Daily bombarded with images of nudity, most often nudity and violence, a breastfeeding mother remains taboo in most parts of the world, to the point of legal reprisals in some countries. Something seemed to be transforming when the baby boom emerged around the year 2000, famous actresses defying the biological clock and appearing naked on magazine covers, pregnant and beautiful after their 40's, thanks to the new world of the infinite promise of assisted fertility. It was a time when TV channels continuously broadcast programmes where we could accompany mothers through their pregnancies, home births, hospital births, caesarean sections, and even experience the uncertainty of distressing medical complications and their outcomes. 

And at the same time, we experience an increasingly strong rejection of the image of the body, of the physical contact between mother and child, and a growing denial of the importance of motherhood as an experience in which the body is at the centre of experience, of pain and joy, of affection and depression. 

In different cultures, motherhood is experienced in very different ways. The gap between conceiving motherhood as an intimate subject that leaves most mothers and fathers isolated in the complexity of their experience, and the social movements that champion different positions on motherhood, appropriating it as a slogan of struggle, leaves a space where a void opens up for the need of so many mothers and fathers to explore, name and experience the subject from their own places that allow the singularity of the experience while opening up new territories for dialogue and collaboration around this crucial moment in our lives. 

In every place, in every person, in all times, motherhood is an experience that marks us as individuals, defines us, builds and rebuilds us, both as mothers and fathers, as daughters and sons. Life before and after having children will never be the same, as in any radical experience, it is an intense and vital experience. 

However, in most cases it is still not considered a "theme" to be explored in the field of art without being framed in theoretical or ideological discourse. For some, a "natural subject", "intimate", for others uncomfortable and even offensive, maternity continues to be a territory to investigate, to immerse ourselves in the intensity of the experience, in the preconceptions and prejudices that accompany it, the power of the unconscious of our own childhood that is reactive and comforting for some and painful for others, but almost always enigmatic and unnamable. 

These sessions seek to discuss topics ranging from the conception of fertility, the pain of infertility, the mother as an idealised image throughout history, the feminist movements that have sought and continue to open paths towards other ways of living and thinking about motherhood, the movements to delegitimise women who do not wish to procreate, to the new generations who do not identify with any of these movements and try to find their own way of living this experience and give it a voice. 

This programme brings together the gaze and work of different artists, curators, writers, poets, researchers, performers, from different parts of the world, cultures and generations who share their experiences and enquiries on the theme of motherhood and seeks to open up the subject to new perspectives, collaborations and dialogues. 

In the first stage the programme will consist of pre-recorded sessions, translated and subtitled in English and Spanish, followed by several dialogue forums for smaller groups.  

Reproductive: Health, Fertility, Agency explores the psychological, physical and emotional realities that women encounter in the years before, during and after fertility. The exhibition features eight artists who consider a range of themes including birth, miscarriage, pleasure, lack of access to abortion, trauma and loss of fertility.

critical narratives and visual epistemologies. 

The Mental Burden of Motherhood is part of an interconnected series that examines the overlap between childhood, domestic space and the visible physical and mental burdens of motherhood.  

Playback is full of images and sounds. Looking and listening have served as parameters to guide, prepare and even control reproduction. The shape of the belly and the ultrasound, for example, suggest to the trainer the sex of the baby, its size, its position and even the tentative due date. The sound of the heartbeat in the Doppler indicates to the viewer the status of the person, and the cry of the newborn indicates its good health. The images and sounds produced in the reproductive context play an important role in decision-making processes, as they generate expectations and shatter illusions, establish new ways of being, new identities and new relationships, and are used to make and justify bets about the future. Reflecting on (assisted) reproduction from images and sounds will allow us to find articulations and assemblages between science, technology and society.

SOUND - the tap tap tap of the sperm counter - the voice of the sperm donor - the cry of the baby at birth - the Doppler to hear the heartbeat in utero 

IMAGE - ultrasound to see follicular development - spermatoscopy - time-lapse to visualise embryo development - visualisation during embryo transfer - karyotyping as a sign of chromosomal health or disease - belly shape - ultrasound during pregnancy to see evolution (+ Lennart Nilsson) - the photo of success: from Louise Brown to the wall of the clinics (and on Facebook)