The Walking Body (TWB6) is an international gathering of walking artists. The 2025 meeting is dedicated to “communities of change”, plural communities, in movement, and sensitive to issues of social and natural ecology of the environment in which we live” and will take place between March 27 and April 16, in Guimarães, in Bairro C, with the meeting point at Galeria da Garagem Avenida/School of Architecture, Art and Design.

 

TWB6 plans to hold a week of walkshops, a round table with guest artists and an exhibition.

The walkshops take place throughout the week from April 7th to 12th, on walks around the area with a focus on Bairro C and the meeting point being Galeria da Garagem Avenida EAAD (Av. Dom Afonso Henriques 250). TWB has the participation of 7 artists in the workshops: Geert Vermeire (BE), Jordi Lafon (ES), Miguel B Duarte (PT), Montsita Rierola (ES), Natacha Antão (PT), Stefaan Van Biesen (BE) and Rosa Soares (PT).

 

On 7 April, at 2.30pm, there will be a round table dedicated to the theme of this year’s meeting Communities of Change.

 

TWB opened on March 26 (Wednesday) at 6 pm, with the presentation of Babak Fakhamzadeh’s artwork, “in loving memory”. The exhibition will be expanded during the week with the sharing of the process and results of workshops or talks, including contributions from artists, participants or visitors. It will be on show until 17 April at the Gallery Garagem Avenida.

On March 27th (Thursday), between 2:30pm-5pm, the artist will hold a workshop/lecture for the academic community of the University of Minho and interested parties.

The events are at Galeria da Garagem Avenida, Av. D. Afonso Henriques 250, 4810-431 Guimarães.

The TWB programme includes an online WALCafe on 9 April on the theme ‘The New Wave of Walking Artists’, on the subjects of ethnography, queer ecologies, ecofeminism, posthumanism and intersectionality. Free registration via the following link: https://walklistencreate.org/walkingevent/the-new-wave-of-walking-artists/ 

 

TWB takes place in Guimarães, Portugal, is organized by the Laboratory of Landscape, Heritage and Territory (Lab2PT), in collaboration with Made of Walking/ the Milena Principle, and is an event within the scope of WALC – Walking Artists & Local Communities. It is a project centered on the act of “Walking as an artistic practice”, exploring the imagination and creativity of walking in the city of Guimarães. TWB receives support from the European Union’s Creative Europe programme under the “WALC” project, a collaboration with universities and cultural partners in Belgium, France, Spain and Greece. It also received support from the IMPACTA program of the Municipality of Guimarães.

 

This event is free. Anyone interested in art and the act of walking can participate in these actions by registering using the form: https://forms.gle/HtAYpJsdvugMpSRU8

 

Anyone under the age of 14 must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

The TWB organisers will take photos, videos and audio recordings to publicise and document the event. The information recorded is for the exclusive use of The Walking Body organisers and will not be made available or disclosed to third parties.

 

 

The artistic project and TWB walkshops have been developed since October 2018 and are organized by Natacha Antão (EAAD/Lab2PT), Miguel B Duarte (EAAD/Lab2PT) and Geert Vermeire (Made of Walking/WLC).

 

 

 

TWB 2025 addresses local communities in the plural sense, not limiting a community to a static, single or isolated group. Local communities are, but at the same time are more than, the sum of their residents. Communities develop over time, including students, local artists, minorities, underrepresented groups, migrants and refugees. Living in a community means constantly rethinking where you live and who you live with. Central to TWB is the possibility of movement and change. A specific focus of TWB is on the fragile social and natural ecology of the environment in which we live. Although it is a city, Guimarães also includes and is close to rural areas, constituting a hybrid and fragmented landscape, in a dispersed and rich territory. Restlessness, through connection with the place and through the art of walking, is what defines TWB.

 

TWB6 is an event organized within the framework of WALC – Walking Arts and Local Communities, with the support of the EU cooperation programme Creative Europe. WALC brings together 7 organizations in 5 European countries, including walk.lab2pt. The project spans a period of 4 years, from 2024 to 2027, with the aim of establishing an international hub for the walking arts, based in Prespa, supported by an online platform, augmented with local and online events, collectively exploring how local communities and the walking arts intersect.

 

Information: http://walk.lab2pt.net (updated)

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