It’s a long story, but I’ll make it short! (Laughs) Basically, when I was studying in high school and the time came for me to choose my higher education studies, I felt like the education system didn’t prepare you well enough for what’s out there. So, I told my family I wanted to do computer science. But everybody told me, ‘Are you sure? You’re a girl, you know this is a field dominated by men’ – and all these things. So they advised me not to do it and I listened. Therefore, I had to choose at the last minute, and the school of IHECS was a good compromise in-between touching a bit of technology and communication. This is actually the field many girls in Brussels choose when they are creative in technic aspects but don’t know what to do.
Then, after that, I learnt that I didn’t want to work in advertising. However, I learnt a second thing, which was that I wanted to continue creating technologies – you know, in all studies, we have to choose some specific media to do some projects, and I always chose HTML websites, interactive CD-ROM and all that technical stuff. That’s why I went to London to do the Interactive Media master. Moreover, nothing like that existed in Belgium, so I had to move out of the country.

Yes, this was a very interesting time to do so because it was before mobile phones but also it was the time of exploration of interactivity. The first micro-controller was out, so it was when all the creative and technological tools appeared and they were very cheap. Before becoming what we call a creative coder – an artist or a designer using code –, you needed to be very technical and know very complicated programming skills.
At the time, many creators understood that some people would like to use code but they were not as experienced as programmers, and that is why they started to release some libraries and frameworks easier to code for designers and people who knew nothing about it. So yes, that was a good time for me to start my studies.

It’s a very organic process, there isn’t an order. I mean, this year’s festival is all organised, so within two months, we will meet again at a restaurant and we will throw ideas on the table about topics and things we want to talk about. In the beginning, we don’t discuss the words we are going to use for the theme but just about the topics. Usually, the topics are chosen following what’s happening in society and the world right now.
Once we have the topic, we can draw out all the related ideas and then we try to find the poetic way to wrap everything up. Normally, there are several topics and sub-themes, and that’s why the concepts are always abstract. Also, the programme is so dense – there are four different conference rooms, the marketplace, huge exhibitions, etc. – that it would be very repetitive if we covered only one specific topic.

The programme of the festival evolved gradually. In the first edition, there were some conferences, a few workshops and also a hackathon – at the time, it wasn’t called like that but it was a hackathon. Every year after the first edition, we started adding things to the programme, like the exhibition. If you do an exhibition, you will need to have a title, a topic or a frame for it because, otherwise, it would be just some random content in a room. So, it started right after the first year because of the exhibition. Also, it was easier to have a sort of canal for all the initiatives, for the team to collaborate with the curators. If you have a topic, you can frame and guide people to give ideas.

There are different visions with this image of ‘archipelago’. An archipelago is made by several islands to make a whole, they are connected together and they come from a bigger picture. We hear quite often that media and technology are sort of connecting people with each other, they gather people; if you are on one side of the world, you can connect with whoever is on the other side. But at the same time, we wanted to talk about the negative aspects of technology because it isn’t only gathering people but it is also separative and discriminatory. So, the image of an archipelago was really nice because we are talking about the ecosystem and its fragility, but at the same time, we have subtopics such as diversity, discrimination, etc.
Also, this year we are taking a look into the relation of technology with the South and the North, but specifically in the African diaspora. Therefore, the image of archipelago really connects with the planet, climate change, the fragility of ecosystems and the idea of breaking into multiple pieces. It all makes a metaphor about the dividing parts of technology but also technology as a whole.

It is horrible to say, but it is very random! (Laughs) I don’t consider myself a very well-organised person and I function a lot with intuition, meaning that I can’t really explain how I get there. But what I do to prepare the programme every year is travel a lot, go to many events and I try to visit as many exhibitions as I can. I try to store all this knowledge in my mind. Also, I classify a lot of information using Pinterest because I’m a visual person. Whenever I see something on the Internet that I like, I create a board. I think I have like six hundred Pinterest boards where I classify the information with specific topics in case one day I need one of them. This way, I just need to take a look at all those boards, read articles and talk to people, and it all comes along.

