The Mothers' Room

The Mothers' Room was an art exhibition held in Basel in November 2019, as a guest of Atelier Mondial. It was made up of 10+1 artists from England, India, Italy, Germany, Greece, Slovakia, Switzerland, expressing their works in varying media forms, curated by artist Rama Kalidindi.

The artist group is a blend of some of the original artists from The Mother's Collective in Delhi with local Basel artists and some community participation.

...please click flyer above for detailed events plan

This exhibition was catalysed by and followed on shortly from The Mother's Studio exhibition and workshops held in October 2019 at the Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi, curated by Manmeet Devgun.

This exhibition was borne from a flow of previous exhibitions; where the snow melted, the water, along with the sun, gave rise to life. Many life forms thrive under the sun, on our earth. A tree is such a life-form arising and thrusting forth from the mother (womb) earth; internetworked and intertwined, thriving where possible, providing food, shelter and shade and huge potential for further progeny. Energy is neither created nor destroyed and this life energy flows into this exhibition of 'The Mothers' Room'. This is exhibition displays a selections of works from a group of artists from around the globe, showing their visions of parenting, expressions of growth and nurture, their engagements and ideas of mother and child. Man or woman, independent of sexual engagement or sexuality and even if science claims that 'a man had a baby', biology offers us a clear definition of a mother. A mother came from another mother, that mother came from a mother, that mother came from another mother, each mother had a mother. Upwards and downwards, there is a chain, there are notions, there are ideals and there are a large number of expressions, alignments and deviations, exceptions, mentalities, cultures and languages. Biology gives us a universal definition of creation, life and birth and demonstrates the plethora of diverse expressions seen in the animal and plant kingdoms. The latter topics could be material for future exhibitions.

The works shown are expressed in varying media including poetry, paintings, drawings, video installations, sculptures and performance.

Some workshops will be held in English and some in German, with translations where needed.

Exhibition text...

Artists

Alexandra Stäheli - Installation and Creative Writing
Andrea Bratschi - Sculpture
Daniela Petrini - Video Installations, Drawings, Workshops
Fanny Maier - Painting
Kame - Music Performances
Manmeet Devgun - Video Installation, Writing
Naila Forcina Sumar - Painting
Rama Kalidindi - Sculpture, Creative Writing, Performance, Panel
Smita Som - Creative Writing
Yota Tsotra - Drawings, Sculpture
Ulrike Pittner - Matriarchy Presentation

Throughout the 2 week period there was a colourful array of offerings to be experienced, including performances.

Events

Friday, 15th November, 19:00 - 19:30 Musical Performance 'Nesting Cranes' (Kame)
Friday, 15th November, 19:45 - 20:00 Performance 'Come my child, tell me' (Rama)
Saturday, 16th November, 13:00 - 15:00 Touch and Draw Workshop (Daniela)
Saturday, 16th November, 13:00 - 15:00 Touch Therapy for Mothers (Alexandra)
Sunday, 17th November, 15:00 Matriarchy Introduction (Ulrike)
Wednesday, 20th November, 18:30 Panel Discussion 1
Friday, 22th November, 19:30 Musical Performance 'Nesting Cranes' (Kame)
Saturday, 23rd November, 14:00 Musical Performance 'Nesting Cranes' (Kame)
Saturday, 23rd November, 15:00 Performance - 'Komm mein Kleines, erzähl mir' (Rama)
Sunday, 24th November, 16:30 Musical Performance 'Nesting Cranes' (Kame)
Sunday, 24th November, 18:00 Greek Choir sing lullabies (Kame)
Sunday, 24th November, 18:30 Performance 'Come my child, tell me' (Rama)
Wednesday, 27th November, 18:30 Panel Discussion 2
Thursday, 28th November, 17:00 Reading - works of Smita
Thursday, 28th November, 17:30 Performance - 'Komm mein Kleines, erzähl mir' (Rama)
Friday, 29th November, 14:00-17:00 Touch and draw Workshop (Daniela)
Friday, 29th November, 14:00-17:00 Touch Therapy for Mothers (Alexandra)
Friday, 29th November, 17:00 Performance 'Raa Chinnaa, cheppu' (Rama)

Interesting and recent references

Five Million Incidents blog - Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi and Kolkata
Mutter und Kind - Museum der Kulturen Basel
Die Geburt einer Mutter (Matrescence) - Exhibition in London
Kunst ist ein krimineller Akt - Ulrike Rosenbach
Kunst mit Kind - ein echtes Kunststück
Between Production and Reproduction - Career and Motherhood in the Artworld