Join us for “The Body Moves Outside The State: An International Day of Culture, Arts, and Repro Rights” at the Musée de la Fonderie in Brussels, on September 22nd.
The day will be filled with discussions on reproductive health and abortion access, art and dance activations, workshops, and film screenings.
WE.LO(U)VE.RADIO invites Unsettled Structures to perform in Brussel’s public space.
The collective of dancers will be the voice-holder and will amplify stories about non desired pregnancies and their endings. They will be vibrant and conductive bodies, carrying voices that are necessary, too often silenced and that can raise awareness.
About WE.LO(U)VE.RADIO sound collective : Since 2018, Aurélie Brousse and Jeanne Debarsy, a Franco-Belgian sound creator duo, have led the feminist collective WE LO(U)VE RADIO. They expand sound into performance and site-specific installations, exploring radio and sound with a focus on the human body and its objectification. Trained in radio production in Belgium, they blend fiction and documentary, live broadcasts, podcasts, listening sessions, and performances. They invite other female artists to collaborate, offering audiences shared listening experiences that explore "invisibilized" and "inaudibilized" voices and soundscapes. Their work is a collective, feminine love letter to radio, conceived as moments of listening and gathering.
Learn more at www.babelfishasbl.com/serie/we-louve-radio
12h: First performance at La Bourse (20min)
17h: Second performance at Place Sainte Catherine (20min)
**all photo credits: Chris Bulte
People are having abortions all over the world, legal or not. Three experts will talk about their work with global abortion networks operating outside legal systems, with a focus on Mexico/USA, Europe, sub-saharan Africa, and Venezuela. We’ll learn more about how and why these networks operate, and how networks are communicating and learning across countries and continents. We’ll also talk about the growing prevalence of self-managed abortion and challenge the assumption that abortions must be sanctioned by law to be safe and effective.
Panelists: Lara Islinger (Women on Web, Las Libres), Lucía Berro Pizzarossa (Women Help Women, University of Birmingham, S.A.F.E.), Genevieve Tam (Vitala Global)
This panel brings together artists, digital rights experts, and reproductive health advocates, exploring innovative and culturally grounded strategies to address reproductive rights challenges worldwide. Featuring leaders from diverse organizations working at the intersection of advocacy, media, and digital platforms, the discussion will showcase bold approaches to advancing reproductive rights, amplifying marginalized voices, and fostering global collaboration for sustainable change.
Panelists include Naima Andris from Nègès Mawon, Shannon Mathew from KIT Institute, Rhian Farnworth from KIT Institute and ShareNet International, and Aurelie Brousse and Jeanne Debarsy from WE.LO(U)VE.RADIO.
DANCE WORKSHOP for a participative intervention lead by the choreographer and dancer : Paola Madrid.
This is a dance workshop open for everybody willing to participate in the performative intervention by the sound collective WE.LO(U)VE.RADIO. WE.LO(U)VE.RADIO invites the choreographer Paola Madrid l SORTA Project "Unsettled structures for human behaviors" to co-create a participative performance in Brussel’s public space.
In this 45min introductory dance workshop we will approach a specific movement system of the performance. Participants will learn and practice - in duets - a specific physical action aiming to re-shape our bodies while moving creatively in space, to morph continuously with the others, within the others. They will be invited to join the performance at 5pm. With no obligation.
About Paola Madrid: Paola is a mexican dancer, choreographer and educator, artistic director of SORTA Project, and of the pedagogical platform Movement Research. Within the performing art scene , Paola has been participating in numerous festivals, institutions and venues within her last 10 years of uninterrupted artistic career. Paola currently resides in Brussels, Belgium.
RSVP by emailing: sortaproject@paolamadrid.com
**Open to 10 participants**
Join Shout Your Abortion (USA) to learn tactics designed to influence public opinion and energize collective pro-abortion solidarity. SYA will share successful past projects, including large-scale actions at the United States Supreme Court and actions designed for small towns and college campuses. Part demonstration and part workshop, this hour will help to outline effective strategies for a wide range of activism actions and help to outline a roadmap for developing effective and scalable actions of your own.
