Events

BRC Summer School is a unique program of lectures, workshops, seminars and one-to-one tutorials. Four intensive days will introduce you to the collection and facilitate a dialogue between you, your practice, and the artworks. The course is led by artist & BRC Curator Helen Knowles and artist Dr. Leni Dothan.

This year, workshops include reflecting on the themes of aesthetics, ethics, politics, and the visual discourses of birth through visual and written materials, with the emphasis on learning how to stage and document performances. Through lectures by leading artists in the field, we will introduce different perspectives to initiate in-depth discussions.

The Summer School provides a unique opportunity for cross-disciplinary debate and focuses on creative practice in research through a number of different methodologies in the context of childbirth. It considers the scientific, medical, sociological, anthropological, and legal implications of modern childbirth practice, including advancements in biomedical technology through an artistic lens.

Midwives, academics, curators, artists, filmmakers, medics, health professionals, art historians, policy advisors and the general public, are all welcome. As a participant, you will enter the course with your own skill set and finish with a bespoke multi-media pack of visual, textual, auditory, photographic, filmic and performative material, to be used thereafter in your own future work.

2024 Speakers include: Helen Knowles, Dr. Leni Dothan, Barbara Rosenthal, Puck Verkade, Ana Casas Broda, Sarah Maple, Dyana Gravina and Dr. Hannah Ballou.

Four-day course (in-person): July 1–4, 2024, 10am–5pm BST
University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom. On-campus accommodation is available for an additional cost.

550 GBP per person / 400 GBP per person concession rate (for practising artists, students, and those on a low income).

Four-day course (online): July 1–4, 2024
250 GBP per person for online access to a series of live and recorded lectures, talks, films, and workshops.

All bookings are confirmed with a deposit of 100GBP.

Book your place on the Summer School on the Birth Rites Collection website or email helen [​at​] birthrites.org.uk for more information.