doual’art and iStrike initiated a long-term collaboration program, aimed at turning the city of Douala (Cameroon) into a research case study and at facilitating opportunities for international exchanges. doual’art is a no-profit organization, based in Douala, iStrike is a no-profit based in Rotterdam.
Within the frame of this long-term program, doual’art and iStrike started interrogating themselves about: how to represent an African city and its complexity by avoiding the clichés usually regarding the South of the world; how to bring together different points of view on Douala to cover aspects which are unusual for classical scientific rigour; how to bring to light what impact cultural initiatives and organizations have on this city and how to measure it; how to develop non-dogmatic and creative methods of inquiry based on collaboration and on exchange of ideas.
Starting from those premises they have been organizing 5 main initiatives: Thinking about!, Ars&Urbis International Workshop, the publication Douala in Translation, SUD – Salon Urbain de Douala and WideSUD.

1.Thinking about!
doual’art visited the Netherlands for a week where together with iStrike involved local curators, artists and operators in a debate on artistic projects in Douala.
2.Ars&Urbis International Workshop
Local and international artists, architects, journalists, philosophers and cultural producers experienced the city of Douala, made contact with several local professionals and inhabitants and translated its diverse aspects of urban life into a personal and unpredictable research. Those different points of view on Douala made the content of the Douala in Translation publication.
3.Douala in Translation: a view of the city and its creative transformative potentials
The publication brings together cross-disciplinary analyses of Douala from 18 authors, who approached the city according to their own interests, experiences and inclinations. It makes also known the extraordinary work of doual’art from 1991 to the present, in promoting innovative cultural projects of urban intervention and collective participation, and it introduces the first edition of the event SUD – Salon Urbain de Douala, a festival of site-specific artistic interventions focused on the multifaceted aspects of the city.
4.SUD – Salon Urbain de Douala
The international event took place in Douala and it was meant to present to a local and international audience the city of Douala and its most pioneering cultural and artistic projects. More than 15 international artists, architects and researchers produced site-specific installations ad-hoc for SUD tackling issues like urban mobility, heritage, informal sector, recycling and modernity.
5.WideSUD
Public program aimed at the presentation of the SUD 2007 internationally. The first event took place at Project(or) Art Fair, Rotterdam.