100 Days of Learning: A Manifesto
Arne Hendriks invites you to share the aim of 100 Days of Learning.
What do you feel we need to learn in order to make the world a better place? This question was put to people across the world, people like you. But to avoid getting stuck in big talk with very little practical output, we invited them to look within themselves and to find things they would like to express and share: lessons learned through experience and personal interests, not via books or lectures.
Often we think of change as a big, complicated process, and it is, but this sometimes makes it difficult to believe in the power of our own individual actions. Yet during and beyond 100 Days of Learning, these actions are precisely what matters. We believe that real transformation comes from within the individual. It is only when people embrace the new ideas and apply them within their own lives, that the bigger process of societal change happens. Not the other way around.
100 Days of Learning is about taking responsibility to speak up. Especially about those small things that are important to us, and that can easily be embraced by others if shared. There is not a single person alive that doesn’t have something to offer from which we can learn. Unfortunately, most people keep their thoughts and experiences to themselves, while the challenges we face as a species continue to increase.
100 Days of Learning is not about knowing. It is about opening up and asking questions: What can I learn to make this world a better place? What could I teach others from my own personal experiences and ideals? What small transformation within myself could make a positive change? And can we make a promise to one another to try and do something new and differently after today?
100 Days of Learning is about starting somewhere, in your home, under a tree, in the office or a café, to talk about the things we would like to learn with others. 100 Days of Learning is not about speaking to the many, but to those around us willing to listen. It is about embracing and spreading our words and wisdom. A whisper might turn into a roar, as others join us and our voice gains confidence.
100 Days of Learning is about building a network of whisperers: 100 whisperers for change, with 100 different voices, and 100 different personal interests. From 100 different locations around the globe we are starting to speak about what matters to us as citizens of the world, how we feel we can create a positive change, how we can teach each other and learn from each other.
100 Days of Learning is about a truly global perspective on what needs to be done, including at least as many voices from the global south
as the north. We believe change can only come from changing and broadening perspectives, on both sides of the equator.
100 Days of Learning is about proximity, simplicity and equality. And it is about innovation, not of systems or technology, but innovation from within ourselves. You are here with others, to learn from each other, to listen to each other and hopefully to speak up yourself. Real change doesn’t come from outside, but from within. If we transform, the world transforms with us.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us,
Arne Hendriks, artist and curator Age of Wonderland & The Age of Wonderland Team
