Belgium

In celebration of Fascination of Plants Day, Plants for the Future ETP is organising an event to highlight the importance of plant breeding! Our event aims to bring together various stakeholders, including policy makers, to explore the pivotal role of plant breeding in shaping sustainable agri-food systems within the Green Deal framework. Throughout the event, attendees will have the opportunity to gain insights from farmers, researchers, and breeders, who will discuss how plant breeding forms the cornerstone of our food systems. Emphasising sustainability and circularity, the discussions will underscore the significance of plant breeding in fostering resilient agri-food systems, with a particular focus on the importance of public-private partnerships. Additionally, the event will feature a field visit, providing participants with first hand exposure to the practices driving agricultural advancement.

Don’t miss out on the new edition of the Fascination of Plants Day at the Plant World Observatory in Liege!

The programme is as follows :

• Plant sales, especially exceptional plants
• Guided visits (11h and 14h)
• Free visits of the glasshouses: numerous topics to discover!!  Plants of specific, medicinal and nutritious use for the entire world, mediterannean vegetation (garrigue, maquis, australian bush, …), biodiversity of tropical plants, the relation between plants and animals (carnivorous species), adaptations of vegetations to dry environments and their limitations in a fabulous way…

We’ve always known it, and science confirms it: even brief immersion in natural environments has a positive impact on our well-being. How could it be otherwise? Our species has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years as an intrinsic strand in the web of life, and the story of evolution is written in our cells.
In our techno-industrial societies, we experience a disconnect between the living world and ourselves: we suffer from “Nature Deficit Disorder”, often without even realising it, absorbed as we are in our screens and devices…
Engaging body and soul with all our senses in a living environment boosts our immunity, soothes stress and anxiety, reduces hyperactivity and hypertension, and encourages attention, concentration and inspiration…
The Botanic Garden Meise is, in essence, the ideal place to restore this connection and rediscover, lurking deep within us, those profound Roots that link us to the great family of the Tree of Life.
As the seasons go by, that’s what we’re offering you in our new “Well-being in the Garden Programme”, which we’re launching on Fascination of Plants Day 2024, with a Qi Gong 2-day course focused on Trees.

Qi Gong is a Chinese energy art whose roots go back over 5000 years.
By synchronising gentle movement, conscious breathing and mindfulness, Qi Gong helps to restore, harmonise, fluidify and enrich our vital energies. It offers us the chance to cultivate health, emotional balance and a calm mind. As we practise, an inner smile settles over us.
What makes this discipline so special is that it aims to bring us into harmony with our environment and the energetic dynamics of the seasons. In this way, Qi Gong trains us to live in presence, in full awareness of ourselves and our surroundings: it restores and maintains our link with the Living.

Welcome!

Photo credit: Nathalie Frennet

A l’occasion du Fascination of plants day, le Jardin Massart vous propose une journée portes ouvertes pour petits et grands, amateurs ou débutant autour de la botanique et plus précisément du monde méconnu des herbiers :

Voyage au coeur des herbiers

L’occasion pour nous de mettre en avant l’herbier des collections du Jardin à travers une exposition de ses plus belles planches.

Autour de cette expo nous vous proposerons un éventail d’activité variées entre Arts et Sciences :

Des conférences, des stands d’animation, des visites guidées…

Le détail du programme sera disponible ici dès le mois d’Avril. Un peu de patience !

Aucune inscription ne sera nécessaire

Un évènement construit en partenariat avec le réseau des musées de l’ULB et en présence de l’expérimentarium de Chimie et de Physique de l’ULB ainsi que du µzoo (musée de la microscopie de l’ULB).

Avec le soutien d’Inforsciences (ULB) et de Bruxelles Environnement.

Venez découvrir les plantes et la botanique sous toutes leurs formes !

