Francis Kéré is a young architect from Burkina Faso who studied in Germany and is currently living in Berlin. During his study he founded the »Schulbausteine für Gando« association whose main aims are to create buildings that meet climatic demands, and to support the Burkinabe people in their development. Since 1999 Francis Kéré has already taken part in numerous national and international conferences and has given lectures at several European universities.

All these topics he considered in numerous articles in international specialist journals and books. In 2008 he participated to Surprising Africa, a seminar organized by Butterfly Works as part of Picnic. In 2009 Francis Kere won the prestigious Global Award for Sustainable Architecture

Born in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso in 1965, Saliou Traoré now lives and works in, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
He has worked as an independent visual artist since 1993. His background is in traditional bronze sculpture as most of his family for generations has worked in this field. From the age of seven he worked in the family’s studio and learned the techniques of making bronze sculptures, from his father and from his older brother.

Both are known sculptors in Western Africa. After his studies he was invited to go to different workshops in Africa and Europe. In 2004/2005 he got the opportunity to work in the Netherlands as a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. In 2006 he established his studio in Amsterdam.

Olivier Tarpaga is a dancer-choreographer, musician-composer and actor originally from Burkina Faso. He is a 2008 Lester Horton Award recipient from the Los Angeles Dance Resource Center for his choreography “Disorder Inside Order” presented by the Target Dance Series at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood.

From 1994-2000 he will closely study African traditional and contemporary dance with internationally renown choreographer Salia Sanou and traditional drumming with master griot Amadou Kienou.