At the time we started AtWork we couldn’t actually know the practical developments that could take shape each time we activated the workshop. AtWork is in fact a process never equal to itself, because all the players contribute to make the experience unique every time, despite the key points that characterize the workshop. Only with practice certain mechanisms, that at first were known just as potentiality, could unfold and prove, first of all to oursevles, all the possible applications and derivations of this tool.
That’s why today, in 2017, after four years of experiences carried out in Africa and around the world, we are publishing the “Chapter 00” of our story. Our idea has now taken shape and substance; it is embodied in a material form. As the saying goes, “life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards,” which is why we are now able to tell the beginning of this project and its developments: from the initial idea to implementation. In this “a cappella” choir, each voice (“I”) is different and yet is in harmony with the others (“We”)[1].
This introductory chapter is retroactive and presents the genesis of the format and the vision behind it through the reflections of its creators and through a collection of sentences, pictures, inspirations and atmospheres from all the workshops made so far. A unique witness that allows one to leaf through the pages, get into the AtWork universe and become part of a worldwide community made up by more than 500 AtWorkers.
AtWork has come to its tenth chapter and continues its journey, following an unpredictable but steady course. “In other words, this means that, in theory, there is no point in knowing how a narrative ends, because the end is not the aim of the narrative. It is the narrative itself that determines its own object.”[2]
Like any other thing, AtWork could change shape, appearance or setting, but its nature as an awareness-raising educational format would remain the same. Our main tool is the notebook, a pocket-sized, portable, nomadic and itinerant object that is the keystone of the project. As is constantly shown by artists, a simple blank notebook can be transformed into anything. It becomes a unique and irreplaceable gift. Just like knowledge.
This is AtWork: an individual process of collective participation. In this group environment, mutual exchange and interaction result in the creation of a personal notebook, an artifact that contains within itself the spark of collective energy.
And this is “Chapter 00” a summary that tells the story of the past and present of the format drawing the direction for a future “AtWork”.
Now is the moment to leave you to discover this new chapter for yourself. You can leaf through the entire booklet here. Enjoy your reading!
[1] Tania Gianesin, Genesis
[2]Simon Njami, For a Poetics of Immateriality
La directrice exécutive Kimberly Aceves-Iñiguez s’engage avec passion depuis plus de 20 ans dans l’organisation de la justice sociale et dans des actions de plaidoyer qui donnent voix et pouvoir aux jeunes, aux personnes LGBTQ, aux personnes de couleur et aux communautés de la classe ouvrière dans la région de la Baie en Californie. Avant d’être nommée directrice générale de RYSE, Kimberly recouvrait la même fonction pour Youth Together, l’organisation qui a fondé le RYSE Center.
Les cofondatrices Catherine Dunga et Marleen Palmaers ont créé Kitambo pour combler le fossé entre la diaspora africaine en Colombie et les récits du continent. Respectivement depuis Kinshasa et Anvers, elles cherchent à mettre en relation les artistes africains du continent et leurs pairs de la diaspora colombienne.
