Maya Varichon El Zanaty

Maya is an independent curator who earned a degree in History and Social and Political Sciences at the Sorbonne. She has been based in Dakar for the past 15 years. She is associate curator at Espace Médina, Urbi program curator, and was assistant to artistic director Simon Njami for the 2018 Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art. The focus of her work is on conceiving spaces that lend themselves to the analysis and production of social transformations, spaces conceived in terms of their capacity to create bonds and to query the form of what binds, articulates, decompartmentalizes, and sets in motion in order to experiment, on different scales, the need to live together in society. Through her practice she contributes to developing a multitude of forms conducive to exploring and disseminating knowledge with present-day relevance, in a search for a realistic utopia where art and knowledge activate their revolutionary potential.

Co-founder in 2005 and artistic director of “Les Petites Pierres”, a hub for artistic projects, and of the eponymous collective and space, Maya also directed Interférences, a program of public street performances, and she coordinated the cultural programming of the British Council of Dakar from 2008 to 2012. She works regularly with many African and international partners and artists on a variety of publications, research projects and artistic activities.