Presenters: Jex Blackmore (Hydra Fund, performance artist, SYA), Lara Islinger (Abtreibung entkriminalisieren, SYA), Erin Jorgensen (SYA)
About the panelists: Jex Blackmore (USA) is a political performance artist and Organizing Director for Shout Your Abortion.
Lara Islinger (Germany) is an activist, researcher, and writer who collaborates with organizations and collectives in Mexico and the US. In addition to work with SYA, she also involved in the campaign “Abtreibung entkriminalisieren” in Germany.
Erin Jorgensen (USA) works in communications and international connections for Shout Your Abortion.
Abortion and miscarriage are incredibly common, but talking about the pregnancy tissues seen during abortion and miscarriage is still taboo. Professor Hann, an expert in patient-centered pregnancy tissue viewing, will talk about de-stigmatizing discussion of the fetus and how the traditional pro-choice stance of “it’s just a clump of cells!” is dismissive, divisive, and does a disservice to abortion seekers who are curious about their embryo or fetus. In this workshop we will explore talking points to de-stigmatize and reframe talking about fetal tissue in abortion care and learn how to support people who want to see/process their pregnancy tissue, as well as those who saw it by accident or who had strong reactions to what they saw.
About Lena Hann: Lena R. Hann, PhD, MPH (she/they) is an associate professor of public health, abortion researcher, and former abortion care worker who is currently serving as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Sweden. Lena studies patient-centered pregnancy tissue viewing (PCV), the experience when patients ask questions about or want to see their embryo/fetus after an abortion. She has authored two clinical best practices books about PCV for abortion providers that are in use in over 200 clinics in North America.
Join musician Erin Jorgensen (USA) for an hour-long, meditative music session featuring the beautiful sounds and overtones of a five-octave marimba. Take a break to integrate what you've seen and heard so far, close your eyes, or even fall asleep and let the sounds carry you away for an hour. Enter and leave as you please.
ECHO(E)S shines a light on the minimised experiences endured during gynaecological and obstetric care. The movie is built on the stories of eight people trough interviews and movement, both on the ground and underwater, to question and re question the practices of care through care.
Learn more at www.echoes-movie.com
Guadalupe is a sound creation that lies between documentary and fiction. The story takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the fall of 2020. Guadalupe, a young dancer in training, becomes pregnant. She must quickly decide: keep the baby and compromise her dreams, or take the risk of having an abortion in a country where abortion is illegal. At the same time, the nation is deeply divided over the legalization of abortion rights. Directed by Manon Kleynjans, supported by Gulliver.
Filmed during winter in a small Finnish town where we currently in residence, this film delves into the organic mystery of conception, exploring the first week of human life. Traditionally narrated from a patriarchal viewpoint, we reimagine this biological story through a more holistic lens. Told like a fairytale, the film invites viewers to experience the wonder of conception from an embodied, feminist perspective, capturing the delicate balance and mystery of life's beginnings
Learn more at dafnamaimon.com and www.adkerton.com
Big Tech's Censorship is a short film produced in collaboration by Women on Web, Women First Digital, Plan C, and Repro Uncensored. This film addresses the complex and critical issue of online censorship, exposing how major tech companies suppress access to vital reproductive health and abortion services.
This is a short film co-produced by Women First Digital, Repro Uncensored, Women on Web, and Plan C, which will screen for the first time at the Fonderie during this event.
Located in the heart of a once heavily industrialized neighborhood, formerly known as the "Belgian Manchester," La Fonderie – Brussels Museum of Industry and Work is dedicated to the history of labor and industry in the Brussels region. Focused on people, it offers an original approach to industrial development through temporary thematic exhibitions and strives to connect history, current events, and contemporary urban reality. Its significant collection of machines and tools, along with the quality of the recently restored buildings, is certainly worth a visit.
Learn more here: www.lafonderie.be
"The Body Moves Outside The State: An International Day of Culture, Arts, and Repro Rights” is the Brussels initiative of our international campaign taking place across three continents: North America (NYC), Europe (Brussels), and West Africa (rural Senegal) this September.
Scheduled from September 18th to the 22nd, this initiative aims to foster dialogue between continents, amplifying voices for abortion access and reproductive rights, and celebrate the arts and culture.
