Formed through communal, uncommon and intimate bonds, THE SPINE is a living path woven into the earth, inviting the flow of embodied visions to merge with the memories of the land, molding an earth body that allows the possibility of return and repair to emerge. THE SPINE is crafted and activated across territories of communities dedicated to land restoration and restitution, from which we challenge the colonial separation of bodies from the land, and carry silenced stories into the future through deep listening and remembrance.
For Geographies of Listening, THE SPINE collaborators Joachim Ben Yakoub and Isabel Burr Raty invite the public to join their ongoing reflection process on crossing the threshold between skin and soil. Starting this gathering with The Spiral—an embodied practice of light vibration carried out at the core of THE SPINE path, we will open Marisol de la Cadena’s Earth Beings as well as Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa, spinning in between visible and invisible matter, envisioning being nearby the land, reclaiming faculties that move the sands of time.
THE SPINE, initiated by Isabel Burr Raty in 2024, weaves together art, ecology and ancestral cosmologies into a long-term research project that explores how we might become earth bodies and medicine for one another. By building relationships with communities dedicated to land restoration and restitution, the project approaches land as a living, communal process, creating ceremonial paths that connect human memory with the memory of the land. These paths become sensory vessels through which dormant knowledge and forms of life can re-emerge, regenerating both human and earth bodies and challenging the colonial separation of bodies from territories, while opening up possibilities for repair.
The Spine is realised in collaboration with: Pamela Hucke, An Mertens, Philip Malcorps, Rachel Zeba, Elke Van Campenhout, Camila Montero Elgueta, Joachim Ben Yakoub and Judith Wielander.
With the support of : Flanders — State of the Art and Le Fond de la Recherche en Art
In co-production with: VIERNULVIER, nadine, Constant, Out of Sight, and Topote de Acahual Veracruz
With the kind support of: Zarlardingas Farm Geraardsbergen, Rapa Nui community Easter Island, and Casa delle Agriculture Lecce
With the kind companionship of: Wiels and KVS
Thanks to the creative advice of: Adva Zakai, Einat Tuchman, Kristin Rogghe, Patricia Barakat, Marzia Dalfini and interns Lovely Ratz and Zinabua Caon.
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A SPINE Conversation is organised at the Public Community Library established by Out of Sight in Antwerp, within the On Mobilisation. Towards Multivocal Collaborative Futures project (2026-2029), co-funded by the European Union (Creative Europe programme).
Artists: Joachim Ben Yakoub, Isabel Burr Raty
