Fak'ugesi 2026 – Full programme unveiled
- Fak'ugesi Festival
Talks, exhibitions, films, immersions, performances, game jams, XR, installations and hackathons, 13–17 October.
Fak'ugesi African Digital & Innovation Festival returns to Johannesburg 13–17 October 2026 for its 13th year, presenting a five-day programme under the theme African Imaginaries. Across Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, Origins Centre, Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, The Accelerator and The Bioscope Independent Cinema, the festival brings together artists, researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs, educators, game makers, filmmakers and audiences through three curatorial frequencies: Memory Engines, Imagination Engines and Future Engines.
The programme moves between the preservation and transmission of knowledge, the creative practices through which alternatives are made possible, and the systems, cities, technology and infrastructures through which possible futures are tested. Alongside talks, performances and screenings, audiences can encounter installations, XR experiences, fulldome works, demonstrations, gaming activities, workshops and opportunities for professional and public exchange.
African Imaginaries: The organising theme
African Imaginaries is the organising theme for Fak'ugesi 2026. The programme is structured through three frequencies that connect knowledge, creative practice and technological possibility.
Memory Engines asks how knowledge, history and cultural memory are preserved and transmitted. Imagination Engines focuses on creative practices through which alternatives are made possible. Future Engines looks at systems, cities, technology and infrastructures through which possible futures are tested.
The three frequencies are distributed across the festival rather than presented as separate silos. Audiences move between archives and immersive technologies, creative practice and artificial intelligence, animation and gaming, urban simulation, entrepreneurship, music, performance and new forms of digital cultural production.
Click on the image to read the Fak'ugesi Zine
The Circuit: five days
Tuesday 13 October: Opening
Fak'ugesi begins on Tuesday 13 October with registration and connection at Tshimologong from 08:15, followed by the official festival opening at Origins Centre from 18:30 to 22:00. The opening is by invitation only and is structured as a living transmission through activated spaces, immersive moments, performances and reimagined Fak'ugesi favourites. Rather than a conventional ceremony, the evening moves audiences through a curatorial journey between exhibition, performance and provocation.
Wednesday 14 October: Memory Engines
The main public programme begins on Wednesday 14 October at Origins Centre with Memory Engines. The day asks how knowledge, history and cultural memory are preserved and transmitted.
At 09:15, Dr Tammy Hodgskiss presents "From the Inside of a Memory Engine", using the institution itself as a GLAM case study across galleries, libraries, archives and museums. At 10:20, Molemo Moiloa, co-founder of Open Restitution Africa, presents the keynote "We Are the Future's Ancestors" in the Tapestry Room at Origins Centre, addressing restitution, heritage return, land justice and the infrastructures through which communities hold and transmit knowledge. At 11:30, Canda Kincses presents "Futures_Past: Amplifying Memory with Immersive Technologies", bringing together six immersive exhibitions in which Southern African histories become sensory encounters through sound, moving image, interactive technologies and XR, powered by the French Institute of South Africa.
Additional talks include Dr Olu Randle on "Can Video Games Preserve Indigenous Knowledge?" at 12:30, Lauren Fletcher's launch of the "Futures_Past Immersive Arts Mapping Study" at 14:15, Andreas Stecher's "Dis/locating the Centre" (live sound performance on data centres) at 15:45, and Grace Meadows on "Memory Making: XR at the Intersection of Heritage, Education and Renewal" at 16:15.
Wednesday evening moves into the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome for COSMOCENO 2026: International Networked Visual Music Festival.
Running through the festival is "Beads as Bytes" by Tanushka Ramdin / T A N Z, which presents Ndebele and Zulu beadwork as systems of encoding and transmission. Also running 14–16 October at Tshimologong is "Quantum Echoes of Humanity" by Dr Renzo Filinich Orozco and "Echoes of the Machine: A Cybernetic Song", interactive installations exploring AI, archives and human-machine interaction.
Thursday 15 October: Imagination Engines
Thursday shifts the focus towards Imagination Engines and the creative practices through which alternatives are made possible.
At 10:20, Dr Benjamin Rosman presents the keynote "The Intelligence Century and Why Africa Must Help Invent It" at Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, drawing on work at the Wits MIND Institute. "The Art in Artificial Intelligence" brings together an interactive panel on human-centred AI across filmmaking, digital art, journalism and social media. Dr Tsosheletso Chidi presents "The Languages We Imagine into the Future" at Chris Seabrooke Music Hall.
Thursday also brings Fak'ugesi Screens the Future to The Bioscope Independent Cinema, with a programme presented in partnership with the Best of Cape Town International Animation Festival, The Bioscope, Durban Film Mart X Digital Lab and Fête du cinéma d'animation 2026.
Friday 16 October: Future Engines
Friday is the principal Future Engines day, bringing together entrepreneurship, urban simulation, creative technology, gaming, music, fulldome work and the launch of Red Balloon Festival South Africa.
The Pitchathon Marathon and Johannesburg Innovation Exchange take place at Tshimologong. At 10:00, ByLwansta presents "Imagination as Infrastructure". At 10:20, Monika Bielskyte presents the keynote "DISOBEDIENT EDGES: Storyworld Design for Embodied Futures". At 11:30, Dr Sechaba Maape presents "The City is Learning", an interactive simulation where audiences redesign a city precinct using AI-assisted tools. At 14:00, Eiko Tanaka presents "Characteristics of Japanese Animation Production". From 14:00–19:00, The Gaming Hub hosts the Red Bull Wings Cup. At 14:45, "Umfula: Echoes of the River" takes audiences into the fulldome for a journey through the Umfolozi River.
The Gaming Hub hosts the AI & Music in Africa Business Hackathon, with nine teams pitching at Pitch & Startups. Tournament of Power, game jams and entrepreneurship pitch sessions run throughout the day.
Red Balloon Festival South Africa launches on Friday, asking "Whose Image? Whose Future?" and addressing who tells South Africa's stories and who owns and profits from the image.
Saturday 17 October: Making & Awards
Saturday moves into making. Women Game Jam South Africa and Game Jam Plus South Africa open to game creators, aspiring developers, artists, designers, writers, musicians and newcomers. Make ideas. Test them. Break them. The 4th Annual Fak'ugesi Awards celebrate work across animation, gaming, digital art, immersive media and creative technology, hosted by Msizi James and streamed live from 18:30.
Access & ticketing
- Official opening (Tue 13 Oct, 18:30–22:00, Origins Centre): invitation only.
- Day Pass: R135 students, R340 general public.
- Full Pass: R540 students, R750 general public.
- Industry Pass: R1,950.
- Registration through Webtickets.
- Group discounts: hello@fakugesi.co.za
- Awards (Sat 17 Oct, 18:30–21:30): invitation only, streamed live.
For the full programme, registration and practical information, visit fakugesi.co.za.
About Fak'ugesi
13 years. Founded 2014 through Wits School of Arts and Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct. Brings together African digital innovation, creative practice, cultural production. Alby Michaels directs the 2026 edition.13–17 October across Wits Braamfontein and the surrounding cultural and creative circuit.