The project Willowclass, forms the center of the PhD research of Paul Nieboer. Willowclass is a 5-meter wide circle consisting of willows, collected in and around Ghent. The willow is a common tree in Flanders and as the pollarded variety very typical for the Lowlands. Pollarding as a form of cultivation contributes greatly to biodiversity.

It is a form of cultivation that goes back to prehistory and has shaped our landscapes. Today, however, this is no longer so clear. In tightly organized polders, biocultural diversity is under pressure. Something that is becoming extra urgent in today's situation, characterized by climate and other types of crises.

The hope of the project is that as the willows and their ecology grow, artistic and educational practices can grow with them. In caring for and paying attention to the willows. And to move along with the ecology that slowly unfolds.

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Polder is a Dutch word for reclaimed land and refers to the typical landscapes that they form.

This PhD. is part of an interdisciplinary PhD. research project: Towards an Education of the Senses: An Alternative pragmatic view on STEAM under supervision of Prof. Joris Vlieghe, Dr. Nancy Vansieleghem and Prof. Katrien Kolenberg.

Also part of the research cluster 'Pedagogy as lovecraft' at LUCA School of Art in Ghent.

Would you like more info or come to visit? Let me know at
paul.nieboer@kuleuven.be

Willowclass

(Stories that grow with the willows and the attempt of trying to tell them).