22 – 27 April 2024, Kc BUDA, Kortrijk
For this second edition of Togethermess, we wished to articulate practices of kinship, friendship and the speculating of new family alliances.
Yet when we look around us, when we look at families, at the relationships that society supports, at the ways in which romantic love prevails over friendship, at which bonds are legitimated, we realize that our choices are so limited. We realize that our imagination is so narrow, conditioned by values and principles stemming from religion, capitalism or other ideologies. We struggle to conceive a multiplicity of forms family could take, that care could be extended or love practiced.
Single mother – Trouple – Adoption by a same-sex couple – Co-living among the elderly – Sharing finances with friends – Freezing one’s eggs/sperm – Practicing non-romantic love – Queer architecture – Reproductive industry – Shared living spaces – Open couple with children – Carrying the child of one’s best friend – Shared custody among friends – Having 7 parents – Foster family for the elderly – Communal living – Polyamorous relationship – Cohousing – Chosen family of foreigners
Over the course of six days, eight other artists and/or activists were hosted by School of Love and BUDA at Kortrijk. Were present during the week : Olga Bientz, Laura Oriol, Martina Petrovic, Irena Radmanovic, Adva Zakai, Isabelle Burr Raty, Ychaï Gassenbauer, Alyssa Gersony, Caroline Herzberg, Kiwi Kacmaz, George Kalivis, Barrie Kryczka, Jolien Naryaert, Michiel Reymaert, Alexandra Sebbag, Pau Simon and Hanne Van Dyck.
As in all SOL activities, the process began with the situated knowledge of the participants: personal histories, emotions, life anecdotes, and embodied practices. From this intimate and experiential ground, the group engaged with philosophical, political, and academic literature in order to situate emerging insights within a broader societal framework.
Collectively, they developed ideas, practices, gestures of rebellion, and shared skills aimed at imagining and nurturing alternative forms of chosen kinship.
The laboratory also welcomed an invited guest, feminist and queer architect Camille Kervalla, whose contribution enriched the reflections on collective living structures and spaces of care within the Belgian context.