Dans le cadre de la septième édition du “Fascination of Plants Day” qui sera organisée dans le monde entier le 18 mai, les chercheurs et chercheuses en biologie végétale de l’UCLouvain proposent de lever le voile sur le monde fascinant des plantes et de vous emmener en découvrir les mystères. Plusieurs activités seront proposées à Louvain-la-Neuve, au départ des serres de l’UCLouvain (sentier Croix du Sud) les 12 et 15 mai 2024 après-midi. Certaines activités demandent une réservation et d’autres sont en libre accès. Au programme : visite des serres expérimentales, promenade botanique, atelier pour enfant, découverte des fleurs et de leurs pollinisateurs, découverte des lichens bioindicateurs, les plantes de nos assiettes, bourse aux graines et diverses autres activités libres

Hilary Balu’s new paintings are an extension of his series titled “From Fantasy to Escape,” which he began in 2022. Through these works, Balu continues his exploration of the consequences of migratory flows, whether historical or contemporary. His approach aims to shed light on the impacts of colonialism and modern globalization. Balu’s canvases bear witness to the evolution of society from colonial imperialism to the despair of refugees who are now fleeing their inhospitable land, plagued by conflicts and economic difficulties.

At the core of this new installment of the “From Fantasy to Escape” series, the artist finds his inspiration by chance when he discovers photographs taken during a trip to the Yombe people in Kongo Central in 2021. He visits a former palm oil factory that once belonged to Belgium when Congo was a Belgian colony. This abandoned factory is now engulfed by nature, overgrown with lush vegetation. Balu reinterprets the plantation landscapes immortalized by Frans Post, a Dutch painter from the 17th century whose works reflect the colonial hegemony of that era. The artist transforms these exploitation landscapes, making way for abundant and immense nature, where the power of nature is revealed in all its protective magnificence.

The Kongo ancestors possessed an in-depth knowledge of plant properties, whether related to spiritual, healing, or toxic powers. For instance, the bitter Hyssop plant, locally known as “kongo-bololo,” is used in treating malaria, sinusitis, and other illnesses, while also holding spiritual implications for protection against malevolent spirits. This plant was also used in rituals by Nganga priests to cleanse individuals of enchantments. On the other hand, the Calotropis procera plant, locally named “Bulembe-limbu” in Kango, is highly toxic and was used by warriors and hunters to poison their targets. During the Battle of Ambwila in 1665, where the Kongo kingdom faced off against Portugal, these plants were employed by Kongo warriors to poison arrows and combat the Portuguese.

“In this series, I use these plants to symbolize their devouring, invading, and poisoning power over the exotic landscapes, fauna, and flora immortalized by Frans Post. This approach represents an act of resistance for me, a way to protect, heal, break free from enchantments, and purify oneself from these exotic landscapes. I perceive them as an immortalization of moments of triumph and Western-imposed domination over the Kongo people’s bodies, whether in sugar plantations in Brazil, in the representation of fauna, on the land itself, or even on nature as a whole.”

Balu’s paintings also pay homage to the constitutional principles of the Kongo tradition embodied in the proverb “Ekongo Inzambi kwandi kanvila muntu nlenda kungandako evokundilisa” (A Kongo individual is a divinity; no one can make them cry or mistreat them). This principle finds embodiment in the “Ntadi” or “Mintadi” sculptures, guardians of royal tombs and symbols of Kongo prestige. These sculptures defy distorted historical representation, asserting the importance of Kongo royalty as protectors of their people. A vivid tribute to the kings, these sculptures remind us of the protective roles they played within society. The iconic image of a mother nursing her child is the most well-known example. For the artist, these sculptures constitute a powerful assertion, countering the West’s imposed version of the slavery narrative, claiming that “Kongo kings and notables sold their brothers and cousins for trinkets.” This declaration is a form of resistance demonstrated by these kings toward their populations.

Through this series, Hilary Balu juxtaposes two forms of adventure: the colonial journey experienced by Frans Post in 17th-century Brazil, and the contemporary adventure of migrants forging their way through the Brazilian forest, seeking survival as their path leads them to the United States. It’s also a relationship of alterity between the West and Africa, persisting through the fantasy the West holds for Africa and the illusion Africans harbor regarding the West.