24 May 2025
24 May 2025
Amsterdam Museum on the AmstelUnique textile workshop
The Amsterdam Museum and Beyond the Nuclear Family invite you to a special workshop on May 24th from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm with artists Carmen Schabracq and Yamuna Forzani. Together you will work on a unique collective textile project in which family histories and identity come together.
This workshop is part of writer and artist Mirthe Berentsen's project Beyond the Nuclear Family. The project tours through the Netherlands, and explores family structures beyond traditional norms. It is inspired by the 1972 journey of the Dolle Mina's, who toured the Netherlands to spark discussions about self-determination, family and reproductive rights.
Price: €0.00 - €7.50
Language: Dutch and English
Age: 16 years and older
About the workshop
Starting in the summer of 2025, artist and writer Mirthe Berentsen will travel through the Netherlands to break open entrenched ideas about the nuclear family, inspired by the legendary 1972 journey of Dutch feminist activist group Dolle Mina. The covered wagon Berentsen brings with her will be decorated at each location she stops at with new pieces of textiles that visitors bring themselves. On May 24, she stops at the Amsterdam Museum for an inspring workshop.
Inspiration
The afternoon begins with an introduction to the work of Mirthe, Carmen and Yamuna. They will discuss different perspectives on family, and the role textile plays as a medium for this. For example, Carmen explores biological family history and symbolism, while Yamuna focuses on chosen family and community building from a queer perspective.
Workshop
Next begins the workshop, where you will transform personal stories into a collective artwork. Bring a piece of fabric that has meaning to you (such as clothing, handkerchiefs or kitchen textiles). You will learn appliqué and patchwork techniques from Carmen, and under Yamuna's guidance, you will make small quilts using each other's materials. During the workshop you will work together on the cover of the wagon, a canvas where individual stories come together in a larger story of origins, traditions and new forms of connection.
Reflection
The afternoon concludes with a reflection on the workshop by Curator of Fashion and Popular Culture Roberto Luis Martins.
Yamuna Forzani
Yamuna Forzani is a multidisciplinary artist and queer activist whose practice centers around a desire to build her queer utopia that celebrates her community, making them part of and inspiration of her creative outputs. Yamuna’s work takes form through textile, she explores the medium in collaboration with other design, artistic and social initiatives - often involving, organising events, dance performances, embedding fashion and costume, public art and versatile installations.
Carmen Schabracq, photo: Valentina Vos
Carmen Schabracq
Carmen Schabracq (1988, Amsterdam), is a multidisciplinary artist. She studied at the Academia di Belle Arti Roma, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and obtained an MA in theater costume design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Her practice includes making paintings, ceramics, costumes, performances, sculptural installations and textile work. She explores themes of stratification of identity, intergenerational narratives, feminism and traditions and combines this with an escapist playfulness. Masks play a central role in her practice, as a means of transformation. Carmen's work has been shown at Stedelijk Museum Breda, CBK Zuidoost, Museum Tot Zover, Nest ruimte Den Haag, No limits! Art Castle, het Vincent Van Gogh Huis, the Vishal, Gallery Sofie van de Velde, Galerie Fleur and Wouter, Villa Mondriaan and the Amsterdam Museum.
About the project
In 1972, the Dolle Mina's toured the Netherlands with a covered wagon for several weeks to discuss feminism, family structures, the legalization of abortion and other topics that are still relevant today. With Beyond the Nuclear Family, Mirthe Berentsen repeats this symbolic journey, a traveling demonstration of togetherness. By horse and cart, they trek along the edges of the Netherlands, from the Amsterdam Museum in Amsterdam and the Centraal Museum in Utrecht to Dat Bolwerck in Zutphen, Museum MORE in Gorssel and Het Resort in Groningen.
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 family. The project starts from a surprising etymological discovery: the origin of the Dutch word “family” lies in ghesinde, which originally means “traveling companion” - the people with whom you travel the same road. In this spirit, the project brings together artists, writers, activists and scientists as modern ghesinde in a collective journey into new family forms, language and imagination.