(m)other voices: the maternal as an attitude, maternal thinking and the production of time and knowledge is a long-term research project initiated by Deirdre M. Donoghue (artist, Rotterdam) to reflect on the maternal figure as a thinker and a producer of knowledge, rather than as a subject of representation and as a domestic figure inseparable from human emotions. A monthly reading and discussion group invites the audience to join this open inquiry.

The five reading sessions will take place at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art on Tuesdays from 7 to 9pm. For more information and to request the texts please send an email to [email protected].

Part I – Hospitality

Tuesday, October 22, 2013: Interruptions

  • Mark Westmoreland, “Interruptions: Derrida and Hospitality” in KRITIKE, vol. 2, no. 1, June 2008.
  • Lisa Baraitser, “Maternal Interruptions; I, yi, yi, yi, yi, I like you very much, Si, si, si , si, si, I think you’re Grand” in Maternal Experiences: The Ethics of Interruption (Routledge, London and New York, 2009.)

Tuesday, November 26, 2013: Ethics

  • Lisa Guenther, “Levinas and the Gift of Hospitality” (pp. 57-58) in The Gift of The Other (State University New York Press, Albany, 2006.)
  • Lisa Guenther, “Like a Maternal Body”: Emanuel Levinas and the Motherhood of Moses” in HYPATIA vol. 21, no.1 Winter 2006.

Part II – Violence

Tuesday, February 4, 2014: with the exceptional participation of Professor Dr. Frans-Willem Korsten, (Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, University Rotterdam and the Centre for Arts in Society, Leiden University)

  • Hanna Arendt, On Violence (selected excerpts)
  • Sarah Ruddick, pp.160-169 from “Maternal Non-violence; a Truth in The Making” in Maternal Thinking: Towards a Politics of Peace (Beacon Press, Boston, 1995)

Part III – Economies

Tuesday, March 3, 2014

(Selection of short texts from philosopher Lisa Guenther and economist Nancy Folbre)

  • Lisa Guenther, “Vita Activa: Labour, Work , Action” in The Gift of The Other (State University New York Press, Albany, 2006.)
  • “Cixous and the Gift of the Feminine Other” in The Gift of The Other (State University New York Press, Albany, 2006.)
  • Hélène Cixous: Sorties (pp.205 [5th paragraph: What Does One Give?] – 210.)

Part IV – Time

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

With the exceptional participation of Doro Wiese (lecturer of Comparative Literature and Gender Studies at Utrecht University)
Selected texts:

– Lisa Guenther, “The Temporality of Action: Promise and Forgiveness” in The Gift of the Other, State University of New York Press, 2006, New York. (pp.37-40)
– Lisa Guenther, “Time and the Maternal Body” in The Gift of the Other, State University of New York Press, 2006, New York. (pp.97-108)
– Lisa Baraitser, “Maternal Time” in The Ethics of Interruption, Routledge, 2009, London and New York (pp.74-75)

Midsummer Eve’s Potlatch

Saturday 21 June, 2014

The Midsummer Eve’s Potlatch will conclude the year’s workshops and reading groups, and simultaneously launch the internationally orientated m/other voices foundation, whose work will take place under the three headings of ‘Art, Research and Theory’ ‘Dialogue’ and ‘Community Involvement’.
With the participation of Paula McCloskey (writer and researcher, UK) and Witta Tjan (artist, NL). To reserve, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

Program for the evening:
4.30pm Doors open
5.00pm Welcome toast & launching the m/other voices foundation
5.30pm Paula McCloskey: ‘Art, Maternal and Matrixial Encounters’
6.30pm Dinner
8.00pm Witta Tjan: ‘What Passes When Watching’
8.30pm Midsummer Eve’s bonfire
11.00pm Doors close