AtWork Rome (Italy) conducted by Simon Njami
when: May 24-27th, 2018 – application deadline: May 15th, 2018
AtWork Ndjamena (Chad) conducted by Simon Njami
when: July 2-6th, 2018 – application deadline: June 11th, 2018
AtWork Kampala (Uganda) conducted by Simon Njami and Elise Atangana
when: August 27-31st , 2018 – application deadline: July 27th , 2018
AtWork Harare (Zimbabwe) conducted by Andrew Tshabangu, special guest Simon Njami
when: November 20-24th, 2018 – application deadline: November 5th, 2018
Moleskine Foundation launches a call for international creative talents to participate in its itinerant educational format AtWork. We have planned 4 AtWork workshops in 2018 that will be united under the same topic: “I had a dream”. 100 participants, 100 dreams, 100 projects.
AtWork co-creator and advisor Simon Njami gives his vision on the chosen topic:
“What is a dream if not a fantasy? Still, it would be absurd to reduce this very open notion to a dry definition. In this program, the dream must be understood as a project, as the trigger for changes. At the dawn of any revolution, there is always a « dream ». This is what Martin Luther King Junior meant when he had his on this unforgettable day that made the Washington great march on August the 28th, 1963 a very special moment. This is what all the people in the world did when time came to change their lives. I like to use the oxymoron created by the Guinean writer Tierno Monenembo, a « useful dream », as the title of one of his novels. AtWork aims not only at allowing young people to express their dreams, but attempts to provide them with the right tools that would enable them to achieve them.
Those tools are based on critical thinking that only can allow a distanced reflexion on our conditions. Without that lucidity that takes on board Hegel’s words when he wrote: “we don’t know what we know” it is almost impossible to pose a clear diagnostic of our needs, our limitations and our futures. Knowing oneself, as it was written on the frontispiece of the Delphos temple, is the shortest and the strongest means to enable us to project ourselves in a future. It gives us the energy and the wisdom to question the evidences that are given to us as if they were indisputable truths. This educational program does not seek to transform youth into some being that they might not be, but to help constructing a reflexion that would be theirs, and that would answer, in a personal manner, some of the questions that no school addresses.
Instead of telling them what they should do, we invite them to express what they want. There is no other dogma than to force them to find inside themselves, the power to be. It is a school of freedom and social engagement, for, no changes can be achieved by one person alone. If Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi or Martin Luther King, to name a few dreamers, succeeded in their endeavours, it was mainly because they were able to convince outside of their ego. It is time to tell those kids who represent our future that there is no such a thing as fatalism. We were born what we were born, but we always become what we did. In few words, ‘I Had a Dream” is a call for action, here and now.”
AtWork is an itinerant educational format, conceived by Moleskine Foundation and Simon Njami, that uses the creative process to stimulate critical thinking and debate among participants. It helps to develop the intellectual and emotional skills necessary to develop both a personal and a collective sense of identity.
Each AtWork chapter is a 4-5 day intensive workshop (from 10:AM to 6:PM) on the topic “I had a dream” that culminates in an exhibition of the artistic notebooks created during the workshop. Each workshop can accommodate 25 participants and will be conducted by a prominent artist or intellectual, such as Simon Njami or others. There is a fee to participate in the workshop. The money collected through the paying participants will be used to cover the scholarships for the future AtWork workshops.
Moleskine Foundation will be giving out 20 scholarships for each chapter that will cover the participation costs. Travel and accommodation will be at the participants’ expense.
AtWork Rome (Italy) conducted by Simon Njami: May 24-27th. In partnership with Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea. The workshop will take place at the Gallery’s facilities. Participation fee is €300. AtWork Rome notebooks exhibition opening is May 29th at the Gallery.
AtWork Ndjamena (Chad) conducted by Simon Njami: July 2-6th, 2018. In partnership with Djamah Afrik and the National Museum of Chad. Participation fee is €150.
AtWork Kampala (Uganda) conducted by Simon Njami and Elise Atangana August 27-31st, 2018. In partnership with Makerere University and Maisha Foundation. Participation fee is €150.
AtWork Harare (Zimbabwe) conducted by Andrew Tshabangu, special guest Simon Njami: November 20-24th, 2018. In partnership with National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Participation fee is €150.
