Collective Rencontres Plurielles

Rencontres Plurielles is a dynamic, female-led collective founded in 2023 by Swiss visual artist and performer Magali Dougoud and Congolese musician and performer Orakle Ngoy. Emerging from collaborative research, residencies, and encounters with invited artists and researchers across Switzerland and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the collective’s interdisciplinary work spans performance, sound, text, and video. Rencontres Plurielles amplifies silenced voices and challenges colonial legacies, while exploring themes including history, memory, and transformation. Their projects are rooted in deep social engagement, inviting diverse perspectives across cultures and geographies to imagine new ways of perceiving and shaping complex identities.

In 2023, the collective was awarded a co-creation grant from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and presented its first exhibition and artist talk at the Yambi City Festival, Platform Contemporaine, in Kinshasa/DRC. In 2024, they held a research residency at Cima Città, Torre/Switzerland, presented the performance All that we change and the exhibition Bogogwani Nde Solo at City SALTS, Basel/Switzerland. A residency at Akademie Schloss Solitude is planned for 2025.

Magali Dougoud (*1986 in Martigny/Switzerland) is a visual artist living and working between Lausanne/Switzerland and Paris/France. She holds an MA in Fine Arts from HKB – Bern/Switzerland (2014) and a BA from HEAD – Geneva/Switzerland (2011). Her practice spans video, text, sound, and performance and is rooted in feminist, ecological, and speculative research. She investigates dominant historical and scientific narratives, offering alternative subjectivities through concepts such as liquidity, violence, and interspecies intelligence. Water is a recurring motif in her work, embodying ambiguity and resistance. Her recent exhibitions and performances include: What if? Songs from Tomorrowlands, Art Safiental Biennale, Safiental/Switzerland; Chaillot Expérience, Théâtre National de la Danse de Chaillot, Paris (2024); You may find yourself in a haunted space, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel; Mati Wata Water, National Museum of Kinshasa; Riverhood, Kunstforum Baloise Park, Basel (2023); LITTÉRAGRRRL, Antre Peaux, Bourges/France (2022); Kyiv Biennial/Ukraine with Room to Bloom (2021); The Blue Continuum, GPS, Martigny (2021); Tiempo Profundo, Modern Art Museum of Chiloé/Chile (2020); and Los Cerillos Contemporary Art Center, Santiago/Chile (2019). She has received grants and residencies from the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia (2021–2023), Kin ArtStudio, Kinshasa (2022), Cité internationale des arts, Paris (2021), and Air Berlin Alexanderplatz/Germany (2020).

Orakle Ngoy (*1981 in Kinshasa) is a musician, rapper, slammer, performer, and self-taught artist living and working in Kinshasa. She holds a degree in Public Law from the Free University of Kinshasa (2010). Her practice spans language and performance, incorporating slam, speech, poetry, and activism. As one of the few female voices in Congolese hip hop, she uses her art to denounce sexism, advocate for women’s rights, and speak out against social injustice. Her lyrics give voice to Congolese women’s experiences, reclaiming space through poetic resistance. She is the founder of Afrika Diva, a network of women artists in Africa, and initiator of the Yambi City Festival in Kinshasa. Her work has been presented at INACT Festival (2024), Punch Agathe (2019–2024), BAFF Festival, Basel (2021), Guerrilla Classics, Zurich/Switzerland, Quilombo and City SALTS, Basel (2020), Tango, Berlin/Kinshasa (2020), Triangle Tournoyant, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2019), SPAM and ACUD, Berlin (2019), Mbote Hip Hop Festival, Brazzaville/Republic of the Congo, Journées Musicales de Carthage, Tunis/Tunisia, MASA, Abidjan/Ivory Coast, and Festival Afropolitain, Dakar/Senegal. She has received support from the Pro Helvetia Confluences grant (2023), OneBeat Residency (USA, 2023), Atelier Mondial, Basel (2023), Odyssée Residency Program (2023), and the Cité internationale des arts, Paris (2021).