The 8th edition of the Vootoon International Cartoon Festival is being held in Cotonou from 1 to 6 July to introduce the Beninese public to all facets of drawing and provide an opportunity to meet some of the country’s leading artists.
Guest artists include press cartoonists Annick Kamgang (Cameroon), Thembo Kash (Congo) and Willy Zekid (Republic of Congo), as well as French comic strip authors Afif Khaled and Aurélien Morinière, and Beninese cartoonists Kenneth Vihotogbe, Enock Dedegbe and Ridwan Radji.
Organised by the AS-Bénin association, in partnership with the French Institute, Cartooning for Peace, Ressources Educatives Bénin, La Librairie SONAEC, la Librairie Savoir D’Afrique, Le centre culturel Artistik Africa, EIGB Benin, Le Parking Bar, Africa Sound City, Wezon média, the Festival is under the banner of artificial intelligence (AI), its advent and its impact on the arts: “In the art world, artificial intelligence enables the creation of different illustrations, press cartoons, comic strips and so on. In other words, it can do everything that has to do with art as well as humans. As a result, in the years to come it could become a threat to cartoonists. The VOOTOON festival, which aims to be at the forefront of technologies impacting drawing, is an opportunity to debate and discuss the reality of AI, to demystify the phenomenon or, on the contrary, to heighten our concerns”. As-Bénin.
To mark the occasion, Cartooning for Peace is presenting its exhibition “Artificial Intelligence: a (r)evolution?”, produced with the support of the CFC.
A rich programme of conferences, debates, exhibitions, drawing initiation workshops, drawing battles and other fun and attractive activities are planned for this new edition.
