Exhibition »Digital Imaginaries – Africas in Production«

Africa is radically changing and digitization features prominently in contemporary African imaginaries and realities. The mobile phone boom and the development of mobile-enabled banking services demonstrate that African specific digital practices are very lively and start to shape globalized digital technologies. The diverse digital scenes that emerged in the few well-connected African hubs provide new perspectives, metropolitan pride, and a sense of global participation.

The exhibition »Africas in Production« is part of the project »Digital Imaginaries« that started in spring 2018 with events in Senegal and continued in South Africa before coming to ZKM | Karlsruhe. Throughout 2018, institutions and project partners in Dakar, Johannesburg, and Karlsruhe collaborated through a series of distinct but linked programs, consisting of workshops, seminars, talks, residencies, performances, and exhibitions. Collectively, these events brought together artists, architects, makers, hackers, and researchers to question and reimagine how globalized digital technologies shape and shift African futures.