Designing Digital Futures: Ghana × NetherlandsDesigning Digital Futures: Ghana × Netherlands

This one-day event brings together local creatives active in the digital sector (Accra) with representatives from -1, the digital lab at the Nieuwe Instituut. The goal is to foster cross-cultural exchange, share best practices, and build lasting networks that can lead to future collaborations in the digital field between creatives in Ghana and the Netherlands.

Location: Limbo Museum (Off-site), Treehouse Cafe, Accra

10:00 – 12:00 | Guest Arrival + Cafecito

12:30 – 13:00 | Opening Remarks

• Welcome by Dominique Petit-Frère (Founder, Limbo Museum)
• Remarks by Cathy Brickwood (Head of Digital Culture Programme, Nieuwe Instituut)
• Remarks by representative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana

Purpose: Introduce the partnership, frame the intent of the gathering, acknowledge stakeholders.

13:00 – 14:00 | Session 1: Digital Culture & Cross-Context Innovation

Format: Short Presentations + Panel Discussion

Speakers:

• Thomas Orbon (Project Lead, -1 Lab at Nieuwe Instituut)
• Selected Ghanaian digital artists/designers (e.g. interaction designer, game developer, digital archivist)
  • David Alabo
  • Ohemeng
  • Nyahan
  • Tracey Thompson

Moderated by: Nuna Doe

Focus:

• What does it mean to build “digital culture” from within?
• Case studies from both Ghana and the Netherlands
• Shared challenges: access, ownership, preservation

14:00 – 15:00 | Studio Encounters

• “Studio Encounter” booths with short, casual demos from Ghanaian makers
• David Alabo
• Ohemeng
• Nyahan
• Tracey Thompson
• -1 Residents

15:00 – 16:00 | Session 2: Archives, Memory & Experimentation

Format: Conversational roundtable

Participants:

• Cathy Brickwood
• Local digital artists / creative technologists

Topics:

• Archiving as activism
• Opportunities for co-research and digital storytelling

16:30 – 17:00 | Closing Reflections

• Reflections from Cathy, Thomas, and Limbo team
• Invitation to continued engagement
• Public announcement of shared intent for a longer-term digital creative hub in Accra

17:00 – 20:30 | Networking Drinks + DJ Set

• Sundown cocktail/networking hour
• DJ set by a local sound artist active in digital/experimental culture