10:30 – 12:00
As part of What Cannot Be Held on 25 May, a tour of the exhibition will take place, especially for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing visitors of all ages. This guided tour is provided by Museums in Gestures, a platform that makes art and culture accessible in sign language for deaf and hard-of-hearing art lovers.
The tour will be followed by a poetic reading in Dutch Sign Language (NGT) from writer and artist Mirthe Berentsen‘s forthcoming book about the family. In it, she explores the importance of sign language, translation and art – themes that tie in seamlessly with the exhibition on the vulnerable position of people in a changing world. The event will create space for different ways of communicating and expressing.
This event is part of Berentsen’s long-term, interdisciplinary project Beyond the Nuclear Family, with which she will travel across the Netherlands in the summer of 2025 to break open entrenched ideas about the nuclear family. Following the legendary covered wagon ride of the Dolle Mina’s in 1972, in which they toured the Netherlands for several weeks to discuss self-determination, family structures and abortion – topics that are at least as topical today.
During Amsterdam Art Week, Berentsen will tour various locations in Amsterdam to engage in dialogue with these places and their audiences. Everyone is welcome at De Brakke Grond to enjoy art, language and connection in various forms together. Children are also cordially invited!
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 across the Netherlands to break open entrenched ideas about the nuclear family. Following the legendary covered wagon ride of the Dolle Mina’s in 1972, in which they toured the Netherlands for several weeks to discuss self-determination, family structures and abortion – topics that are at least as topical today.
Through art, literature and performance, Berentsen joins cultural institutions across the country to discuss the politics of love, care, gender and the entrenched systems that shape our conceptions of the family. The project starts from a surprising etymological discovery: the origin of the Dutch word “family” lies in ghesinde, which originally means “travelling company” – the people with whom you travel the same road. In this spirit, the project brings together artists, writers, activists and scientists as modern ghesindes in a collective journey towards new family forms, language and imagination.
Throughout the country, they invite you to exhibitions, performances, lectures and workshops: from the Academic Medical Centre and the Amsterdam Museum in Amsterdam, via the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and Dat Bolwerck in Zutphen, to Museum MORE in Gorssel and Het Resort in Groningen. In all these locations, together we rewrite the story of what a family can be – not as a fixed structure, but as a shared journey.
Will you join them on the journey? Sign up for the newsletter via beyondthenuclear.family or follow them on Instagram (@beyondthenuclearfamily) to stay up to date on the itinerary, partners, programme and opportunities to join.
Credits beeld: Beyond the Nuclear Family
Portrait Mirthe Berentsen, credits Joris Casear
