10 years already!
2016 will mark the tenth anniversary of the E-FEST project, providing us with an opportunity to take stock of what we’ve achieved so far, and to begin reorienting the actions we’d like to see in the years to come.
In 2007, the Echos Sonores Tunis Festival was born, the first festival devoted to electronic music in Tunisia and, more broadly, in the whole of North Africa.
In 2008, Echos Sonores became Le FEST, integrating digital installations into its programming and developing visual scenography by introducing Mapping and Vj’ing into its evenings.
In 2010, E-FEST makes its appearance and the festival is transformed into a project dedicated to digital cultures: it establishes agreements with art and multimedia schools and organizes training sessions in digital creation tools, it develops the exhibition of artistic works that question new technologies, and begins to produce works and albums itself. It also initiates creative residencies, and segments its musical programming by integrating electroacoustic music.
E-FEST has built itself up step by step over time, with the same demand for independence in the choices we make. Far from any pressure or convenience, the singularity of the project has been affirmed by its content and its role as a pioneer among audiences.
For the future, we hope above all to remain faithful to the two principles that underpin the project’s original philosophy: artistic rigor and diversity, through programming that is open to all contemporary artistic fields and in situ productions of trans-disciplinary digital works.
The articulation of the actions we are proposing for this 2016 edition underlines the project’s reorientation towards new creative and structuring initiatives:
Creation of « HAMJU », a show that takes a sociological interpretation of the Mezoued, blending dance and digital arts; Creation of « ELEMENTA », an interactive sound and light work in the public space of Bab Bhar; Opening within the Efest-Lab of a new section of professional meetings, dedicated to exchange and reflection around cultural and creative issues in the territory ; Development of a new approach to workshops, in the form of 10-day workshops/residencies promoting learning through experimentation; And to close the five-day festival, still in this quest for coherence and openness, the « Electron Libre » program, dedicated to the electronic music we love, will feature women in the spotlight, with the presence of Paula Temple, Cio D’or, Aurora Halal, Deena Abdelwahed, and Gaël Segalen.
The redefinition of the E-FEST project is launched on the occasion of this tenth anniversary, and we thank our partners and the public for standing by us and continuing to believe in this much-needed cultural diversity.
Afif Riahi
