Dominique Malaquais is Senior Researcher at CEMAf (Centre d'Etudes des  Mondes Africains), a laboratory of CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in Paris; her work focuses on urban cultures.

She is Associate Editor of Chimurenga Magazine and sits on the editorial board of the journal Politique Africaine. Kadiatou Diallo is a visual artist, educator and activist based in Cape Town. She has coordinated a number of arts and culture initiatives in South Africa and beyond.  Together, Kadiatou and Dominique direct SPARCK - Space for Pan-African Research, Creation and Knowledge.

SPARCK is a multi-sited, multi-disciplinary project. It is structured around a series of residencies for, and collaborations between, artists and activists from across the African world. A wide range of installations, exhibitions, performances, screenings, Internet link-ups, roundtables and workshops are planned, along with initiatives engaging local communities and audiences.

SPARCK is a triennial project. Its first three year programme
(2009-2011) is entitled "Trans-Local Cultures in the Making of African Worlds". All of those involved in the programme will be engaging in a multivocal and multispatial discourse around this theme, exploring the role of African cities and the unique dynamics that they bring to bear in an increasingly urban globalised context.

SPARCK brings Cape Town and South Africa into a lively exchange with networks of urban artists, arts collectives, activists and scholars from three countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal. As new links are made and collaborations evolve, actors hailing from other countries will become a part of SPARCK's ongoing process as well.