ABSTRACT
The Mothernists is the lovingly co-parented brainchild of Deirdre M. Donoghue and Lise Haller Baggesen. As such, it carries in it the DNA of their combined practices concerning art and the maternal – namely Deirdre M. Donoghue’s research platform and archive m/other voices (Rotterdam 2013) and Lise Haller Baggesen’s nomadic multimedia installation and book Mothernism (Chicago 2013). The collaboration manifests as a trans-Atlantic summit, aiming to open up philosophical, political, aesthetic and social questions, made visible through the coexisting practices of mothering and cultural (re-)production.
The first iteration of The Mothernists brought together twenty mother-artists and academics in Rotterdam (NL) in the summer of 2015. The Mothernists 2: Who Cares for the 21st Century? took place in Copenhagen (DK) in the fall of 2017 and saw forty speakers and contributors from around the globe in conversation with (art) students and the general public. Presentations ran the gamut from academic lectures, to film screenings, to performances, to shared strategies for maternal, artistic and scholarly research practices. In the spirit of artistic, emotional and intellectual knowledge sharing as an act of radical care work, this chapter is a Mothernist Care Package, consisting of the Mothernists Manifesto, a performance transcript and an essay presented at The Mothernists 2.
