk becomes more than an experience: it becomes a living image, a slowly shifting sculpture of humanity, visible to everyone who crosses it. A procession in which the personal and the collective touch each other - and in which every participant becomes both an individual and part of the whole. PRACTICAL Duration: max. 4 hours (depending on the rhythm of the group) Sunrise walk: 05:30 - 09:30 Walk ending at sunset: 18:00 - 22:00 We start and end at Thermae Palace - zaal Fabiola The walk is about 8 kilometers along the beach and tide line In case of heavy rain, the walk will not take place (participants will be notified personally) Unfortunately, the walk is not accessible for wheelchair users PAY WHAT YOU WANT Art belongs to all of us. That is why at De Langste Dag you determine the entrance fee yourself. Do you have a little more to spend? Then you help keep the threshold low for someone else. Thank you for your contribution! MU.ZEE DISCOUNT Upon presentation of a purchased ticket for De Langste Dag, you will receive a € 5 discount on your entrance ticket at Mu.ZEE. ABOUT THE LONGEST DAY From sunrise to sunset. Artists move in and between Mu.ZEE and KAAP in Ostend. Various performances, some continuous. One visible and loud, the other barely perceptible. The actions follow the rhythm of the sun, the tides, and the clock. It will be a long day, almost the longest. Only when the sun sets does the happening end… and the afterparty begins. Concept: Michelle Adriaense Co-creation: Ilse Strobbe Scenografisch advice: Sophie Desomere Dramaturgisch advice: Merel Vercoutere and Sophie Desomere Ceramics advice: Lerry Ceramics Porselein: kapot.gent Woodcarving: Jean Verstraete Handschrift maps: Daan Meijer Riso printing: Printstudio 868 Production: KAAP With thanks to: Katrien Diericks, Jean Verstraete, Lerry Ceramics, Veerle Lengeler, Maud Embrechts