Circle4Change – Europe

A landscape art project connecting, challenging and inspiring us towards a world in harmony with nature and the planet.

We will create an imaginary circle of 3,000 km through nine European countries. Together with local organisations, residents, artists, municipalities and companies, we will infuse the circle with stories and initiatives steeped in imagination, hope and change. Additionally, every three years, beginning in 2025, an event will be held that shines a spotlight on the circle.
Utilising radical imagination, we will pave the path to a sustainable future involving as many participants and organisations as possible. Long-term thinking is central to this. The extraordinary circle will become a platform for innovation and connection. A European Gesamtkunstwerk – different art forms combined to create a single cohesive whole – takes the form of a contemporary ‘pilgrim route’ towards a future in which we enrich the earth. It’s time we learned to love our planet again. Circle4Change aims to contribute to this.

Positive activism

This giant circle through Europe will point to a future in which good ancestry is central, resulting in more long-term thinking, biodiversity and sustainability. Walking or cycling through villages and towns, over hills and plains, we reveal how rich and diverse the European landscape is and how important it is to treat it with care. Municipalities, villages and cities the circle intersects with will be asked to join the Circle4Change community. Collaborating with organisations at the forefront of sustainability and innovation will be high on our list. We will also highlight inspiring existing projects and enhance the circle in the coming years with all these imaginative activities, projects and experiments. The activated circle, which will act as a magnet for all kinds of new initiatives, holds up a mirror to us and gives us hope: It can be better, much better and together, we can do it! What could be more important than taking care of the earth? Circle4Change invites you to participate and make a difference.

Connecting circle

Circle4Change stands for connection, solidarity, imagination and unity in diversity. Our circle starts in the North in Leeuwarden (NL) and has Nova Gorica (SI) as its southern counterpart, which lies on the border of Slovenia and Italy. Nova Gorica will be the European Capital of Culture in 2025, as Leeuwarden was in 2018. The circle connects the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, France and Belgium. It crosses these nine countries’ natural and cultural borders, speaks all languages and embraces local communities. The seemingly arbitrary circle shows the beauty and richness of the European landscape while revealing where changes are needed.

Symbiocene

We will talk to residents and collect stories along the circle route, stories about the characteristics and values of landscapes, trees, local communities, neighbourhood buildings, and residents. At the same time, we will initiate new stories and projects via art and culture. Stories and experiments that inspire and entice us to embrace a sustainable future, one in which humans, nature and technology live together in balance: The Symbiocene is what environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht calls a new era – one of being good ancestors. It is vital to reconsider and adapt our attitude towards the earth, our environment, our fellow human beings, and ourselves.

The four lines of the Circle4Change – Europe

Activiteiten van onderop

An essential part of this land art project is supporting local communities that want to promote the ideas behind Circle4Change. In schools, community centres and businesses, for example, but certainly also with local projects combining care for nature and people. Cultural, educational and in-depth activities and projects will be for people of all ages and tailored to the scale and nature of the local communities. Among other things, we are considering the construction of food forests and collective vegetable gardens, birthday tree forests, and forms of nature-inclusive agriculture and horticulture. We envision an exchange program with the other side of the circle and with artists reflecting the underlying themes. And we will engage with cultural sanctuaries, among others, as possible platforms for the symbiotic world.

Support

An integral role in the communities will be reserved for an all-inclusive Circle4Change academy, local meetings, and councils. The circle communities can share experiences and learn from each other in the academy. And within local councils, goals can be ignited and seeds of change planted. In addition, the combination of education and artists plays a crucial role. Change can’t happen without education; without artists, there cannot be any imagination. Like no other, artists understand the art of reading the underlying zeitgeist and make it palpable and visible. They teach us to look at the world through a different lens by asking questions, making unexpected connections and shaking up established truths.

Events on the entire circle

Besides the local activities and experiments on and along the circle, a circle-wide event is organised every three years to raise awareness of Circle4Change. The events will display cultural characteristics for all ages but will specifically focus on inviting young people to participate. We envision a travelling cultural caravan connecting the communities on and around the circle, highlighting the entire circular route. Lectures, concerts, and exhibitions will be part of the events. The theme for the first event in 2025 is ‘connecting’- to get as many people as possible to participate. In 2028, Circle4Change hopes to expand and connect with villages and cities from all over Europe.

Birthday trees

During the triennial events, we will also promote the birthday tree, a tree-planting ritual, thereby creating birthday forests. Thus strengthening the personal connection with nature: “It’s my birthday, so I’m planting a tree”. For the event in 2025, we are thinking of a ‘walking forest’ of young birthday trees, which will complete the entire circle in approximately ten months, accompanied by young people, residents and interested parties. In 2028, we intend to create a ‘cycling forest’ that can be cycled in six months. It is also possible that for the 2025 event, we will combine walking and cycling into a travelling cultural caravan of approximately eight months. The young birthday trees will be distributed to the birthday parties during these events. In the events after 2028, Circle4Change will organise a recurring cycling tour, and an accompanying special event will take place simultaneously on the entire circle.

Gesamtkunstwerk

In addition to the locally organised activities and projects on the circle and the triennial events, everyone, individually or in a group, can walk or cycle the route along the circle line. It would be wonderful if Circle4Change grew into a long-distance walking and cycling route, a contemporary pilgrimage route to a sustainable future. Villages and cities in Europe that are not on the circle can also join in, for example, by creating their own birthday forest, walking the route or adopting a bicycle tree and cycling it. The circle attracts more and more new stories that together form a beautiful and rich scenario for the future. Over the coming decades, we will expand the circle into a connecting Gesamtkunstwerk of sustainable exemplary projects developed and supported with and by local communities and enriched by everyone who strives for change.

Beginning years

During 2024 – the preparatory year, we will trace the walking and cycling route and engage with municipalities and organisations on and along the circle. We will start building the Cirkel4Change community and academy. For the first event in 2025, we are trying to enthuse as many people as possible. Simultaneously with this event, activities and projects will be organised in Leeuwarden (NL) and Nova Goriça (SI), both poles of the circle, which in the following years will serve as an example for other cities and villages along the complete circle in the years to come, including the creation of the first birthday forests. In the years between the triennial events, local activities and projects will be further developed, making the circle more and more anchored and visible.

Unique oasis

We cannot say for sure if and when we will achieve our goals. Still, we are confident that the combination of radical imagination and social relevance seems appropriate to encourage many people to shift their thinking and activate them to take action. Gradual growth, moving slowly and paying attention to the local culture and nature along the circle are essential themes for success.
How wonderful it will be to walk the Circle4Change in a hundred years: The trees planted in the coming years will have grown into adult trees. Together with all the sustainable initiatives and projects, the landscape around Circle4Change will have transformed into a unique oasis, an Arcadia of unprecedented beauty – an example for perhaps many more circles worldwide.