Lace making maps

Today is General Strike day for the climate campaign. In Belgium the action is in Brussels. With you we are! Instead I with Merel from AMOK go to visit the Lace School where we find 8 humans moving small thread rolled bobbins back and forth over and under each other following specific instruction codes to knot cotton into intricate patterns. The most clatter comes from 90 year old Germaine in the corner whose arthritic fingers fly backwards and forwards at such speed I’m transfixed. Apart from the sounds of it all, I’m curious to understand the pattern system. Do they reveal stories in the lace like the knots in aaron jumpers or is it purely decorative? Could we design a lace pattern over the city for sonic bikes to weave? From witnessing this, I can feel the benefits to the brain and more of such craftsmanship. The hands working tangible, the brain focused and guiding.

Later I’m immersed in the Groeninge Museum. There’s a Bosch triptych of the Last Judgement made by someone from Bosch’s workshop which is smaller and somehow less hopeful than the original Hieronymus piece. It portrays the brutal version of the final verdict – the descent of humankind into hell and torture, no-one being redeemed except the angels. After another day cycling the cobbles under the gaze of the towering churches, the thousands of clean tourists consuming, the UK government collapsed into chaos, life on planet Earth fast approaching extinction, it feels that the Bible does present so much more than stories after all.