Natural Contract Lab: An Alliance of Care for the SZenne River (EN)
How do we connect with the waters that flow through our city? Natural Contract Lab invites you to join their walking-with "Ecologies of grief, solidarity and care" along the Senne river. During this guided walk, participants will greet the SZenne river, share water memories, and engage in multisensory activities that connect their bodies with the river's flow.
The walk starts in the Lot train station and ends in the Halle train station.
Riverine Picnic included.
What is a walking-with? It's an act of solidarity and accountability with the river. As we walk alongside the water, we transform into active witnesses—both giving and receiving care. Through meaningful collective rituals, we honor the landscapes that environmental change has altered or erased, here within the living ecosystem of the SZenne river.
These artistic walks combine sensory activities with conversations about water memories and ecological grief, storytelling, and learning directly from the river.
The SZenne river begins under a willow tree in Naast, flowing 103 kilometers before reaching the North Sea. Once among Europe's most polluted rivers, the SZenne has shown remarkable resilience. With support from kindredplants, bacteria, and restoration efforts, it has returned to life—teaching us about adaptation and survival through cooperation between its waters, the beings that inhabit it, and the people who cherish its stories.
Initiated in 2021 by Maria Lucia Cruz Correia, Natural Contract Lab is an ongoing co-creation with a transdisciplinary group working with bodies of water undergoing ecological transformation. Their interventions respect each river as a partner in dialogue and reciprocal sensing. They've developed a Protocol of Reciprocal Care that combines restorative justice, river rights, ecological grief, sensory practices, and walking methodologies. NCL invites you to participate in their walking-with experiences, grief rituals, collective storytelling, and other river-centered activities.