Residencies

• 02.02 > 14.02.2026

A gro­wing num­ber of peo­p­le around the world are having fewer child­ren or none at all. Falling birth rates chal­len­ge sys­tems built on end­less growth and long-held gen­der norms, and poli­cy­ma­kers look ahead with gro­wing con­cern. Will cur­rent eco­no­mic and poli­ti­cal struc­tu­res sur­vi­ve an ageing popu­la­ti­on and shrin­king work­for­ce? The new pro­ject from artist duo and cou­ple Silke Huysmans and Hannes Dereere starts from a per­so­nal ques­ti­on: Do we want to have child­ren? Drawing on their docu­men­ta­ry the­a­tre prac­ti­ce, they wea­ve their inti­ma­te rea­li­ty into a glo­bal dis­cus­si­on, embar­king on an inter­ge­ne­ra­ti­o­nal jour­ney in con­ver­sa­ti­on with parents, non-parents, elders, care­ta­kers, poli­ti­cians, and child­ren. Meanwhile, the public deba­te pola­ri­ses as govern­ments intro­du­ce incen­ti­ves to have more babies, poli­ti­cians and tech lea­ders call non-parents sel­fish, and alt-right influ­en­cers pro­mo­te having lar­ge fami­lies as a ​“duty to their own kind”. Together with their con­ver­sa­ti­on part­ners, Huysmans and Dereere reflect on our uncer­tain futu­re, together with the hope of new life, the desi­re to pass on know­led­ge, cre­a­te broa­der kins­hip, and ima­gi­ne new futu­res. In Future Hands asks what kind of world we want to pla­ce in the hands of tho­se who come after us.