A day of encounters

How To Be Many Mothers offers a broad and layered vision of motherhood and mothering, inviting an in-depth exploration. During this day, we approach motherhood not only as a biological or traditional role, but also as a shared, social and perhaps even political practice. The title suggests an invitation to look at motherhood in a plural, inclusive way-not just for biological mothers, but for everyone who cares, nurtures and supports. A focus programme for all mothers, fathers who ‘mother’, anyone who can or wants to be a mother, and all people who have a mother.  

A ritual for the unborn, where there is room for mourning and loss, a workshop around mothering - a practice anyone can practice, parent or non-parent. Listening to letters and writing a letter yourself - to your mother, to your future self, to an imaginary child..., shaping your own transformation under the guidance of drag mother Taka Taka, learning more about the cultural-historical view of menopause - when people can no longer become mothers, a musical uterine meditation... 

The programme covers all backstage areas of NTGent (from rehearsal to meeting rooms). To end in the Foyer with an engaging panel discussion around makership and motherhood. The building is all there for us, artists, participants, teams and shows its most welcoming side.

We give you a warm welcome in advance at 12h with a bowl of soup,

Barbara and Melih and Barbara

Programme

Silent table - Beyond the Spoken / Barbara Raes (11am-4pm) - NL & EN

Barbara Raes, artistic director at NTGent, invites you to an intimate ritual around grief for the unborn. This grief may be accompanied by silence, emptiness, and taboo. You are welcome to share what the unborn means to you, whether it relates to childlessness, abortion, or grief for your inner child or youth. You can reserve a time slot alone or with others. We provide both Dutch and English as opportunities to express ourselves. 

Walk-in (12h-12h30) 

Foyer

The events take place at various locations in the NTGent Schouwburg. We always gather in the Foyer on the first floor.

Things I will forget if I don't whisper, on memory and motherhood - Lara Khalid & Nour Abouara (12h30-14h30) - EN (writing a letter may be in your own language)

Artist Noor Abuarafeh and curator Lara Khaldi discuss letters about motherhood. Abuarafeh shares texts from her project 127 Days, which explores motherhood as a form of transmission against the backdrop of colonial manipulation of history. Khaldi reads excerpts from her diaries and letters from mothers in political imprisonment to their children. The artists then invite participants to write their own letters to family members or loved ones. This workshop is in English, but you may write a letter in your own language. 

The Verb to Mother - The Aunties Collective (12h30-16h) - EN

The Aunties Collective invites you to an afternoon exploring motherhood and care as fluid concepts that embrace all forms of kinship—including the more-than-human world. The afternoon will begin with a storytelling circle followed by a playful score to reimagine possibilities of care beyond biological motherhood. Our newly formed wishes will be crafted into a textile patchwork that will keep growing through encounters and new kin imaginaries. The workshop is conducted in English, but Dutch translation is possible.  

Womb Whispering - Sidhe / Séraphine Stragier (13h15-14h30 & 15h-16h15) - NL & EN

During this meditation, led by the Sidhe collective and cellist Séraphine Stragier, you will explore the wisdom of womanhood and the hidden gateways of the female pelvis, where body, sound, and energy converge. With primal tones and music, we open these gates, bringing voice and body into harmony, deepening the connection. Minimalistic, repetitive music invites you to drift away, find inner peace, and connect deeply with the feminine.

Drag Mothering Transformative Ritual - Taka Taka (2pm-4.15pm) - EN

Panagiotis Panagiotakopoulos (alias Taka Taka) is a make-up artist, dragtivist, and arts educator. He creates performances as the director of House of Hopelezz in Amsterdam and collaborates with various institutions and collectives. His Drag Mothering Transformative Ritual is a make-up workshop for a small group, focusing on personal transformation.

Split Mountain - Libby Ward (14:45-16:15)

Motherhood takes many forms in our lives. Choreographer and performer Libby Ward takes the audience on her personal journey into motherhood and the complex transition it entails. Throughout the performance, boundaries gradually blur, creating space for the hidden movement from within.

The critical years of menopause. A history of the menopause - Rina Knoeff (14:45-16:15) - NL

Professor Rina Knoeff, together with Tineke Oldehinkel and Hanneke de Boer, initiated a research project exploring the relationship between historical perceptions of menopause and its lived experience. In her lecture, Knoeff shares her findings, supported by stories, images, and objects from scientific museums. Learn more about the meaning of the earliest ‘hot flash,’ the cultural roots of ‘brainfog,’ and the origins of concerns around breast cancer.

Mother, shelter me! - Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe (16h30-17h) 

Theatre maker and musician Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe performs Mothers, a song from his band Isabelle Lewis, a unique collaboration with Valgeir Sigurðsson and Elisabeth Klinck.

How to Be Many Mothers? - etcetera / rekto:verso (17h-18h30) - NL 

A panel discussion with artists and experts, organised in cooperation with art magazine Etcetera, concludes the day. The panel addresses the central question: How to be many mothers?