Performance
On 9 October, the city poet of Antwerp, Esohe Weyden and sound artists Maarten Buyl and Raphael Malfliet share their works on the interaction between the built environment and nature. While Buyl and Malfliet play live from their album Niemandsland composed for the exhibition Tamed Nature, Weyden reads her new poetry written specially for this event.
The exhibition Tamed Nature tackles the history of urban development in Antwerp through the lens of nature. As part of the exhibition, this evening of performances reflects on the poetic and sonic facets of urban green. It is an artistic exchange between the Antwerp city poet Esohe Weyden, and sound artists Maarten Buyl and Raphael Malfliet. Buyl and Malfliet (co-founders of Extant) will perform the compositions they created specifically for the exhibition, in close collaboration with Bart Tritsmans, the co-curator of the Tamed Nature exhibition. They focused on historically prominent spaces in the city of Antwerp, which transformed drastically over time, not only spatially but also in their relationship to natural elements. Their work will be accompanied by a poetry reading of Esohe Weyden. She wrote these new poems in the framework of this event.
Esohe Weyden is a writer, poet, presenter and lawyer. She works as a parliamentary assistant and doctoral researcher in family property law at the University of Antwerp, where she was campus poet from 2021 to 2023. From 2025 to 2027, she will serve as the city poet of Antwerp.
Since 2017, she has been a prominent presence in the Dutch-language poetry scene. Her poems have taken her to a wide range of stages, from festivals such as Crossing Border, Pukkelpop and Tomorrowland to the civic parade on Belgium’s National Day. In 2022, she won the audience award of the PrixFintroPrize for Dutch-language literature, and in 2019 she received the culture prize for meritorious citizens of Deurne.
Maarten Buyl is a composer and sound designer. His music is spectral in origin and explores the subtle fluctuations in the perception of sound. In his compositions, installations, and performances, he draws inspiration from acoustic phenomena and the physical properties of sound, combining these with a contemporary musical language. Buyl regularly creates works for contemporary dance, music, theater, and opera productions and has previously collaborated with, among others, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, Spectra ensemble, Quatuor Danel, ChampdAction, LOD, Troubleyn, Toneelhuis, iSolisti, Virion, Delle Donne Consort, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen..
Raphael Malfliet is a field recordist, composer and sound artist from Antwerp. By consciously taking and creating time to listen, he explores and examines historical and sociological contexts from an auditory perspective. He is drawn to understanding the influence and meaning of sound within communities. He translates these values to his work in electronic music, improvisation and location recording and holds them dear when working in interdisciplinary artistic contexts, be it installation, performance or composition.
Tamed Nature explores the layered history of urban greenery through the lens of the city of Antwerp. From the first city parks in the nineteenth century to the rise of climate activism in the latter half of the twentieth century, Antwerp’s transformation reflects global shifts in power dynamics, spatial and social ideals, and our relationship with nature and ecology.
The exhibition uncovers hidden and overlooked stories from the history of urban green spaces. Contemporary artistic and architectural interventions challenge conventional ideas of urban nature and offer a glimpse into a more inclusive, layered, and resilient urban future.
09.10.2025
20:00h
Free, upon registration.
The exhibition can be visited from 19:00h onwards (no ticket needed)
DE SINGEL (Muziekstudio)
Desguinlei 25, 2018 Antwerp
Flanders Architecture Institute and DE SINGEL
The Government of Flanders and Sabam
There are spaces reserved for wheelchair users in all halls of DE SINGEL. Please contact us in advance at tickets@desingel.be so that we can reserve a space for you. You can use an elevator to reach the halls. Enter through the main entrance of DE SINGEL and make your way down the ramp to the left of the stairs to take the lift. Read more about the accessibility
You can store your coat, handbag or backpack in the free lockers available at DE SINGEL. These are located in two places: in the locker area under the stairs at the main entrance via Desguinlei, and at the Theatre Square in Beel Laag. Instructions on how to use the lockers can be found on the side of the locker column.
In 2024-2026, the architecture programme of the Flanders Archtecture Institute is all about what we share.
How do shared spaces influence our way of life? In 2024-2026, the architecture program of the Flanders Architecture Institute will focus on what we share. In our exhibitions, lectures, debates, workshops and publications we investigate the different aspects of cohabitation and living together.
