Fak’ugesi Festival

What we learnt from the opening talks

Fak’ugesi is an annual hybrid/digital innovation event that focuses on the interface of art and technology which includes; art, gaming, animation, and immersive media are all featured at the festival. dillion phiri claims he was overly ambitious in wanting to include all those sub-sectors in one festival within in ten days. It commenced on the 15th of October and ends on the 24th, and everyday something exciting is happening. Because of the COVID, the festival was planned to be online, like last year’s one, but when the country’s restrictions were lifted to Level 1, this allowed for an opening that included a human experience.

FAK’UGESI’S VISION

They aspire to be Africa’s top digital creative festival, one that nurtures digital growth and development and, eventually, one that celebrates and showcases innovation. They want to promote inclusivity, transformation, and collaboration while centrering African people. dillion phiri, the festival’s new curator, who succeeds Dr Tegan Bristow, says he came up with the #BuildCozYouHaveTo theme because he knows that creatives create from the soul, without comprehending their engagement in society or knowing how to participate in activities. According to him, Thapelo captured the theme’s thinking by basing it on Johannesburg and its fast-paced lifestyle, and seeing how everyone is interconnected. Wits, Tshimologong Precinct, AFD, IFAS, Telkom, Digital Lab Africa, and A.R.A. were among the festival’s major sponsors.

Lesley Donna Williams, the CEO of Tshimologong Precinct spoke about how the COVID pandemic encouraged them to think, collaborate, and overcome digital exhaustion in order to generate creative solutions for the promotion of African digital creativity. Because they had to establish the festival without any pioneers before them, the theme resonated with her, they decided to join together in a deliberate manner and ‘beat with one heart.’ What’s vital and unique, she adds, is presenting the multiplicity of African aesthetics and narratives. The pandemic ushered in new means of dynamically communicating with an audience. The festival’s ultimate goal was to provide a platform that stimulates human contact.

2021 was a year of change and transformation, with a focus on building a sense of community, enhancing collaboration, partnerships, and community strengthening. The epidemic has flipped the narratives of where Africa stands in discourses of science, technology, development, and innovation by collapsing geographies. Fak’Ugesi is a festival that emphasizes academic teaching, learning, research, and other activities. The Wits School of Art was quite involved, and dillion drew all of the sub-sectors together into one. They constructed a functioning digital gallery for the festival, promising that attendees should “expect the unexpected.”