BOK (bodies of knowledge) is a place where people can learn from each other. Things one usually does not learn, told by voices that are not always heard, from different parts of society and the world. In BOK we exchange knowledge that feeds a more just and humane society. BOK welcomes life experts rather than professional authorities.

In May 2024, BOK proposes a trajectory of transmission, co-learning and co-creation to a group of participants. We look at the city as a site where an infinity of knowledge intertwines, much of which remains underexposed or censored. The first part of the trajectory takes the shape of a workshop: the BOK team shares their practices and listening tools developed throughout previous editions, in a spirit of mutual support and co-learning. For the second part, the group turns outwards to experiment in public space. We meet passers-by, neighbours in the street or in local organisations, to learn from them. Finally, we invite these ‘bodies of knowledge’ to speak in public during the BOK Learning Days Courtrai. Together, we support their words and bring this temporary, local and free classroom to life. A radical fiction of what a school could be.

It is a space to listen, to ask, to connect. BOK Learning Days is a participatory art project. Some examples of previous learning sessions in other cities were: Singing multilingual music as political/cultural activism (Şeref & Gamze), How to fight police violence in our neighbourhoods? (Collectif des Madres), How to heal yourself with medicinal plants (Valéria), Slamming your young misfit voice ‘out of the box’ (Drissia). The programme for Kortrijk will be announced later.

As a semi-nomadic classroom, BOK stays in the same spot in the city for a few weeks or months. In May 2024, the BOK tent will be set up in Van Raemdonckpark, Kortrijk. Come in, have a look and learn together. 

This project is part of the European programme apap, a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union