The Spine

During the Geographies of Listening festival and the opening of the Public Community Library, we invited Isabel Burr Raty to undertake a residency at Out of Sight. Alongside a closed collective research session, THE SPINE will open to the public on two occasions, inviting visitors to step into the research.

Public Sharing Moments

Saturday, 17.10.2026 / 17:00–18:30

THE SPINE: From the inlands, to a peninsula, and from an island to a jungle. Interactive guided visit with Isabel Burr Raty, open to the public. No need to inscribe, just pop-up at starting time! For this interactive guided visit, Isabel shares traces and artefacts linked to the construction and activation of The Spine path and its sensory vessels, which invite us to become regenerative fibers interwoven in the tapestry of the earth body. Exposed in the Public Community Library and in Out of Sight space for Geographies of Listening.

Sunday, 18.10.2026 / 16:00–19:00

A SPINE Conversation, with Joachim Ben Yakoub and Isabel Burr Raty.

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.

Closed Research Work Session

Saturday, 17.10.2026 / 10:00 to 13:00

During Spring and Summer 2026, THE SPINE path was installed and activated inside a forest at Zarlardingas Farm nature reserve in Geraardsbergen, facilitating a four-day immersive experience and several public tours. During this upcoming closed work session at Geographies of Listening, members of THE SPINE facilitating team: the Green Dragon, the Wolf, the Fire in the source, the Mummy, and the Spiral, will take time to unravel how embodying these roles stirs the waters of THE SPINE. The team of facilitators is composed of artists and practitioners trained in visual arts, dance, soil regeneration and various bodywork techniques ranging from Inner Alchemy to fire walking. With: Manon Karmousi, Rachel Zeba, Ditte Brys, Valeria Garre, Phil Malcorps and Isabel Burr Raty.