Sustainable Bandjoun Station
The project
Bandjoun Station is a cultural project founded in 2013 and led by artist Barthélémy Toguo comprising a contemporary art museum and a non-profit organization. Together, they form a center in which Barthélémy Toguo brings together artists and researchers from around the world to create and produce "in situ" works and monumental objects relating to the local context. The center, located on the highlands of western Cameroon, is accompanied by a coffee plantation and four hectares (ten acres) of banana, corn, bean and sweet potato cultivations
Phase 1 of the "Sustainable Bandjoun Station" project guarantees Bandjoun Station’s energy self-sufficiency thanks to solar electrification so that this center’s activities and services can continue to take place. Its energy self-sufficiency also helps the creation of new activities and new services for the surrounding population such as the creation of a computer room and a study room for the students, the construction of an energy sharing point for those who need to recharge their computer or phone, the distribution of solar lamps to pupils of the four neighboring schools and the setting up of a web radio on art, culture and sustainable development.
In summary, Bandjoun Station’s missions are to develop education and access to African art, which Barthélémy Toguo considers to be a factor of economic development, and to promote organic farming and food and energy self-sufficiency.
80
artists in residence are hosted every year
More than 200 people
including around 50 children can use the IT room and study room
3 000
pupils and students recharge their electronic devices at the three recharging stations
100
children and their families benefit from lighting in their homes thanks to the solar lamp.