7 Walks (Rêveries d’un collectif de promeneurs) is a project on common goods – such as water, land and art – and the notion of their relations of property and governance. It is part of the walking practice 7 Walks. In this installment Vermeir& Heiremans are also looking at cartography from an alternative pedagogical angle and at what is left of the utopian traces in the initial plans for the new city of Louvain-la-Neuve.
Walking generates a sensory experience while, at the same time, creating a new shared space. This can actively open the way to a radical space of imagination which puts artists, experts and participants on an equal footing. As a research method, it generates ‘situated knowledge’ and creates a context in which the public is not merely a participant, but also a co-author. 7 Walks ‘activates’ archival documents the artists bring together in documentary exhibitions in art spaces, heritage museums, libraries… Activating archival documents and (urban) histories within public space serves as a basis for storytelling to foster discussions on values and the appreciation of public goods.
7 Walks connects the ecology of the arts with a natural commons: water. It is strongly anchored in different local situations. The ambition is to contextualize local practices of ownership in a broader social, legal and political reading. The artists aim to manifest this in the different instalments 7 Walks will generate in a variety of places and contexts.