Swiss artist Tatjana Erpen arrived in Malindi on July 9th, 2025, to begin her Atelier Mondial-supported residency. She left on September 19, 2025, and participated in a cultural exchange with Madou & Dokoura (Mali) music concert at Alliance Francaise Mombasa, Tao Mabo Mbao Festival na Watoto at Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi in collaboration with Brian Irungu’s Pallets Furniture Kenya, the 22nd Annual Mekatilili Wa Menza Cultural Festival events in Malindi, and engaged with local artists, elders, and the community.
Tatjana Erpen's work blends performance, writing, and socially engaged practice. Tatjana’s artistic practice is based on the observation and reflection of social conditions and relationship structures. She approaches these fields of relationships through objects, their appearance and use. Her work tells of the will to create and the potential for action. As an interface between body and environment, objects are fundamental links in human actions. As a tangible carrier material, objects enable access to topics such as self-empowerment, consumer behaviour, privileges, status, local and global relationships. In her work, she links various micro-histories, scrutinises power relations and creates space for a variety of perspectives. Tatjana Erpen questions the certainties of the present and expands perception through side stories, spaces of possibility and alternative strategies.
You can find more about her work here:
Website: www.tatjanaerpen.ch
Instagram: @tatjanaerpen
Bio: tatjanaerpen.ch/bio
Tatjana shared a workshop with Malindi artists and the community.
Please see the attached poster for more information.
WORKSHOP DETAILS
Title: Satellite Stories
Date: September 15th, Venue: Maono Malindi Time: 3-5 pm
Receiving and transmitting. Tatjana Erpen collected satellite stories from Malindi.
The main task of the satellites orbiting our planet is to relay information.
Malindi, located close to the equator, served as a launch site for rockets that sent satellites into space, the first was Uhuru in 1970. What remains of this history in the region?
With our smartphones, our personal receivers in our pockets, we are connected to satellites.
What does it mean to be connected, to have the opportunity to share information and emotions globally?
Together, we created collages and produced a zine with satellite stories