Image from Wikipedia
I am a majestic Black Walnut, protected by humans, living in the garden of the community centre GC Wabo in Boitsfort-Bosvoorde (BE).
From October 2025 to June 2027 I participate in the reflection project Author Rights for Trees, with the support of the Flemish Government-Arts.
Collaboration with more-than-human beings is part of the zeitgeist. An entire generation of artists is turning to other entities in their search for experiences and stories in which humans are no longer central, actively engaging in relationships with us, trees, but also with plants, rivers, birds, bacteria, and fungi.
Collaboration with us, trees as living beings, is also clearly evident in the recent practice of Anaïs Berck. In Arnhemse Bomen Vertellen (Arnhem Trees Tell) and the research Tree Times, we are the protagonists, the actors who are at the centre of the installation. During these projects, the question arose as to the concrete nature of collaboration with us, trees. Even though the goal of the artistic work is to make humans aware of our existence and forge relationships with us through technology, the approach could still feel like the enlistment of trees into art.
Is it possible to move beyond this form of instrumentalization of our beings, our ecology, our stories? Is it possible to grant us author rights, as well as decision-making powers and a legal presence within an organization? How can humans make something like this concrete, material, and administrative? Can you expand the we of a team or circle of friends to include us, trees, and more-than-human beings? And also, is it even appropriate to enrol us in human structures?
These questions are the starting point for Author Rights for Trees, which seeks to offer a reflection on existing artistic practices that enter into collaborations with trees and more-than-human beings, and on the possibility of formalizing artistic collaboration with more-than-human beings.
The project includes the following activities:
on 27 September 2025, 11 October 2025 and 18 October 2025, three walks were organized in Brussels by arts centre nadine, guided by forest bathing experts Ann Tilman and Ilse Simoens and artist An Mertens; with a focus on methodologies to establish contact and communication with more-than-human beings.
on 12 December 2025, a panel discussion took place in Kunsthal Gent in the presence of An Mertens & Maria Lucia Cruz-Correia (artists), Séverine Dusollier (jurist), Aelyn Van Diest (bio-engineer, communication with trees).
on 3 March 2026, 9 March 2026 and 10 March 2026, Maria Lucia Cruz Correia and An Mertens organized peer-to-peer sessions with fellow artists working with more-than-human beings as part of their residency at C-TAKT Limburg.
The following artists participated: Roel Jacobs (visual artist), Renée Bus (visual artist), Rebecca Lenaerts (performance), Patricia de Ruijter (photographer), Matthijs De Block (bio-art), Marjolein van der Loo (curator A Tree, Onomatopee), Marialena Marouda (performance), Lies Daenen (visual artist), Judith Vindevogel (former music theatre director of WALPURGIS/Rif and first Zoöp in Flanders), Johannes Westendorp (musician), Jenna Vergeynst (musician), Isabel Burr Raty (performance), Edurne Rubio (film-maker), Bart Vandeput (Bartaku art_research, bio-art), Adina Ionescu-Muscel (film-maker).
on 8 March 2026, performer Peter Aers organized a Parliament of Things near the Scotts Pine in Bosland who participated in the installation Tree Times.
on 14 June 2026 the novel Reports from the Forest was launched at the Passaporta Bookshop in Brussels; the book will also be available as an epub and can be ordered via bookshops online, in Belgium and the Netherlands, UK, Canada and US.
in November 2026 we will organise in collaboration with the Aunties collective a session on ‘co-creation with more-than-human beings’ in presence of Law professor Frederik Swennen (UAntwerp), Zigzag Reading Room Brussels.
on 21 December 2026 the first blog post of villa berck will be published online in four different languages.
on 21 March 2027 the first book of villa berck will be published online in four different languages
in May 2027 we will organise a seminar on ‘co-creation with more-than-human beings’ in collaboration with Law professor Séverine Dussollier at Sciences-Po in Paris.
in June 2027 the project will end with a public evening in collaboration with nadine and De Pianofabriek.
Supported by: Flemish Government - Arts, nadine, Kunstenwerkplaats Brussel, Kunsthal Gent
