Amsterdam Art Week
CBK Zuidoost is participating in Amsterdam Art Week with several activities: a guided tour of the exhibition The Autonomous Art Practice & The Dream, a workshop and a special edition of Rossel Chaslie’s Life Drawing session for children.
The Visualization of Care (workshop)
Friday, May 23 | 4:00 – 7:00 PM | CBK Zuidoost, Open Space, Heesterveld 35A
CBK Zuidoost and Beyond the Nuclear Family invites you to an inspiring afternoon exploring the unseen forces of care, dreams, and birth.
Artist and writer Mirthe Berentsen will open the event with a poem and will moderate the rest of the day. In his performance-lecture artist Daniel Godínez Nivón reflects on the profound connection between dreams and midwifery. To midwife the births of the world is to listen attentively — to what is emerging, latent, and possible. This talk reimagines care and conservation as forms of midwifery, guiding the ongoing birth of life and the world itself.
Following this, artist Marieke Zwart welcomes you to an open drawing table. In the workshop, we’ll use everyday objects and memories to engage our imagination and try to find forms for important moments of care. The focus isn’t so much on learning to draw, but on discovering together whether care can take shape in a drawing. What does care look like when we think about birth, professional caregiving, or caring for others? That often invisible force that makes all life possible. Everyone is welcome and please bring an object that is meaningful to you in relation to care, from childbirth to family caregiving and death.
Midwives will be present during the afternoon to share their perspectives and experiences. Come by, participate, and help us visualize these crucial but often unseen moments of care.
About Beyond the Nuclear Family:
Beyond the Nuclear Family is a long-term, interdisciplinary research project by writer and artist Mirthe Berentsen. Starting in the summer of 2025, she will travel throughout the Netherlands to challenge entrenched ideas about the nuclear family. Drawing inspiration from the legendary journey of the Dutch feminist collective Dolle Mina in 1972, who traveled across the Netherlands for several weeks discussing bodily autonomy, family structures, and abortion – topics that remain equally relevant today.
BIOS:
Daniel Godínez Nivón (Mexico) is an artist working with indigenous communities through drawing, installation, and performance. His practice centers on tequio, a communal working system. He collaborates with indigenous midwives, studying sleep and dreams as healing tools.
Marieke Zwart (NL) is an artist who works with drawings, film, and installations. Recently she has dedicated herself to an ongoing drawing project focused on care in Amsterdam’s Bijlmermeer. She documents the work of midwife, observing intimate care moments in homes throughout Zuidoost and the AMC hospital.
Mirthe Berentsen (NL/DE)is an artist, writer, and policy advisor exploring language, feminism, and care. Her project Beyond the Nuclear Family and forthcoming book with Das Mag questions care and family structures. Her podcast between art & family highlights diverse perspectives on care and parenting.