Confluence of European Water Bodies 2025

September 21 – September 24, 2025

Confluence of European Water Bodies 2024, TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space, Venice. Photo by Nicolò Miana.

Academy Events

TBA21–Academy

Programming

In September 2025, the Dutch North Sea will host the Confluence of European Water Bodies, a grassroots network of collectives representing more than 35 rivers, seas, lakes, glaciers, wetlands, and lagoons across Europe. Founded on the shores of Spain’s Mar Menor saltwater lagoon in 2023, the Confluence advocates for multispecies governance of European water ecosystems.

From September 21–24, 2025, we will gather for the third Confluence in Bergen aan Zee and Amsterdam. The three-day program will feature workshops, art, presentations, film screenings, a future-thinking session, an academic program, the Water Bodies Orchestra Try-Out, the Diplomatic Suitcase exhibition, and more.

British author Robert Macfarlane will open the Confluence on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at De Balie, Amsterdam, with a talk on his new book Is A River Alive? Whether it’s the Amazon or the Amstel, our language, laws, and economies still treat rivers as resources — channels to be dredged, diverted, and controlled. In Is A River Alive?, Macfarlane explores the deep cultural, ecological, and spiritual bonds between people and waterways, asking: How would it change us to live not above the river, but alongside it?

The opening will also feature Drop, Ripple, Puddle, O, a performance by the Icelandic glacier collective Snæfellsjökul fyrir forseta (Snæfellsjökul for President).

As part of the 2025 Confluence program, the Dogger Bank Coalition will hold its Inaugural Meeting on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, at 6:00 pm in the Amstelkerk, Amsterdam. At the heart of the North Sea, Dogger Bank is a unique Natura 2000 site, a place of remarkable biodiversity despite its severely degraded state. Over the next three years, a broad coalition, led by the Embassy of the North Sea and the Doggerland Foundation, will work to strengthen its legal, cultural, and political representation while advancing both passive and active ecological restoration. During the inaugural gathering, coalition founders will share their principles, plans, research, and actions, and invite participants to engage in dialogue, exchange perspectives, and, if they wish, sign the founding declaration.

DATES

September 21–24, 2025

LOCATION

Amsterdam & Bergen aan Zee

WEBSITE

water-bodies-eu

PROGRAM

Public program

September 21 @ De Balie, 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Robert Macfarlane opens the Confluence
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September 24 @ Amstelkerk, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Water Bodies Orchestra & Dogger Bank Coalition Inaugural Meeting
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September 23 @ Cinebergen, 8 p.m.
Screening of The Coriolis Effect
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September 19 to October 10@ Mediamatic
Diplomatic Suitcase Exhibition
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Closed sessions

September 22 @ Bergen aan Zee
Internal workshop day

September 23 @ Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen
Water Bodies Future Thinking Session

September 24 @ University of Amsterdam
Rights of Nature Beyond the Looking Glass

See program details at water-bodies.eu.

ABOUT THE CONFLUENCE

Born out of growing water challenges and demands for water democracy worldwide, the Confluence of European Water Bodies sprang from a collective pursuit of a deeper understanding of the ‘Rights of Nature’ in Europe from a cultural perspective. The initiative was first launched on September 18, 2023, with a collective proclamation of the united water bodies before the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was introduced by Marie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament, and Erena Rhöse, a Māori representative from Aotearoa (New Zealand). In 2024, the Confluence event was hosted by the Venice Lagoon, represented by TBA21–Academy at Ocean Space in Venice.

The Confluence of European Water Bodies was founded by the Embassy of the North Sea, ILP Mar Menor, and TBA21–Academy.