
Africa is changing – radically – and digitization is playing a pivotal role. On this continent that has the world’s youngest population, digital practices are emerging that transform Africa’s societies and their global perception.
Apps and digital content developed in Africa are increasingly entering the global technosphere. African digital infrastructures meanwhile remain marked by local and global asymmetries despite the widespread use of mobile phones. New forms of digital inequality are accompanying the rise of a number of well-connected digital hubs and scenes. African digital innovations and practices still rely on infrastructures dominated by the Global North, and increasingly also by China.
The exhibition and research project »Digital Imaginaries«, which was developed in collaboration with partners in Dakar and Johannesburg, takes this contradictory diversity of digital phenomena in Africa as its point of departure. Like the exhibitions, workshops, and events that took place in Senegal and South Africa as part of the project, the contributions now to be seen at the ZKM are by no means confined to describing digital transformations. Many of the works featured in this show engage with African histories, practices, and conditions to glean inspiration for emancipated digital futures that will withstand market-oriented interests and post-colonial hegemonies. Starting from artists’ positions which have developed in various countries on the African continent and in the African diaspora, the works featured in the exhibition articulate the necessity for more diverse, richer global digital imaginaries.
Activities of our partner institutions
| Kër Thiossane, Dakar |
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26.02.–30.05.2018 | |||
26.02.–30.05.2018 | Afropixel workshops as part of the festival »Non-Aligned Utopias« | ||
| 20.04.–12.05.2018 | Afropixel residencies and performances as part of the festival »Non-Aligned Utopias« |
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| 08.05–12.05.2018 | Exhibition »Digital Imaginaries – Non-Aligned Utopias« |
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| WAM (WitsArtMuseum), Johannesburg |
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| 24.07.–23.09.2018 | Exhibition »Digital Imaginaries – Premonition« |
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| Fak'ugesi festival, Johannesburg |
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| 31.08.–09.09.2018 | Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival »Tap Your Afro Source Code« |
- Website
- Brochure
- Credits
- Oulimata Gueye (Curator)
- Julien McHardy (Curator)
- Philipp Ziegler (Curator)
- Richard Rottenburg (Scientific director)
- Bettina Korintenberg (Co-Curator)
- Exhibitions team
Barbara Kiolbassa (Education)
- Organization / Institution
- Digital Imaginaries is a joint project of Kër Thiossane and the Afropixel Festival in Dakar, the Wits Art Museum and the Fak’ugesi Festival of African Digital Innovation in Johannesburg, and the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
- Sponsors
Supported by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Accompanying program
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- Fri, March 29, 20192 pm
- Walking-Robo @BÄM
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Workshop
Lichthof 9 / BÄM (1. OG)
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- Sat, March 16, 20193 pm
- Performance and Talk: NO FAQ
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Performance
Lichthof 1+2, 1.OG
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- Sat, March 16, 2019
- ROBOT_LAB
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Workshop
Medienwerkstatt
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- Wed, March 13, 2019
- NO FAQ
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Lichthof 1+2, 1.OG
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- Thu, February 21, 20194 pm
- Guided tour with the curators
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Guided Tour
Lichthof 1+2
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- Thu, February 07, 20196 pm
- medialounge at six
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Lecture
OpenHUB, Lichthof 8+9
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- Sun, February 03, 20192 pm
- Africa dances! Imagaination and expression of dance.
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Workshop
ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien
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- Fri, December 07, 20184 pm
- Transgressions - Church at the ZKM
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Guided Tour
Lichthof 1+2
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- Wed, November 21, 20185 pm
- Collective Data between Accra and Karlsruhe
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Lecture
Lichthof 1+2
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- Sat, November 17, 2018
- Opening Weekend Digital Imaginaries
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OpenHUB, Lichthof 8+9
Contributing artists
- Larry Achiampong
- Younes Baba-Ali
- CUSS Group
- Joshua Chiundiza
- DK Osseo-Asare & Yasmine Abbas, Agbogbloshie Makerspace Platform (AMP)
- Wanuri Kahiu
- Isaac Kariuki
- Francois Knoetze
- Larry Achiampong & David Blandy
- Maurice Mbikayi
- Milumbe Haimbe aka ArtisTrophe
- Marcus Neustetter
- Olalekan Jeyifous & Wale Lawal
- Tabita Rezaire
- Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou, L’Africaine d’architecture
- Show all