m/other becomings – symposium
9–10 June 2022
Aalto Design Factory, Betonimiehenkuja 5 C, Espoo
Please register via the link below! 
 

THE SYMPOSIUM 

With the m/other becomings symposium, we conclude a two-year spanning collaboration between cultural institutions, artists, and thinkers which hosted a program of exhibitions, workshops and lectures in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.

Over the course of two days with keynotes, panels, and with other formats we will take a closer look at the im/possibilities of mothering, not as an essence, but as troubled practice and as a modest, utopian, and oftentimes exhausted precursor of hope. We want to ask what it means – and may come to mean – to make, to mend, to make space for kin in spite of and against the social reproduction of sameness and compliance, and the (bio)politics of gendered and racialized violence. Likewise, we will explore reproductive futures and probe if and how life sciences allow us to challenge and transform our ideas and possibilities of reproduction and the maternal.

m/other becomings is a collaboration between Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology (DK), The Association for Arts and Mental Health (DK), Kultivator (SE), Art Lab Gnesta (SE), and Bioart Society (FI).

The program includes keynotes by Ionat Zurr (artist, Symbiotica), Lesley-Ann Brown (writer, Blackgirl on Mars), and Tiia Sudenkaarne (researcher) as well as presentations and panels with Ida Bencke (curator, LabAE), Margherita Pevere (artist), Signe Johannessen (artist), Emilia Tikka (designer), Lyndsey Walsh (artist), Riina Hannula (artist), and Chessa Adsit-Morris (theorist, Center for Creative Ecologies).

You can find the symposium also on Facebook. The event will also be streamed online, more info coming soon!

REGISTRATION

Please register via this form: https://forms.gle/Ru8khAc2s1Ah8BFM9 . The symposium is free of charge.

In the form, you have the possibility to book lunch. The lunch is all vegan and there will be gluten-free options.
The lunch is 30€ for both days, and there is a discounted price of 20€ for students and Bioart Society members.
The payment can be made on site to Bioart Society by card.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM 

Day 1

09:00-09:30 Morning coffee & registration
09:30-09:45 Welcome & introduction by Ida Bencke and Erich Berger
09:45-11:00 Keynote I – Ionat Zurr
11:00-11:15 Coffee break
11:15-12:30 Keynote II – Tiia Sudenkaarne
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:45 Keynote III – Lesley-Ann Brown
14:45-15:00 Coffee break
15:00-15:45 Response to the day with Margherita Pevere

18:00-20:00 Exhibition opening: m/other becomings – instalment II at SOLU Space (Luotsikatu 13, 00160 Helsinki) with works by Marta De Menezes, Margherita Pevere, and Pekko Vasantola.
 

Day 2

09:30-10:00 Morning coffee
10:00-10:45 Lecture: Ida Bencke
10:45-12:15 Panel I: Riina Hannula, Emilia Tikka & Lyndsey Walsh, moderated by Erich Berger
12:15-13:15 Lunch
13:15-14:45 Panel II: Margherita Pevere, Signe Johannessen & Chessa Adsit-Morris, moderated by Ida Bencke
14:45-15:00 Coffee break
15:00-15:45 Response to the day with Ionat Zurr
15:45-          Sparkles

QUESTIONS
If you have any questions, please contact our producer Lisa Kalkowski, lisa.kalkowski@bioartsociety.fi

m/other becomings symposium is part of the Creative Europe project ART4MED. ART4MED centers at the intersection of art, health, and biomedical research. During 2021–2022, ART4MED takes the form of extended residencies, a series of workshops, seminars, and exhibitions in Finland and across Europe. ART4MED is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, which aims to support European projects in the field of cultural production and innovation.

Image: Self-Care by Lyndsey Walsh (Photo: Pavlina Belokrenitskaya)