How To Be Many Mothers Kaaitheater & NTGent

For birth mothers. For surrogate mothers. For plus mothers, for foster mothers. For unwanted mothers, for childless mothers, for drag mothers, for queer mothers, for grandmothers. For anyone who wants to become a mother. For those who (don't) have a mother. For fathers who are mothering. For anyone (f/m/x) who wants to dive deep into the many forms of mothering.

How to be Many Mothers  at NTGent, a collaboration with Kaaitheater, is a festival of encounters and throws the concepts of ‘mother’ and ‘mothering’ wide open. During debates, performances, rituals and workshops, we challenge existing ideas, ideals and stereotypes through art.

Welcome!

Stille tafel - Beyond the Spoken / Barbara Raes

♀️Ritual
♀️Different timeslots (11am-4pm)
♀️Salon

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

♀️12pm-12.30pm
♀️Foyer (landing)

The events take place in various rooms 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 Khaldi & Nour Abouarafeh

♀️Writing workshop
♀️12.30pm-2.30pm
♀️Greenroom

Artist Noor Abouarafeh and curator Lara Khaldi discuss letters about motherhood. Abouarafeh 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 - Aunties Collective

♀️Storytelling workshop
♀️12.30pm-4pm
♀️Jardin

The Aunties Collective invites you to an afternoon where motherhood and care are explored beyond traditional definitions. All forms of kinship are embraced, including those with the more-than-human world. The afternoon starts with a story circle. This is followed by creating a playful guide to imagining new forms of care beyond biological motherhood. AFinally, participants create a patchwork that will continue to grow through new encounters.

Womb Whispering - Sidhe / Séraphine Stragier

♀️Womb meditation 
♀️Different timeslots (1.15pm-2.30pm & 3pm-4.15pm)
♀️Theatre (scene)

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

♀️Ritual/workshop
♀️2pm-4.15pm
♀️Lodges (+laundry salon)

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

♀️Performance
♀️2.45pm-4.15pm
♀️Attic

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 menopause - Rina Knoeff

♀️Lecture
♀️2.45pm-4.15pm
♀️Greenroom

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

♀️Performance
♀️4.30pm-5pm
♀️Theatre (scene)
♀️Free upon registration

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

♀️Reflection programme
♀️5pm-6.30pm
♀️Spoken language: Dutch
♀️Foyer
♀️Free upon registration

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