Birth Cultures (2020-2022)
The exhibition “birth culture. from giving birth and being born” was opened at the Frauenmuseum Hittisau (Astria) in July 2020 and will travel to Barcelona, Ukraine, and Italy.
Birth concerns us all. Like death, it affects every human being without exception. The conditions that accompany pregnancy and birth shape our lives. Birth culture is the way in which the start of life is shaped by a society and the conditions it creates for this. Birth culture sheds light on how a society deals with the start of life and the conditions in which birth is embedded. Medical, health policy, anthropological, philosophical and cultural-historical aspects play an essential role in this context.
The exhibition focuses on these aspects and spans the spectrum from the history of childbirth to worldwide birth rituals and current debates on reproduction technologies. Contemporary witnesses describe their personal experiences as mothers and fathers. This individual approach is deepened and expanded by contemporary positions from the world of art.
The exhibition is part of the project BIRTH CULTURES, which is co-funded by the European Union. The project is implemented by Interarts (coordinator, Spain) in cooperation with Frauenmuseum Hittisau (Austria), Frauenmuseum Merano (Italy), Gender Museum (Kharkiv) and in association with the International Association of Women’s Museums (IAWM) (Italy), the European Centre for Cultural Organization and Management (ECCOM) (Italy) and Birth Café Campaign (Germany), as associated partners. The project will run from November 2019 to April 2022.
Learn more here.