CO-VISION, mapping Europe's natural heritage in a digital archive.
KIKK is part of co-vision, a large-scale project to map Europe's natural heritage in a digital archive.
Co-vision is a project in which KIKK is involved alongside 11 European cultural and academic structures, aiming to establish a dialogue between digital arts and local natural heritage. Co-vision is funded by the European Union as part of a Creative Europe program.
With Videocittà (Italy), Transilvania Trust (Romania), LAB852 (Croatia), Athens Digital Arts Festival (Greece), Rencontres Audiovisuelles (France), Signal (Czech Republic), Eufònic (Spain), IED (Italy), The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences | Creative Industries Research Unit , Kouvola (XAMK) (Finland), Mapa das ideais (Portugal).
FOSSILIZED FUTURES
In this context, the artists Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič, in collaboration with the Choeur de Chambre de Namur, created a new artwork that was presented during the KIKK festival 2025 !
AN IMMERSIVE DIGITAL OPERA
The immersive installation invites the audience to explore its story through an audiovisual experience, where the digital artwork merges with physical kinetic sculptures, transcending the poetic and scientific themes of ancient ecosystems, contemporary landscapes, and speculative futures. A multichannel soundscape weaves together audio recordings of rivers, forests, and the city, blending sonified river data with the ethereal voices of The Chamber Choir of the city of Namur in Belgium.
This digital opera is a unique collaboration between artists and AI algorithms, trained with a rich tapestry of scientific data, natural and cultural heritage, river histories, mythology, and quantum biology. Out of this vast confluence emerges not only a technological experiment, but a story: one carried by waters, shaped by time, and retold through human and more-than-human voices. Through this fusion, the work becomes a form of storytelling that flows across histories and geographies.
© Photo : KIKK Festival 2025 - Quentin Chevrier
At the heart of the story are Studiella devonica, a fossil species once living in the region in Devonian period, and the Atlantic salmon of the Meuse River, whose ongoing struggle for survival reflects the tensions between deep time,natural resilience and human disturbance. Together, they become the narrative’s guiding figures, one emerging from deep geological time, the other living through the fragile present, inviting us to listen to the river’s long memory and its uncertain future.
Presented at the Kikk Festival 2025 in Namur (Belgium), this first iteration introduces the evolving journey of the project. Namur’s own river landscapes, shaped by complex ecological, industrial, and cultural histories, offer a resonant context for sharing the work at this early stage. The confluence of European waterways provides a meaningful setting from which to open the narrative, establishing connections between local river ecologies and the international stories that flow through the project.
Research Background& Community Engagement
Local debate November 2024
In November 2024, KIKK organised its first local debate to map the local natural heritage and favored creative exchange among various participants and artists. Artists Robertina Šebjanič and Marco Barotti, geographer Dimitri Belayew, and ESA Saint Luc’s students - urban space and heritage - met during a workshop on a landscape analysis of Namur and its connections with the Sambre and Meuse rivers. With le Delta Namur, Sambre 2030 & Institut ILEE.
Local debate March 2024
As part of Le Printemps des Sciences, the second local debate brought together researchers, artists, citizens, and students around the theme of water. Organized by KIKK, in collaboration with UNamur, the non-profit Empreintes, and the Delta, the event combined science, art, and public awareness.
Participants attended a guided tour of the exhibition "The Health of Our Rivers: At Risk?", followed by an encounter between scientists and artists to discuss the challenges facing aquatic ecosystems and climate change. Artists Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič, invited as part of the Co-Vision project, shared their creative approach—closely linked to scientific research—which will inform a future participatory installation to be presented at the KIKK Festival in 2025. In parallel, a workshop for schoolchildren, led by ASBL Empreintes at La Plante park along the Meuse, offered a playful exploration of the river's biodiversity through interactive activities.
KIKK 2025 - Talk Marco Barotti & Robertina Šebjanič
CreditS artwork
Fossilized futures by Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič
Artist (video, audio, text, objects): Marco Barotti and Robertina Šebjanič
Video support in AI,3D: Tanja Minarik and Riccardo Torresi
Vocal arrangements / vocal partiture: Franz Anderegg
Singers: Pierre Derhet, Aline Ferber, Mathilde Sevrin
A Production KIKK asbl, as part of Co-Vision : a Creative Europe project co-funded by the European-Union.
In collaboration with the Cav&ma, Chœur de Chambre de Namur.
The artists would like to thank Dr. Valérie Cornet, Carolin Mayer and the researchers and team at UNamur for their invaluable support with the research that informed the project; Vincent Bordignon for his assistance during the recordings; the KIKK, Trakk and Le Pavillon’s teams and everyone who contributed with their discreet yet essential help ; and their oracles - fossil Strudiella devonica, the salmons and rivers Meuse and Sambre.
KIKK ASBL
Rue Saintraint 10
5000 Namur
Belgium
