12,4 ø

“On March 24 we traveled with a sailing ship to a point just behind the horizon. Like in a fable. A circular area of ​​12.4 ø where each direction is the same and only the sea can be seen.”

The months before the voyage, Ief Spincemaille and kleinVerhaal were scouting the country to recruit crew members. They entered into extensive discussions with people from all walks of life and looked for things, thoughts or words that offered support or opened up new perspectives.

“We” are Bjorn, Corneel, Mimi, Eddy, Mohamed, Babette, Virginia, Kelly, Pawel and Mateo. Their boat was an old two-master that seemed to have come from a different era. They sailed from Brussels to the port of Antwerp and were overwhelmed by the floating giants full of raw materials and products. When the crew stopped the engine of their boat at sea, to allow them to be carried away by the wind, they found themselves surrounded by a new hum: the the thunderous posture of gigantic container ships. They were in one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.

“While we found ourselves detached from the mainland, we were right in the middle of it. As if we had landed in the roaring belly of the world. A new and different immensity crossed our horizon: the inexhaustible hunger of our society for more. Against the background of a consumer world adrift, we looked for the rudderless and directional within ourselves.”

Personal and global structures came together in this allegorical journey.

Kurt d’Haeseleer (image) and Jürgen De Blonde (sound) incorporated all impressions of the trip in a video installation. In addition, excerpts from conversations with the crew were documented in a publication named “21 Beginning and End Points”, designed by Raf Vancampenhoudt and Joris Verdoodt.