‘Afropolitan Talk: Pixelated Narratives on Artistic Video Games’

On the occasion of the Afropolitan Festival and the launch of Bozar Arcade, Bozar and Laurent Mbaah invite you to a discussion around the new possibilities of artistic video games. This form of entertainment offers opportunities to creatively question social norms around gender, cultural and racial stereotypes. The talk seeks to shed light on how these innovative narratives, through gaming, serve as powerful tools for social and cultural reflection from the perspective of the African diaspora. It explores how these games can pave the way for African and Afro-diasporic narratives and encourage positive change in the digital world. Laurent Mbaah will be talking to Jennifer Lufau, founder of the French collective Afrogameuses, and Henri Tauliaut, who is presenting Water Divinity Game in Bozar Arcade.

Jennifer Lufau is a marketing and community management expert in the video games sector. In 2020, she founded Afrogameuses, an association that now has over 600 members and promotes the inclusion and representation of black, racialised and queer women who play or work in the industry. A content creator, journalist and columnist for RFI, as well as a lecturer, Jennifer also works with video game studios such as Twin Drums and Ubisoft to help them create more inclusive narratives and characters.

Henri Tauliaut, techno performance artist and researcher, is interested in the relationship between art and science, performance and ancestral traditions. In 2019, he is writing a thesis on contemporary art and the living in America. He exhibits and performs in the Caribbean, South and North America, France, England, Senegal and China.