Fak’ugesi Pan-African Garden

Lockdowns have forced communities to go online to both create and access art. This has led to new developments for African artists in a highly networked, global environment. However, the divide between those who have access to data and technology and those who don’t has hindered many and become a new barrier.

Fak’ugesi Pan-African Garden is a collaboration of partners, notably Vrystaat Arts Festival, the University of the Free State’s Program for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD) and Fak’ugesi Festival. Aligning with aims to power up Africa’s digital creative resolution, ignite imaginations and hardwire local talent, it will include:

Virtual Black Out: Experiments in the Future of Form, developed for the National Arts Festival in collaboration with POPArt & Fak’ugesi Festival. Virtual Black Out takes a step into digital “space” making. It engages African scenographers and digital artists to rethink space, location and time for new digital theatre making. Five pieces developed in lockdown over two weeks.

Pan-African Telematic Art Project (PATAP) a new initiative of the Vrystaat Arts Festival through the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE), in partnership with Fak’ugesi Festival and the University of the Free State’s Program for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD). It offers funding to artists on the African continent to make interactive media on issues of the continent.

Fak’ugesi Digital Africa Curator Focus, in 2020 Fak’ugesi Festival aims to develop curators, producers and advocates of African digital and technology arts. Following an African curator bootcamp, commissions focusing on digital work will take form. Join curators as they plan and develop.