INCUBATION
(M)otherload – FREE
March 10 and 11
NOON – 3:00PM
Visitor Centre
What do games and the invisible mental load share in common?
Come find out!
Catherine and Kristyna are inviting the public to contribute to the development of the project (M)otherload by playing basic games, set with simple instructions which provoke potentially complex experiences. Players will then be invited to reflect on these experiences, share what emotions arose, and how the invisible mental load affects their lives. Should people want to delve further into the black hole that is the mental load- they can take part in a longer interview with the artists at another time/location. These will form the foundation of the (M)otherload installation scheduled for the fall of 2025.
(M)otherload is a community-based project and an audio/visual installation that transforms the invisible mental load of primary parenting into a tangible, multisensory experience set within a geodesic dome.
Catherine Mellinger and Kristyna Balaban are Kitchener-Waterloo based multidisciplinary creators, and have come together as two parent artists who are also primary caregivers. Together they are interested in observing, gathering and creating inter-arts and multi-modal experiences of the invisible labour of “motherhood” (as a social gendered definition). Kristyna (as the artistic collective ZEM) and Catherine, have had their works included in Lumiere Festival (2024, Toronto & Vancouver), Lumen (Waterloo), CAFKA’21, Come Up to My Room (Gladstone Hotel), Rendezvous with Madness. Kristyna’s work “Continuum” (as part of FotonX) was recently acquired by the Lumia Art Gallery in Prague. They have been working as professional artists for over a decade.