Between 21 and 23 September 2026, the participants of the virtual "Research as creation, creation as research" workshops, organised by IFAS-Research and IFRA-Nigeria, met in-person in Ibadan. During three days, the participants, both researchers and artists, from Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe and France, worked together to build a way to showcase their work mixing academic research and artistic creation.
Finally, on 24 September, They presented "Research-Creation: A Performed Conference" at the Alliance Française of Lagos. In this show, the participants blended sound, dance, spoken word and literature in an interactive performance. Their goal: to illustrate how art can open new ways of thinking about a research subject, or offer new avenues of expressing truth. In particular, they endeavoured to illustrate the concept of positionality in research.
This event is part of the Débats des Idées (Debate of Ideas) programme, on the theme “Écouter les voix sensibles et alternatives pour ouvrir la voie” (“Listen to sensitive and alternative voices to pave the way”), supported by the Institut Français and the Institut Français of Nigeria. It was photographed by Andrew Esiebo.
The participants were: Dameh Joseph Ali, Kwame Boafo, Eiseke Bolaji, Oluwaseyi Eniayo, Pauline Guinard, Annael Le Poullennec, Carla Mostert, Neo Muyanga (in absentia), Duduzile Ndlovu, Oluwabukunmi Olukitibi, Alex Opper.
