The Big Bok Multiplication

Lees hier de korte inhoud van het projet en de credits.

Boyei bolamu - Bienvenue - Welkom - أهلا بك - Bienvenido - Welcome - Bem-vindo – Hoşgeldiniz

The Big BOK Multiplication is a learning afternoon, organised by bodies of knowledge/BOK. It’s a one time adaptation of the BOK nomadic classroom for theatre, in response to an invitation by Kaaitheater and celebrates the corpus of alternative knowledge that has been growing since BOK started.

The Big BOK Multiplication is a part of bodies of knowledge:
bodies of knowledge is a place to gather, a learning community, a project, an organisation. 

BOK considers the city as a rich source of valuable knowledge. Every passer- by could teach you something from their own background and life-experiences. BOK seeks to share this invisibilized or suppressed knowledge through oral transmission, that potentially could give rise to a socially more just society. BOK welcomes life experts rather than professional authorities. ​ 

BOK is a space to listen, to ask, to connect. As a semi-nomadic classroom, BOK stays in the same spot in the city for a few weeks or months, and then moves on again. BOK has been travelling through various parks and squares in Brussels for the past one and a half year. Each week, passers-by and regular visitors could participate in the free programme, where they could learn about issues that don't get a place, or not enough, in our schools, in mainstream institutions and in the media.

The "bodies of knowledge" are, in the first place, the people who come to share their knowledge within BOK. They learn about BOK through informal encounters and channels.

BOK has been present in different neighbourhoods in Brussels, since september 2020: Abattoir d’Anderlecht, Place de la Résistance (Anderlecht), Parc Josaphat (Schaarbeek), Square Jacques Brel (Brussels).

With time, the nomadic classroom has transformed in different formats:

The original BOK is the BOK tent: A hexagonal, green and red tent. In summer, the sides can be opened, and in winter, the space is heated. It can also be transformed into an urban kiosk, where only the roof and structure remain to create an open-air classroom. Different “bodies of knowledge” come and share their knowledge in the tent. Everyone is welcome to attend, freely. 

BOK on foot emerged during the lock-down because of COVID-19, in 2021. For more than six months, all meetings outside the family circle were prohibited. What was still allowed was walking, outside, with a maximum of four. During that period, BOK tent was transformed into BOK on foot : a peripatetic school, where one could learn from a body of knowledge while walking. The departure point was identified by a red parasol that meant, in all weather conditions: 'this is a place to learn from each other. Silvia Bottiroli, visited BOK on foot in March, 2021. Read her essay Learning as movement.

BOK telephone was a switchboard that brought together the knowledge of thirty-five Brussels youth. At a phone booth located in the gardens of Institut Pacheco, during kunstenfestivaldesarts,  people could call one of the young people to learn from.
 

In spring 2022, there will be, for the first time, a local BOK in another city, in another country: from April 23- June 11, bodies of knowledge (Bergen) will be set up by BIT Teatergarasjen, under the guidance of the Brussels BOK team. 

In 2023, bodies of knowledge will continue its travel through the different communes of Brussels, starting spring 2023 in Ixelles.