KI-YI VILLAGE

Situated on a beautiful wooded hill in the Riviera 2 district, the KI-Yi village is a series of interlocking spaces, each dedicated to a different activity. Ki-Yi Lines, a fashion workshop that designs both stage and street costumes, where you can choose to have your own models made. Then there's the Ki-Yi Museum, where you'll find pieces from all over Africa, as well as paintings and objects by Werewere Liking. The museum store sells masks, statuettes, necklaces and bracelets, as well as books, records and documentaries by/about the Ki-Yi Mbock troupe and its "star-awakening high priestess". Last but not least, the stages for performances and rehearsals, including the Douta Seck stage, with its Roman-style bleachers where, during the day, you can watch the students rehearse, and the Winnie Mandela stage, a theater with a seating capacity of 250. Shepherd and tireless promoter of this talented troupe of artists and of the values of Ki-Yi Mbock, Ben Mpeck, alias "l'impeckabl", multi-disciplinary artist and modern griot fused with poet and slammer in his spare time, will be delighted to welcome you and guide you through the mysteries of this little village like no other, which stands up as a resistant, fervent defender of the democratic values of art and identity without frontiers.
The Ki-Yi Foundation is a troupe founded in 1985 by the charismatic Werewere Liking. The Ki-Yi Mbock group has since become a training ground for artists from all over the sub-region. Ki-Yi Mbock is an internationally-renowned troupe whose artists, true to their name which means "the ultimate knowledge of the universe", are now working at the Centre. The Center makes a point of making itself available to the general public, and more particularly to children and young people who have dropped out of school and are underprivileged. "We are totally autonomous and receive no subsidies. Our system reproduces the traditional functioning of a rural African community. I take in street children and orphans, but also teenagers from well-off families who have artistic aspirations," explains Werewere Liking. The Ki-Yi village is much more than just a center for artistic training; it has truly become "the sacred wood in the city". In addition, dinner shows highlighting Ivorian art (music, dance, etc.) can be organized for groups of at least 20 people, by prior arrangement.