Robert Macfarlane opens third Confluence in Amsterdam
The third edition of the Confluence of European Water Bodies will take place in the Netherlands, from 21 – 24 September 2025. Famous author Robert Macfarlane will open the Confluence, Sunday afternoon September 21 2025 in De Balie Amsterdam, with a talk about his new book Is A River Alive? The afternoon will open with a choral ritual titled Drop, Ripple, Puddle, O (shortened as O) by the Icelandic collective Snæfellsjökul fyrir forseta (Glacier for president), one of the 35 members of the Confluence.
Is A River Alive?
Whether it’s the Amazon or 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. Recognizing rivers as living entities, he argues, is essential to restoring our damaged ecosystems. It calls for a radical reimagining of law, language, and land — a shift from dominion to kinship. Organised by the Embassy of the North Sea, in collaboration with De Balie and the Confluence of European Water Bodies, we explore how the Rights of Nature can reshape Europe’s legal, cultural, and political landscapes.
Growing Water Network
The Confluence of European Water Bodies comprises a growing and transdisciplinary community of water representatives striving for new dialogues and relationships with Europe’s rivers, seas, lakes, glaciers, and lagoons. The network was founded by the Embassy of the North Sea, TB21-Academy, and ILP Mar Menor. The first edition of the Confluence of European Water Bodies (2023) took place at the shores of the Mar Menor in Spain—the first European ecosystem to achieve legal entity status, just like people and businesses. In 2024, representatives of European water bodies gathered at the Venetian Lagoon.
Programme September 21–24, 2025
During the Confluence of European Water Bodies, new ways of representing water in cultural, political, and legal domains will be explored. The programme takes place in Amsterdam and Bergen aan Zee and includes workshops, lectures, films, art installations, performances, concerts, and future strategy sessions. Everyone is warmly invited to attend the public programmes at venues including De Balie, Mediamatic, the Amstelkerk, and Cinebergen Filmtheater. View the full programme here.
we are: Akerselva, Baltic Sea, Deep Sea, Dogger Bank, Drina, Genova waters, Irish Sea & Liffey, Klarälven, Laguna de la Janda, Loire, Maas, Mar Menor, Mediterranean, North Sea, Odra, Os_lo Fjord, Ouse, Pek, Piave, Reuss, Reva, Rhine, Rhône, Snæfellsjökul, Spree, Tara, Tagliamento, Tavignanu, Tejo, Ticino, Vättern, Venice lagoon, Viskan, Vistula, Wattenmeer and Zenne
De Confluence of European Water Bodies 2025 is supported by Cultuurfonds, VriendenLoterij Fonds, Forest Peace en Chalmers University Zweden.
TICKETS & INFO
De Confluence of European Water Bodies takes place from 21 — 24 September 2025 in Amsterdam and Bergen. Unfortunately it’s no longer possible to attent the full programme.
— Tickets for the public event: 21 september 2025 at De Balie: Robert Macfarlane opens Confluence can be purchased HERE.
— To register for the Water Bodies Orchestra & Dogger Bank Inaugural Meeting 24 september 2025 in the Amstelkerk, have a look HERE.
— Don’t forget to visit the Diplomatic Suitcase exhibition in art center Mediamatic in Amsterdam
Read more about the Confluence at www.water-bodies.eu
