KENU: Lab’Oratoire des Imaginaires" (60 minutes, May 2024)

In Oukam - Dakar, we meet multidisciplinary artist and musician Alibeta, founder of KENULAB. 

KENU (meaning "pillar") is an inspiring collective space whose approach and artistic methods are informed by local community knowledges. As well as hosting residencies, they run another space, ARTISTE DOU DAANU ("Artists don't fall")  that houses production and rehearsal studios, providing an alternative professional hub for actors, researchers, musicians, filmmakers, activists and artists of all kind, as well as being a popular hangout for both locals and travelers. For several years, KENU has developed collaborative initiatives related to the territory and its burgeoning imaginaries.

Our conversation touches upon a number of topics, from the challenges posed by decoloniality to strategies of autonomy, fugitivity and refusal, from the importance of a holistic approach to art to building possibilities for the coexistence of different cosmologies and visions in imagining alternative modernities for the futures of the African continent. 

Thank you, Alibeta!

Recorded, edited and mixed by Silvia Maglioni and Graeme Thomson, with music from Alibeta & Index, Ibaaku.

https://kenulab.org/

http://www.alibeta.net/

* with the precious support of ecoversities