UTDALLAS ARTSCILAB AND OFF-CENTER FOR EMERGENCE STUDIES IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE ITS COLLABORATION WITH AVVA ASIA: AFRIQUE VIRTUELLE , VIRTUAL AFRICA In ASIA
VIRTUAL AFRICA is project aiming to promote collaboration between Africans and the diasporas through the creative industries and the interaction of art, science and emerging technologies.
VIRTUAL AFRICA aims to bring together a group of cultural, scientific and economic leaders and organizations interested in the implications of technoscience development and its appropriation in artistic and cultural practices. VIRTUAL AFRICA is thus committed to facilitating and developing collaborative projects at both local and international level through the organization of events and the implementation of institutional or informal partnerships. The objective is to create a network of actions and exchanges between individuals (creators, researchers, entrepreneurs, etc.), economic stakeholders (companies, foundations, charities…), and cultural or scientific institutions (museums, galleries, schools, universities…). A network that reflects the diversity of the arts, sciences and technological practices in use in Africa and across its diaspora (in Europe, the Americas, or Asia).
The immediate focus will be Virtual Africa and Asia:
Recent estimates suggest that China hosts an increasing substantial number of African students – on the order of 80,000 to 100,000 – enrolled in its higher education institutions. In India, there has been noticeable growth, with estimates ranging from about 3,000 to 5,000 African students.
The role of the diasporas is essential here because they carry the idea of mobility and creolization, in other words the circulation of knowledge and people, confirming the premise of a situated and distributed knowledge. Therefore, besides the analogy with digital environments, the label VIRTUAL AFRICA is used to designate the network of actors involved in this project, challenging the definition of Africa as suggested by its qualifier, and constantly putting it back into motion. Moreover, such a transcontinental approach allows for the project to contribute to a redefinition of the relationships between the North and the South or between the Souths in the framework of the Global South.
In a context of effervescence and renewal of African art and emerging technologies, VIRTUAL AFRICA explores the new territories of art, science and technology by engaging in consulting services for events and cultural or scientific mediation, publishing, and artistic creation. VIRTUAL AFRICA nevertheless intends to promote the expression of vernacular languages and cultures by developing multilingual and multimodal publication projects.
CONCEPTS & ACTIONS
We strive to develop research-creation, production and content dissemination projects that involve the creative and cultural industries on the African continent or abroad. In its current form, VIRTUAL AFRICA is divided into six modalities of action and six thematic axes. These actions are structured, but are not limited, to the publishing and editing activities of the international organization Leonardo, to which must be added consulting services, cultural mediation, content translation or project management and development including fundraising plans. A significant number of encounters, including workshops, training, summer camps and art-science meetings, are also part of the program. The research themes covered by this project include the observation of new art territories as well as cultural or economic initiatives that aim to strengthen the links between the southern hemispheres. We will consider two major discourses on contemporary Africa as a basis from which this project can be carried out.
Actions:
- Art-Science-Technology Workshops at the N°17 (Paris)
- Editing, publishing and translation of content
- Consulting & training (exhibition, conferences, project management, etc.)
- African Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER)
- International School of Art, Science and Technology (Summer Camps)
- Art-Science Librairies
Concepts:
- Diasporas
- Afrofuturism and Afropolitanism
- South by South (Africa, Latin America, South Asia)
- Feminism
- Digital and scientific humanities
- Multilinguism and Nomadism
STEERING COMMITTEE: Yvan Tina, project Lead and manager; Roger Malina, president of Leonardo (OLATS); Annick Bureaud, director of Leonardo/OLATS.
SCIENTIC COMMITTEE: Annick Bureaud, Leonardo/OLATS; Claudine Dussolier, RAMIMED; Janeil Engelstad, Make Art for Purpose; Stephen Kovats, Agency for Open Culture; Roger Malina, OLATS; Haytham Nawar, Cairotronica; Marcus Neustetter, The Trinity Session; Yvan Tina, Virtual Africa; Nicola Triscott, FACT/Ars Catalyst.
Contact
Yvan Tina yvantina@gmail.com
Roger f Malina rxm116130@utdallas.edu
