THE UNMOVED MOVER
Hope and responsibility in a crumbling world
Performance by Studio Veerle Michiels and Jonas Van Steenkiste in the .Royal Galleries of Ostend on 29-30/6/2024
In collaboration with Fedasil , KAAP and Mu.ZEE Ostend
The Unmoved Mover : movement and tradition as shapers of place and identity.
The project ‘The Unmoved Mover’ loads a place in public space from the perspective of refugees who would otherwise remain invisible. They shape a new identity of the place and at the same time themselves in relation to it. The damaged Jesus statue symbolises a ‘broken home’ and at the same time the possibility of taking root again. It is a way of place-making through an artistic act, a form of existential place-making - an attempt to create a home within public space. Through symbols and rituals, they give meaning to their existence in the world. It is a form of existential place-making - an attempt to create a home within public space - that fits perfectly with the concept of dwelling and genius loci. And it is precisely in this experience that the possibility arises for humans to anchor themselves - to develop an identity through place-based orientation (dwelling). Against the classical idea of place as something fixed and permanent, the contemporary perspective argues that movement (migration, mobility, exchange) and tradition (cultural heritage, practices, memory) are dynamic forces that constantly give new layers of meaning to a place. Movement and tradition as shapers of place and identity.
