From documentaries and investigative journalism to virtual reality, performances and street art in Brussels, Ghent and forgotten villages in Southern Europe: we create connective projects where young people, artists, filmmakers and journalists imagine what a regenerative future could look like.

Founded in 2018 as an innovative storytelling platform on climate change, Free-Floating Planet has grown into a creative production house and cross-media storytelling laboratory exploring the deep interconnections between today’s many crises: climate disruption, biodiversity loss, inequality, discrimination, mental exhaustion, and loss of identity. All of them rooted in an extractive worldview that places humankind above nature.

That’s why, together with forward-thinking artists, researchers and changemakers, we advocate for a new era: the Symbiocene. A society built on symbiosis rather than depletion, where people, all people, and nature share equal rights, and where the logics of ecosystems once again guide our economy.

We believe change begins with stories. Stories that connect, motivate, and give direction. Stories that transform crises into opportunities for a healthier, fairer life. Through storytelling we aim to help shift from an extractive to a symbiotic worldview. One where energy, labour and care become sustainable and regenerative rather than exhausting.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Flemish Journalism Fund, which helped us get off the ground; the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the King Baudouin Foundation, the National Lottery, Erasmus+, Journalismfund, Fonds Pascal Decroos, the Postcode Lottery Fund, Free Press Unlimited and 11.11.11 for supporting our projects. Our media partners Knack and VRT, and our socio-cultural partners Sphinx, De Centrale, Vermeylenfonds, Graffiti vzw, and many others.

Connective projects are more needed than ever. Become a member of The Polar Project and join this story — to challenge short-term thinking, inspire bold, future-oriented action, and help shape a new social-ecological contract with the future.

Membership starts from just €1 per month on our Patreon page and takes less than a minute to set up. You’ll gain access to our members’ area, discounts for our events, and more. Our newsletter keeps you first in line for everything new and exciting.

Contact us at jan@polarproject.be to become a partner of Free-Floating Planet, so that we can bring our stories to an international audience together.

Jan De Deken
Jan De Deken
Founder

Jan De Deken (1985) is a documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist and coordinator of Free-Floating Planet. He's traveling the world since 2010, searching for remarkable, impactful stories. He worked as a freelance correspondent in Rio de Janeiro and has produced journalistic investigations and documentaries in over 40 countries, for the Belgian public broadcaster VRT, and Belgian and Dutch news magazines such as Knack, Vrij Nederland and De Groene Amsterdammer.

In April 2018, his book ‘Milk, honey, kerosene’ was published by Em. Querido Publisher (in Dutch). In this non-fiction novel Jan searches for what it is that makes people (un)happy in different cultures and life circumstances. Confronted with the realization that the great social, economic and ecological challenges of our time are deeply interconnected, Jan founded Free-Floating Planet to help craft a constructive story for the future.