Marion Louisgrand Sylla (SEN)

is the director of Kër Thiossane (House of welcome), a media art centre with an artist-residency programme, based in Dakar (Senegal). Together with Momar François Sylla she founded this cultural and artistic place in 2002 . The aim of Kër Thiossane is the integration of multimedia in artistic practices (music, dance, theatre, and visual arts) and the culture of open access, numeric creation through computer science and communication technologies. Through research, residence, creation and training, Kër Thiossane has become a place for social and artistic innovation addressing issues of citizenship, ecology and urban development. Technology and artistic practice are taken as tools for knowledge that can be appropriated by all. A space of sharing, the centre is deeply rooted in the neighbourhood while connecting with international arts, movements and groups. Regularly, events are hosted for a public that is not so used to contemporary art. In 2014, Ker Thiossane initiated a public garden in the neighbourhood, the “Garden of resistance”, and a School of the Commons. The fab lab Defko AK Niep (do it with others) is also based in the public space and links traditional practices and numerical machine.