The 13th edition of the Marché des arts du spectacle africain d’Abidjan (MASA 2024) was distinguished in terms of new information and communication technologies by an innovation village featuring start-ups and digital proposals.

By Job Attéméné

At a conference held on Thursday April 18 in the Salle Christian Lattier at Abidjan’s Palais de la Culture, to take stock of the 2024 edition at its halfway point, MASA General Manager Abdramane Kamaté was delighted to note that « this innovation village shows how often this creative sector is crossed by this new tool, both in terms of creation and distribution. This village has a dual objective, which is to enable our creators to meet structures working in the field of digital and virtual reality, and to enable them to envisage collaborations », he added.

According to DG Abdramane Kanaté, beyond this utilitarian objective, MASA 2024’s general management wanted it to be a space of wonder for the public. « Ideally, our visitors should be able to discover all the possibilities offered to our artists today, through digital technology and other tools that can be useful to them in their artistic approach, » he assures us.

One of the young people involved in the Innovation Village is Alain Bidjeck, a Cameroonian living in Paris, who has designed a platform called « Immersion », designed to introduce young people to the world of entertainment and culture.

He explains that this project, launched a year ago, has enabled him to criss-cross the world of education, namely middle schools, high schools and universities. He ended up at MASA 2024, thanks to a festival organizer in Cameroon, Armène Doua, who, after testing the application, recommended it to MASA’s new CEO.

« At MASA 2024, we’ve already received over a hundred young people. But it continues today and tomorrow, and we’ll have between 400 and 500 young people by the end of MASA, » he enthused.

As for the app’s itinerary, the designer explained that when young people arrive at the Innovation Village marquee, they are given a headset that immerses them in an immersive journey to discover the trades of the stage. There are a dozen or so trades they discover, such as video, image and lighting technicians, and all those involved in the production of a show.

« When they come to MASA, they see the artists perform. But thanks to virtual reality, they can discover all the professionals behind the scenes. You can love music and not be a good singer, but still have a career in music, because there are a lot of professions. Except that people don’t know about them, » he explained, explaining why the app was created.

The head of the Innovation Village, Peter Ebirim, presented another project called « Poegnan Club » (which means « precursor » in the Guéré language). It aims to promote African culture through technology.

According to him, this project highlights digital artists who lack space for expression. And thanks to the NFT technological tool, artists can sell their works digitally. That is, a work is digitized on Blockchain technology via which digital artists have the opportunity to sell their works with cryptocurrencies on several platforms.

« We help artists integrate this scene, which is not popularized in French-speaking Africa. We promote everything that is African culture. Through our virtual experience, we highlight Ivorian masks such as the Zahouli and the Goli. It’s a kind of virtual museum that lets you see everything related to African culture. And we also organize events to promote works of African art, » he concludes.