Art & Swalm 2025

30-31 August, 6-7 & 13-14 September 2025

Kunst & Zwalm is a biennial art trail in the Zwalm region. For the 2025 edition, the programme was put together by Kunstenplatform PLAN B. We explored the theme of 'ground'. The visible ground on which we build, live and grow crops. But also the invisible ground: the 'roots' we may or may not share, a collective ground as a way of working and living together. 

The result was three weekends full of visual art, film screenings, debates, workshops, music, theatre and installations in dialogue with the environment, the inhabitants and the themes that live there. In the introduction to the brochure, we put it this way:

'Over the past year, a group of artists walked the route you are now taking every month. They were amazed by the presence or absence of things, the sharp edges of the monoculture fields, the legends of the pond, the old crafts and the people who are breathing new life into them... 

But when we look at the Zwalm region, we also make associations with other places and phenomena. We see how the climate catastrophe is exhausting the land and those who depend on it, and how farmers' protests are intensifying the debate on agriculture. We think of the advancing identitarian thinking in Flanders that is connected to 'our land', but also of the genocides in Palestine, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, where land, identity and power are inextricably linked. All these themes found their way into the programme. We believe that the seeds of a different future lie in the soil. We want to nurture those seeds with this edition." 

On this page you will find an archive of the event, with photos, texts and explanations for each work.

Art route

Agripuncture | Atelier V.V. in collaboration with Piet Bodyn & Mathieu Lauwers | Back2SoilBasics | Bert Villa | ConstructLab | De Bolster | one-twee | Futurefarmers | Hendrik Vermeulen | Ismail Matar | Julie Van Kerckhoven | Léonard Pongo | Maïly Beyrens Xu & third grade Het Groene Lilare | Myvillages | Pınar Öğrenci | Seasonal Neighbours | The Post Collective I Friends of the Zwalm Villages 

Events

30/08 - Musical evening programme with YLÏAM and Het Dikkoor
31/09, 07/09 & 14/09 - Ten Gronde: Films and discussions about soil
31/09, 07/09 & 14/09 - Workshop for children | PRINT ART!
31/08 - Book presentation: OHT — Office for a Human Theatre | A Nomadic Book
06/09 - Ritual, food and conversation: The Post Collective | Metasporic Goddesses
13/09 - Workshop: Kunstwerkt | Fieldwork, walking shoes and sketchbooks
13/09 and 14/09 - Theatre performance: Martha Balthazar, Barbara T’Jonck, Mats Vandroogenbroeck & Jana De Kockere I Boerenpsalm

Stay up to date with Kunst & Zwalm via their website, Facebook and Instagram.

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Kunst & Zwalm is an initiative of Boem vzw and is supported by the Flemish government, the province of East Flanders, the municipality of Zwalm, Cultuurregio Leie-Schelde, the Dutch Embassy, Cera, the King Baudouin Foundation and VARIANT, culture and heritage in the Flemish Ardennes.

In collaboration with Atelier V.V, Het Groene Lilare Primary School, Broes vzw, De Bolster and the Ijzerkotmolen

Boem vzw: Eric Bracke, Ilse Verschaeve, Koen Massé, Lily Van Glabeke, Marijke Magherman, Monique Bellens, Nathalie De Lathauwer, Saskia Baele, Veerle Michiels and Wim Vandenbussche.

Arts platform PLAN B: Coordination by Ewoud Vermote, Leontien Allemeersch and Vivi Focquet. Communication by lau persijn. Technology and production by Abel Provoost and Benoît Monsieurs. 

Graphic design by Piet Bodyn and Mathieu Lauwers.

With thanks to all the volunteers and residents who made Kunst & Zwalm 2025 possible, especially those who opened up their fields, gardens or spaces.
With thanks to De Koer.