Weighed at birth
The Weigh-In — Encounter & Score, 28 May 2026
The Weigh-in as collective encounter revisits the first moment of being weighed, just after birth, inviting participants, through guided visualization, to step onto the scale once more. Beyond judgement, identity, and the roles they have come to inhabit.
Below is the documentation of the performed encounter, followed by the score on which it was based.
Encounter 28 may 2026
- Performed with participants from the Designing the Future research group.
- Documentation: Anouk van Kessel.
- Date 28 may 2026.
- location Tilburg.
Score 28 may 2026
Participants are invited to sit in a circle.
I place a closed backpack in the center of the circle.
I begin with a short guided visualization.
Guided Visualization:
Welcome to The Weigh-In.
I’d like to invite you to close your eyes for a moment.
Now imagine a birth.
Perhaps your own.
Or the birth of one of your children.
[10 seconds of silence]
One of the very first things that happens after we are born…
is that we are weighed.
Not as an act of judgment,
but to establish:
you are here.
You exist as a body.
Here, you are safe.
A transition from the inner world to the outer world.
From the womb into society.
[10 seconds of silence]
Today, we will do this once again.
You may open your eyes.
I remove the backpack from the center of the circle.
I take a plastic bag out of the backpack and unwrap it.
I remove a bathroom scale from the bag.
The scale is passed around the circle.
I place the scale in the center.
I calibrate the scale to zero.
I offer a brief introduction.
We’re not here to judge.
You may choose how you participate.
With your shoes on or off.
In silence or aloud.
You may share your weight.
Or keep it to yourself.
Everything is welcome.
I’ll begin.
Each participant is invited to step onto the scale.
We proceed clockwise around the circle.
A dialogue follows.
Together, we lift the scale, wrap it in the plastic bag again, and leave the circle.
One of the participants reflects on her experience here
Click here to see the following work: 2500 / 3374 / 3482 / 4500