The Fak'ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival starts this week, and will run from 19 August to 3 September 2016 at the Tshimologong Precinct in Braamfontein.
The event, organised by Wits University's Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering, will not only celebrate digital art and its impact on culture, creativity, and technology, but it will focus on women in digital arts.
According to the event organisers, Fak'ugesi also aims to put technology in the hands of young people in a playful, creative and accessible way. Themed Afro Tech Riot, this year's line-up will illustrate how creativity and technology are becoming more mainstream and the important role women are playing in this space.
"This year the festival will see several incredible women collaborating to showcase the possibilities within culture and technology," says Tegan Bristow, Fak'ugesi festival organiser. "The women line-up will include Janine Johnston, national coordinator of the Maker Library Network in SA, who is working with the British Council to bring a host of free maker workshops to the festival; and Kerry Friend, executive creative director of Isobar, who is working with teams of musicians and technologists, including female performer Lindiwe Matshikiza, for the festival's 'Future Sounds' project.
"They have all assisted in developing an exciting, and much-needed focus on women in digital arts," explains Bristow.
The Fak'ugesi talks - women in tech ZA talk and networking session will feature key women in the technology industry and act as a networking platform, speaking to both men and women about supporting and featuring women in the ICT industry, notes Bristow.
"Thato Noinyane, project manager of the British Council Connect ZA, will bring us the Festival's Market Hack and Soweto Pop Up projects, among other activities.
"The Market Hack will feature two great virtual reality displays by multi-disciplinary immersive filmmaker Karen Palmer, who will present Syncself 11: Focus or Fail; and Simon Wilkinson from CiRCA69 (UK) who will present the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality immersive theatre performance titled The Cube," says Bristow.
Another women-focused event, she adds, is the Afro Tech Riot, which explores alternative knowledge systems within a largely western-dominated technology sector.
"Afro Tech Riot asks questions such as: Are technologies following hard masculine normative ways or should we be exploring femininity as a system in our technologies? What does digital technology look like when viewed through a knowledge system like African traditional cultures? How does the importance of community reflect in technology innovation today?
"We are very proud of the line-up of women this year. The successful engagement of arts, culture, creativity and technology by women is inspiring, and worthy of a spotlight at this year's Fak'ugesi festival," notes Bristow.
Other activities and events taking place at the festival include the Agile Africa Conference; Smart City C.O.J.E.D.I Booth & Exhibition; the MLN & Geekulcha: 3D Age Gaming; the Hack the Constitution workshop; the Top 20 Smart City Awards, and many other events.
For more information, visit the Fak'ugesi Web site.
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