14/06/2025
🗣️ | LE FORUM CULTUREL
SEASON 2 / SESSION 39 - IN PARTNERSHIP WITH AFRICALIA
This panel will explore how new technologies are profoundly transforming the cultural and creative ecosystem in Africa. We will examine how digital arts can contribute to strengthening CCIs, transforming narratives and lifting up African heritage.
However, while technology opens up a myriad of opportunities for innovation and economic growth, it also poses significant challenges. The speakers will discuss how to turn these challenges into opportunities.
THE PANELISTS
👉🏿Lodi Matsetela (South Africa) is at the forefront of Africa’s digital creative industries. As Programme Lead at the Digital Content Hub, Tshimologong Precinct (Wits Incubator), she champions initiatives such as Digital Lab Africa and operates as partner in the Afrique Créative Consortium. Her commitment to shaping the digital landscape extends to her role with the Fak'ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival. An award-winning producer and filmmaker, she is also deeply engaged in the evolving discourse on content creation in the age of AI, exploring how emerging technologies can expand narrative possibilities.
https://tshimologong.joburg/
https://fakugesi.co.za/
👉🏿Selasie Awity (Ghana) is a self-taught, multidisciplinary creative leader specialised in virtual and augmented reality, digital storytelling, and immersive product design. As the founder and creative director of DOBIISON VR, Ghana’s leading XR company, he leads cross-functional teams in creating innovative digital experiences for brands across Africa, blending technology, creativity, and collaboration to build impactful products across industries. He’s also committed to mentoring world-class African talent, volunteering with NGOs, and exploring the continent to share its stories with the world.
https://dobiison.com/
👉🏿Brian Afande (Kenya) is a creative technologist and agent of change dedicated to accelerating the adoption of XR technologies across Africa. Co-founder and CEO of BlackRhino VR, he aims to design, democratise, demystify, and deploy XR and equip the next generation with essential skills to drive economic transformation. By fostering new ideas, business models, and job creation, he is positioning Africa’s youth at the forefront of global technological advancement, ensuring they actively shape their own futures. He is Board Member of the Global Future Council on the Future of the Metaverse at the World Economic Forum.
https://www.blackrhinovr.com/
THE MODERATOR
Mary Corrigall (South Africa) has founded Corrigall & Co: African art market specialists, a Cape Town-based art research consultancy, in 2015. A prominent commentator, researcher and academic whose work has probed different arts sectors, she has been mapping and analysing creative economies in South Africa and other parts of Africa for commercial, non-profit and public entities. Over the years she has widened her purview to the digital arts sectors, such as animation and gaming.
https://www.corrigall.org/background
▶️ Join the live session and take part in the discussion on the Noocultures.info and AFRICALIA page.
