The makeup of society in the C17th Dutch Golden Age is easily comprehended today, through the many painted portraits of the time of its assembled figureheads and archetypes.

One such example from that Age was painted downstairs in the now chapel of the University of Antwerp at 13 Prinsstraat. This banquet portrait can be seen close by 13 Prinsstraat in the Snijders & Rockoxhouse museum.

Banquet of the Lords of Liere  Oil on panel 1523, Southern Netherlandish School. Snijders & Rockoxhouse museum.

In the fragmented media landscape of today, it is rare to find any such portraits - that help to illustrate how our different figures of society stand next to each other today, or look like.

With this thought in mind, in 1999 I embarked upon creating my own series of portraits: The first resulting portrait, in 2000, was The Shrinking Beach. This was centred around a low tide discussion I created, by society figureheads and representatives, on the common ground of the Chelsea beach of the River Thames in London. The theme was that of Land Ownership.

After the hour of debate, with the incoming tide engulfing the participants’ Wellington Boots, a protocol of agreement was swiftly signed by all.

The participants included a Buddhist Monk, The Bishop of Southwark, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, a land rights activist and a British Army General & huge landowner. The event was chaired by HM The Queen’s Chaplain, originally from India.

Signing of the Protocol of the Shrinking Beach  Colour print on paper, 152 x 310cm. First presented at The National Portrait Gallery London 2002. Permanent collection of The Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp.

The second, The Mariners’ Banquet, focussed on our Thirst for Exploration and Exploitation, is planned for the historic campus of Antwerp University at 13 Prinsstraat.

The historic campus banqueting suite of Antwerp University at 13 Prinsstraat.

A third, The Explosion of Silence, will later focus on our Need to Question.

As we stand at the beginning ofour exploitation of nearby Outer Space, the 2022 Antwerp Mariners' Banquet will debate and comment upon some of the consequences of how we will interact - together or against one another.

This would take place in the same city and historic campus, where some five centuries previously, Thomas More, Desiderius Erasmus and Pieter Gillis had enjoyed humanistic discussions - and where the German painter Albrecht Dūrer visited and worked. In their time, a major backdrop was the 1492 discovery of America, and the 1493 division of the world’s oceans between Spain and Portugal, by Pope Alexander VI.

Today, shortly after the era of the physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, we shall see how our existing international agreements stand the test of time - that Space remain the Common Heritage of Humankind? The various Laws of Space, signed by all major parties, devolve from the like intentions of the High Seas Convention 1982 and Antarctica Treaty 1961.

With China, the USA, Europe, Japan, Russia and India, and commercial bodies, now engaged in the race for the Exploitation of Space, our intentions surely deserve close scrutiny and public debate?

Whether for mineral exploitation, the placement of weapons, for colonisation, or just simply tourism, we know that the essential of human life; oxygen, water and minerals, are to be found on land masses outside of our planet

It is perhaps ominous that certain countries have now established their own uniformed Space Force, in addition to that of the Army, Navy and Air Forces.

Hawking firmly believed that colonisation of Space is essential, in the longer term, to the survival of our species - whether due to misuse of nuclear arsenals, depletion of the ozone, the burning of fossil fuels, destruction of the forest ‘lungs’ of the world, or by climate change and global warming leading to deluge by water of large parts of the globe.

Like The Shrinking Beach, The Mariners’ Banquet would involve some dozen or so invitees, each a contemporary society figurehead, specialist, commentator, critic or dissident. Predominantly they will be of proximity to Antwerp.

Each participant would be sent a background guide to the topics of discussion, by email some weeks in advance of the event and portrait.

At the event, after an introduction and fifty minutes of debate, during dinner I would direct a professional Antwerp photographer to make a portrait of the group, and achieve a signed protocol of agreement - or disagreement, as may be.

The protocol would be prepared by a rapporteur during the discussion, to reflect, in short form, the general agreement and/or disagreements of the debate.

A chairman/moderator of the event would ensure continuity and make sure that everyone is given equal chance to contribute. The discussion would be audio-recorded, from which to make a transcript for posterity.

For the portrait, I would encourage participants to wear any colourful or strident outfits of their position or rank, and to bring with them any objects that may illustrate their position or status.

          E.g. costumes at Ruben’s St Charles Borromeo’s Church Antwerp.

After the event, I would intend to display the Mariners' Banquet portraits/transcipt, and some of my antecedent dialectical-artworks, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp M HKA, and engage Antwerp University students and other students in a documented symposium-critique of the Banquet.

Max Couper, March 2022