It depends, there are different selection criteria. For the conferences, the first thing I look for is someone who knows how to speak on stage. This criterion goes even before the topic they are talking about because the conferences are an important part of the festival and there are people who are very interesting or who have written amazing books but they don’t know how to talk or how to communicate their work. I never invite these people because when you go to a conference, it needs to be entertaining and it needs to wake you up, otherwise, just read a book! Some very good writers come with a piece of paper and they read it. That’s the kind of conferences I hate. The second criterion is the topic, of course, and its connection to the festival’s theme. Also, it needs to have something to do with actuality and what’s happening during the year.
For the exhibition programme, the criterion is about the work’s aesthetic and also intellectual qualities. I also think about how the location and the architectural space can match the artwork because we aren’t in a typical exhibition space. We use locations that haven’t been made for exhibitions at all – like churches, public schools, public buildings, etc. It’s about finding the right artwork that will create the right dialogue in that space. Another criterion is that it has to be accessible and understandable for everybody because we want to reach all publics.

From my experience, I’m a good example of why we should break stereotypes about women in these fields because, actually, there are many women in this field but they are less visible, they are not in the spotlight. The more males in this work, the more males in the spotlight. That is one of the reasons why my family and friends told me, ‘Don’t do computer science, you will be the only woman’. But finally, I ended up working with technology anyway. So, what can we do to break the stereotypes? Placing more women in the spotlight where we are expecting them less.
For example, in the festival’s programme, I pay special attention to having a balance and having the same number of men and women. Also, when we do the technical talks, I give a lot of space to women. This is basically what we can do: showing good examples of women in this field because I think that women have this fear of having to work double to get the same in a working environment dominated by men. I think that showing examples of women who made it lowers the fear and encourages women to get into this field.

It’s because of the culture of our society. This stereotype is still very much present, and to revert it, we need to work on many levels. It needs to be in the family environment, in the education system, at the workplace – everywhere. But it has to be done following the same path in every level, that’s why it is so difficult. If they teach you something at school but then your family tells you the opposite, who are you listening to?

I joined the team just after the first edition. It was created by Gilles Bazelaire and Gaetan Libertiaux, the two co-founders, who are both originally from Namur and they also run a business in the city. Gilles has Dogstudio, a digital agency, and Gaetan has Superbe, an artistic and creative studio. These are international businesses with offices in Mexico and Chicago. Thus, people advised them to be based in Brussels but they made a bet on Namur.
When they decided to co-found Kikk Festival, they did the same bet. It was like, ‘let’s place the festival in Namur and not in a main city’, and it worked. The first edition was more national-like but it quickly became international on the second edition. Also, the city is perfect for the exhibition because of the huge pedestrian area. It would be impossible to do so in Brussels.

Marie: In fact, Delphine is just right here, so I suggest we both answer this question. Talking about the collaboration, for many years we have been willing to focus on Africa but never had the chance. We assumed that it would take a lot of time and it would also require some travelling, and we are always too busy. However, at some point, Gilles, the festival Director, went to Africa and met Delphine – who is actually from Namur but lives in Senegal – and she proposed to do this. And that’s how it all began!
Now, I let Delphine continue the story.
Delphine: Yeah! Then, he put me in touch with Marie and we started to work on this crazy idea. Because it is actually a bit crazy if you think of the shipping and also the visa issues. It was all crazy but well, look at what we have achieved! For me, it’s a wonderful experience because working with such a competent team like them makes my job as a curator much easier. Also, this is an amazing project to give visibility to African artists who have a lot to offer. First of all, they provide a more global vision. Most of them talk about immigration. In fact, one of our artists hasn’t been able to be here because they didn’t give him the visa. Our point is to show that Africa isn’t at the back talking about technology because they have taken a very pragmatic vision to solve their technological issues.