AI x Virtual Storytelling: Afrocentric Art Gets Interactive at CAVIC
The Creative Arts and Visual Imagery Centre (CAVIC) hosted a virtual exhibition that fused AI, participatory design, and Afrocentric narratives. It put Nigerian youth creativity on display and made a strong case for tech as a tool for cultural storytelling.
For creatives, the message was clear: AI isn't the art. It's the workflow. It can speed up iteration, expand formats, and help audiences step inside your story.
Installation Highlights
"Onugbo ml'Oko - A Tale of Shadows and Brotherhood" used intricate projection mapping to animate kinship and sacrifice. Rooted in a play by Samsudeen Amali, it stitched memory and myth into an immersive scene that felt close and communal.
The Interactive Installation Participatory Game brought the crowd into the plot. Instead of watching, attendees made choices that steered the experience-proof that collaboration can carry a story farther than a static screen.
"Reflections of Time" turned mirrors and light into a live canvas. Shifting fractals reframed time as something you can feel, not just count-personal timelines bumping into shared history.
"Can You Hear Me Now?" paired projection art with spoken word. Visuals and voice worked in sync to explore communication, misfires, and reconnection.
Voices from the Event
Philip Agbese Jr., CAVIC's creative director, said the centre is focused on equipping young people with platforms to test ideas at the edge of art and tech. With guidance and the right tools, he noted, youth can create opportunities for themselves and reduce restlessness that comes from limited options.
"Merged Realms: Beyond Boundaries" framed the exhibition's intent-to push past familiar formats and invite bold experiments. The throughline: skill over hype.
Marina el-Chalouhi, an account director at Obsidian and an AI practitioner, pointed to Africa's momentum in art and tech, and to CAVIC's role in connecting invention with creative output. She also flagged AI's value for filmmaking-faster previsualization, smarter iteration, and new aesthetics that don't require massive budgets.
Electronic engineer and artist Danial Agbese stressed that AI is one tool among many. Like a camera, it still needs a strong eye; the artist sets the taste, the tool speeds the process.
Why This Matters for Creatives
This exhibition showed how tech can keep African stories rooted while expanding formats. It also made a practical point: constraints push better work, and interaction deepens audience commitment.
Practical Moves You Can Use
- Prototype with AI, produce with intent: use models for moodboards, animatics, and script passes-then refine by hand.
- Invite participation: build simple decision points, QR-based votes, or motion-triggered scenes to let audiences steer a moment.
- Start with light and space: mirrors, projection, and sound can carry big ideas without big budgets.
- Keep the story Afrocentric: use local idioms, shared memory, and community rituals as the core-tech is the frame, not the centerpiece.
- Ship small, iterate fast: test a room-scale scene, gather feedback, and update weekly instead of waiting for a "perfect" release.
Where to Learn Next
If you're building creative workflows with AI, explore practical tools and references that fit a studio schedule. A curated start: AI tools for generative art and role-based options at courses by job.
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