Event

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Birth Rites Collection’s Summer School

Date
Jul 1 – Jul 4, 2024 

Uni­ver­si­ty of Kent, Can­ter­bury Campus


Birth Rites Col­lec­tion Sum­mer School 2024
1 July to Thurs­day 4 July 2024
Uni­ver­si­ty of Kent, Can­ter­bury Campus

Birth Rites is a col­lec­tion of con­tem­po­rary art on child­birth – the first of its kind in the world. Our annu­al Birth Rites Col­lec­tion Sum­mer School is a unique pro­gramme of lec­tures, work­shops, sem­i­nars and one-to-one tuto­ri­als. Four inten­sive days will intro­duce you to the col­lec­tion and facil­i­tate a dia­logue between you, your prac­tice and the art­works. The course is led by artist & BRC Cura­tor Helen Knowles and artist Dr. Leni Dothan.
This year’s Sum­mer School explores themes such as: • Col­lab­o­rat­ing and mak­ing work with fam­i­ly members.
• Stag­ing, restag­ing and per­for­ma­tive prac­tice on themes of gen­der, birth, repro­duc­tion, and famil­ial networks.
• How the col­lec­tion informs and unpacks dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives in mid­wifery, med­i­cine and edu­ca­tion, and its poten­tial to improve prac­tice and policy.
• The Collection’s impact on fem­i­nist art prac­tices and the reha­bil­i­ta­tion of visu­al dis­cours­es of birth into art history.
• Cen­sor­ship of art­works on birth, insti­tu­tion­al respons­es, ethics and the law.

Mid­wives, aca­d­e­mics, cura­tors, artists, medics, health pro­fes­sion­als, art his­to­ri­ans, pol­i­cy advi­sors and the gen­er­al pub­lic inter­est­ed in child­birth through the lens of art, are all wel­come. As a par­tic­i­pant, you will enter the course with your own skill set and fin­ish, with a bespoke mul­ti-media pack of visu­al, tex­tu­al, audi­to­ry, pho­to­graph­ic, filmic and per­for­ma­tive mate­r­i­al, to be used there­after in your own future work.

The Birth Rites Col­lec­tion Sum­mer School attracts artists, cura­tors, film­mak­ers and thought-lead­ers as annu­al guest speak­ers. 2024 speak­ers will include: Helen Knowles, Dr. Leni Dothan, Bar­bara Rosen­thal, Puck Verkade, Ana Casas Bro­da, Sarah Maple, Dyana Grav­ina and Dr. Han­nah Ballou.

The Sum­mer School will run from Mon­day 1 July to Thurs­day 4 July at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Kent, Can­ter­bury Cam­pus. Fees start from £400 for the week, in-per­son. This year we are also offer­ing a reduced rate for online only access to a series of live and record­ed lectures.

Find out more and book your place: https://www.birthritescollection.org.uk/summer-school