How to be many mothers?

How To Be Many Mothers? also manifests outside of Brussels. We would like to invite you to a full-day programme on 5 April in different rooms at the theatre. An afternoon of small-scale meetings, workshops, and rituals will be concluded musically in the main hall, after which we will organise a discussion panel with writers and artists in collaboration with the magazines Etcetera and Rekto:Verso around the central question: 'How To Be Many Mothers?'

Programme

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

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.

Walk-in (12h-12h30) 

Things I will forget if I don't whisper, on memory and motherhood - Lara Khalid & Nour Abouara (12h30-14h30)

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.

The Verb to Mother - The Aunties Collective (School of Love) (12h30-16h) 

The Aunties Collective, a group of interdisciplinary practitioners from different fields reflecting on kinship, are hosting an afternoon exploring motherhood and care. We begin with a storytelling circle, followed by a creative process to explore new ways of caregiving. At the end, everyone will create a patchwork for Kindje, the new creation of The Aunties Collective. This workshop invites participants to rethink kinship and connection, including our connections with the more-than-human world.

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

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) 

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) 

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)

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?