When Wikipedia Takes the Stage: A Slam to Celebrate 25 Years of Free Knowledge

On the occasion of Wikipedia Day, January 15, 2026, marking 25 years of the free encyclopedia, the Ivorian Wikimedia community chose a celebration that was both original and deeply human: slam poetry.

To mark this symbolic anniversary, BeraDigle, a member of the Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire community, offered a spoken-word performance titled “25 Years of Knowledge” as a tribute to Wikipedia—its values, its contributors, and the ideal of free knowledge. Carried by words, rhythm, and emotion, the performance powerfully reminds us that Wikipedia is not only an encyclopedia, but a collective human adventure.

« Twenty-five years of questions asked by the world,
And Wikipedia answering.
Twenty-five years of ignorance trembling,
And knowledge rising.»

Through simple yet powerful words, the slam recalls that Wikipedia is more than an encyclopedia:

• a living memory,
• a library without walls,
• a bridge without borders.

The performance also highlights the very essence of the Wikimedia movement: its volunteers—often invisible, yet absolutely essential.

“Thank you to the contributors,
The dreamers, the volunteers,
Those no one sees,
Yet without whom everything would collapse.”

The text concludes as a collective declaration, looking toward the future:

“Wikipedia is twenty-five years old.
And this is not just an anniversary,
It is a statement:
Knowledge is free.
And as long as it remains free,
We will continue to write.”

This initiative also illustrates how local communities creatively appropriate major milestones of the Wikimedia movement, blending culture, art, and civic engagement.

To reach a wider audience and preserve this creation within the movement’s memory, BeraDigle’s text was adapted into a podcast. The audio format allows the voice to travel, conveys the raw emotion of the performance, and offers another way to tell the story of Wikipedia—beyond articles and statistics.

🎧 Listen to the podcast:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKI_25_ANS_-_Slam.webm

By celebrating Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary through slam poetry, Wikimedia Côte d’Ivoire reminds us that free knowledge is also shared through emotion, spoken word, and artistic creation.