IT WAS ALL FIELDS ONCE

In academic discourse and practice, the urban has asserted itself as the dominant and often unquestioned model of human settlement. The city has become the primary site of inquiry and imagination. The rural, by contrast, is often understood in opposition and as a spatial condition: less dense, less built, less connected, and, implicitly, less relevant.

Yet in today’s world, so-called rural landscapes are deeply entangled in global flows of capital, labour, and information. From industrial agriculture to logistical infrastructure, rural territories are anything but marginal. They are embedded within the same planetary systems that shape urban life.

Still, rurality persists as an idea laden with tradition, nostalgia, and political symbolism. In the popular imagination, it remains the inverse of the city: slow, quiet, simple. Romanticised through social media trends like cottagecore, or instrumentalised by nationalist rhetoric, the countryside becomes a screen onto which desires for authenticity and stability are projected. At the same time, it is dismissed as backwards, underdeveloped, or outside of progress. These contradictory framings share a common thread: they treat the rural as the Other of modernity, presenting it as static, nostalgic, and deficient.

And yet, what if this condition of being “out of sync” is not a shortcoming, but a form of resistance? What if the rural can offer alternative rhythms, economies, and ways of living that challenge dominant paradigms?

Rather than untouched or pristine, the rural is precisely a space of cultivation, one where human and non-human worlds meet, often in the name of sustenance. This entanglement makes it an essential terrain for rethinking how we live with, extract from, and relate to more-than-human worlds. Looking closely at the rural allows us to develop fairer and more just models of cohabitation, grounded in practice.

IT WAS ALL FIELDS ONCE is both an exploration and an invitation. It brings together spatial practices, research, and artistic perspectives that unsettle the urban-rural binary and trace the rural where it is least expected, even within the city itself. Rather than fixating on the rural as a place, the exhibition approaches it as a condition: shaped by memory, migration, ecology, labour, and desire. It focuses on practices, relationships, rituals, and traditions, all ready to be rediscovered, reinterpreted, and reinvented.

The exhibition unfolds across two complementary venues: CIVA and TRACK. CIVA begins to assemble an archive of rural practices, rituals, and artefacts, primarily gathered during the project New Ruralities or NERU, a three-year collaboration among six European academic institutions funded by the Erasmus+ programme. TRACK expands and reimagines these through an artistic lens. Situated at a train station that physically and symbolically connects city and countryside, TRACK becomes a threshold: an in-between space that brings rurality into the urban and explores its transformative potential.

This marks the beginning of a growing collection of perspectives on rurality, not as something lost or in need of preservation, but as a dynamic force full of potential.

IT WAS ALL FIELDS ONCE seeks to reframe the countryside as a critical space for ecological, social, and architectural experimentation. The exhibition takes place alongside the Shifting Ruralities symposium, a moment of closure and reflection for the NERU project, bringing together scholars, artists, and policymakers.

Curated by Juan Barcia Mas, Sophia Garner, and Iva Valkanova from the NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation, ETH Zürich. Assisted by Charlotte Eybl and Constantin Ferst. With production support from Nemo Akkerman, Julius Baumanns, Caspar Bultmann, Nils Grootenzerink, Lauro Nächt, Zoé Rüttimann, and Manu Zaparta. With graphic design by Maria Peskina and Johanna Gretzer.

New Ruralities is a collaborative project developed within the Erasmus+ framework (2022–2025), coordinated by Nadia Casabella and Ananda Kohlbrenner (Université Libre de Bruxelles), with partners Roberto Dini, Silvia Lanteri, and Federico Coricelli (Politecnico di Torino); Marta Labastida and Cidália Silva (Universidade do Minho); Pablo Gallego and Xan Creus (Universidade da Coruña); Angel Burov (University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia); the NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation, ETH Zürich; and expert contributors Jan Zaman (IdeaConsult), Stephan Kampelmann (Sonian Wood Coop), and Lucía Escrigas and Manuel Rodriguez López (RIA Foundation).

With contributions by:
Walter Aigner; Seed Carriers; Material Cultures; Akshar Gajjar; INLAND Campo Adentro; Christine Lauterburg; Stefan Laxness; Guida Marques; Ciel Grommen, Tim Martens, Maximiliaan Royakkers & Tom Van Laer / Seasonal Neighbours; Oz Oderbolz; Mack Peagram; Permafungi; Bois de Rode Bos; Nicolas Rolle; Vestaculture; Simone Gisela Weber & Juli Frodermann; Helen Thomas & Women Writing Architecture; Sonian Wood; Nemo Akkermann, Lukas Felleisen & Ulisse Iacopi; Annik Barthold & Charlotte Eybl; Lydia Gugger & Linus Müller; Young Boy Dancing Group.

Juan Barcia Mas (ETH Zürich); Angel Burov (University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia / MUP); Benoît Burquel (Université Libre de Bruxelles / agwa); Nadia Casabella (Université Libre de Bruxelles / 1010au); Federico Coricelli (Politecnico di Torino / KIT); Roberto Dini (Politecnico di Torino); Lucía Escrigas (RIA Foundation); Pablo Gallego Picard (Universidade da Coruña); Sophia Garner (ETH Zürich); Ananda Kohlbrenner (Université Libre de Bruxelles / Calm—e); Marta Labastida (Universidade do Minho / Lab2pt); Silvia Lanteri (Politecnico di Torino); Cidália Silva (Universidade do Minho / Lab2pt); Ina Valkanova (ETH Zürich); Ricardo Machado; Simon Oberhofer; Ivo Poças Martins; Delphine Suter; Sebastiaan Willemen.

Events
Opening at CIVA Brussels: July 3, 6–8:30pm
With a lecture by Fernando Garcia Dory, as part of the Shifting Ruralities symposium, and a performance by Christine Lauterburg

Opening at TRACK Brussels: July 4, 6–11pm
With performances by Guida Marques, as part of the Shifting Ruralities symposium, and Simone Gisela Weber & Juli Frodermann

Gardening Workshop by Nicolas Rolle: July 5, 3–5pm
At TRACK Brussels

Seasonal Matters, Rural Relations by Seasonal Neighbours book launch: July 5, 5–6:30pm
With Jonathan De Maeyer, Anastasia Eggers, Pia Jacques, Ioana Lupascu, Karolina Michalik and Maximiliaan Royakkers at TRACK Brussels.

Yodeling Performance by Christine Lauterburg: July 5, 6:30–7:30pm
At TRACK Brussels

Open house Urban Farm by Delhaize & Vestaculture: July 6, 2–4pm
At Delhaize Boondael, Av. du Bois de la Cambre 120, 1050 Ixelles

Lecture: 17 Rural Reflections on Housing for Seasonal Workers: July 12, 3–4:30pm
By Tim Martens & Tom Van Laer at TRACK Brussels

Dinner Performance by Young Boy Dancing Group: July 12, 8pm, RSVP
At TRACK Brussels

Locations
TRACK Brussels
Rue du Progrès 76, 1030 Schaerbeek

CIVA Brussels
Rue de l’Ermitage 55, 1050 Ixelles

With the generous support of Erasmus+ (Cooperation Partnerships in Higher Education), Movetia Switzerland, and Pro Helvetia; the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich; the Faculté d’Architecture La Cambre-Horta at Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Faculté d’Architecture LOCI at UCLouvain; CIVA Brussels, TRACK Brussels, and the Institut Culturel d'Architecture Wallonie-Bruxelles (ICA-WB); and the material partners Wiler Filz, Van Riel Textile Refiners, and Arktrade.