‘Do you know that the entire Belgian coast is urbanized?’ Elia Zenghelis asked me during an interview a long time ago. I did not know. ‘The apparent reason is the fact that is it very short,’ he said. ‘Nevertheless, the real reason is the fact that it is the only place in Belgium where a person can be confronted with a truly natural phenomenon. Everything else the Belgians can turn to is marked by man, a “designed” landscape. This is why they, from the comfortable safety of their homes, turn towards the sea and the uncertainty of its rhythms on this coast, towards the only thing in this country that truly evades human control.’