Soleil d’Afrique is an association of Malinese artists with the aim to promote the visual arts in Mali, and to validate and improve the life and working conditions of young visual artists.
This organisation gives huge importance to artistic exchanges, in particular when young artists are involved, as there is a necessity to find financial and intellectual opportunities beyond the local scene.
Events such as the FAIVA festival allow Malinese artists to share experiences with colleagues from other countries and to learn more about artistic video, an art-form not so well-known in Mali.
Organized by Soleil d’Afrique in association with Balani’s, the African Festival for Virtual Art (FAIVA) is a meeting point and an opportunity for dialogue amongst artists and art experts. The last edition of the event brought together around thirty video-artists coming from ten African and Scandinavian countries. There were touring video-screenings, conferences, debates and introductory workshops to video art and multimedia.
These activities ran along musical performances by artists Baba Salah, Souleymane Diallo, Fousseyni Fakoly Doumbia and the Benin dance group Kpodji.
During three weeks, public spaces in Bamako like the Tour d’Afrique and the Carrefour de jeunes were packed with public, which now found access to this new artistic form.
The Malinese audience discovered that the new media art is an artistic expression which also needs their support.