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BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Pauwstraat, Utrecht, Netherlands

 Training

2-6 October 2019

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht  

Training III: Mad About Study

Collective reading and writing, conversations, somatics, movement research, karaoke, and more, culminating in a dance party and public intervention on Saturday 5 October 2019

Joy Mariama Smith

  • Photo: Ludger Storcks

The third training as part of Trainings for the Not-Yet is with Joy Mariama Smith, and takes place from 2–6 October 2019 (Wednesday–Sunday) at BAK. It is a training in collective reading and writing, conversations, somatics, movement research, karaoke, and more, culminating in a dance party and public intervention on Saturday 5 October 2019.

What does it really mean to be “mad” about study, and, moreover, about studying collectively, specifically in relation to community, art making, and social practice? What would studying be if it were a joyful public expression of collaborative learning? Joy Mariama Smith sets up a training that begins to answer these questions by means of doing.

Prompted by Stefano Harney and Fred Moten’s The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study (2013), Smith seeks an understanding of study as “unrestricted sociality”: one that dissolves the overwhelming centrality of formal education; escapes fixed structures, policies, and identities; and performatively engages unrecognized knowledges and desires. As Smith puts it: “We will create our own definitions of study and learn collectively. We will look at white supremacist culture and how it disrupts modes of learning. We will also question productivity as it relates to action and ways of learning. We will do nothing. Our aim is to create a space during our time together with a multi-dimensional, socially-dynamic, fun, and complex investigation toward the not-yet.”

When: 2–6 October 2019 (Wednesday–Sunday):
Daily 14–18 hrs, followed on weekdays by dinner from 18–19 hrs and preceded at the weekend by lunch from 13–14 hrs in the Basic Activist Kitchen . 
On Saturday 5 October 2019,  20 hrs, the trainings culminate in a separate event open to the general public: Unrestricted Sociality, a dance party and public intervention. This event is free to attend for training participants. 

Participation: This is a five-day training. It is possible to join on individual days, although attending the training in its entirety is encouraged.
Language: English

Tickets:
Individual days: €10 normal/€7.50 student discount
Combi ticket (five days): €40 normal/€30 student discount
Book your ticket via Eventbrite. Tickets include a daily meal at the Basic Activist Kitchen.

Free places: For each training, BAK provides a few free places for those who would otherwise not be able to attend. To apply, please send a short explanation (max. 120 words) to olga@bakonline.org, at least four days prior to the training. (First come, first serve).

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