19 – 24 May 2025, Kc Monty, Antwerp.
For this third edition of Togethermess, titled Kin Care, we wished to questions the notion of care, solidarity and collective imagination.
In a world where social safety nets are eroding, self-care is systematically monetized, and efficiency is prioritized over well-being and creativity, our relationships suffer. We see an urgency to understand ourselves as structural beings—inherently shaped by, involved in, and deeply tied to the struggles of others. We feel a desire to redefine self-care through commoning and collectivizing. We propose to reappropriate it as “kin care,” where community, friendship, and family networks become the foundation for transformation.
transformative justice – collective healing rituals – family constellation – conflict mediation skills – listening practices – multidirectional memory – theater of the oppressed – unselfing – mapping networks of care – commoning wages – creating exchange economies of care – hosting undocumented people – deconstructing habits of individuation – grief tending – consent culture building
Through an open call, eight other artists and/or activists were hosted by School of Love and Monty at Antwerp. Were present during the week : Olga Bientz, Laura Oriol, Martina Petrovic, Irena Radmanovic, Adva Zakai, Ychaï Gassenbauer, Hanne Van Dyck, Maru Mushtrieva, Tamar Levit, Lisa Coppi, Oscar Mathieu le Bussy, Cathy Del Rizzo, Ana Pinter, Berno Odo Polzer, Kristina Ivic, Mathilde Haussermann Ramisse.
Two moments of sharing were integrated into the week, in addition to the final public presentation, including a lecture with Rita Fenendael & Pauline Roque about the Spirit of the Beguines and an encounter with a local artist, Eline De Clercq, from the Antwerp context. The morning spent in her garden and studio fostered reflections on the relationships between care, ecology, artistic practices and plant histories, while anchoring the laboratory in the Antwerp context.
