Uncovering digital informalities in Nairobi with MATZA Edgelands

The first two editions of MATZA Edgelands took place in Medellín, Colombia, in January 2022, and Cúcuta, Colombia, in July 2022. From January 23 to February 10, 2023, Nairobi will host a team of eight national and international artists and architects from Kenya, Venezuela, and Switzerland.

Chosen for its specific and central location in East Africa, as well as its unique position as an economic and creative hub, Nairobi serves its region and continent as a representative of Africa’s fast changing demographics and urban development.

The MATZA Edgelands project will be 19 days of immersion, work and investigation through visits, meetings and discussions with experts, community stakeholders and inhabitants in the city of Nairobi Pulse Live Kenya

In this particular context, Digital Informalities will explore how digitalization has given shape to a massive surveillance of the city, and new forms of informal business, alliances and reciprocities.

The MATZA Edgelands project will be 19 days of immersion, work and investigation through visits, meeting and discussions with experts, community stakeholders and inhabitants in the city of Nairobi in collaboration with the Wajukuu Arts Collective, with a specific focus on the area of Mukuru Lunga Lunga.

This will close with a beginning: a grand opening of the exhibition that will run to the end of the month.

The MATZA Edgelands project will be 19 days of immersion, work and investigation through visits, meetings and discussions with experts, community stakeholders and inhabitants in the city of Nairobi Pulse Live Kenya

By inviting artists from different fields of expression, MATZA also wants to explore how artists currently benefit from or misuse digital technology to their advantage.

MATZA will give voice to different mediums such as photography, videos, music or sounds which will be projected or broadcasted on large billboards and in the public space in close integration with the local community and its inhabitants.

In order to explore the way our social contract adapts to the digital world that we live in, MATZA Edgelands reframes and retro-engineers.

What does a community need in order to live in a culture of trust and belonging? What does each individual needs to thrive and feel safe and free? How can digitalization become a real tool to improve the living conditions of a population?

Insecurity and digital surveillance therefore deeply affect the social contract between inhabitants, the trust in the state, interpersonal relations, and rights of each individual.

An image of an informal settlement in Kenya Pulse Live Kenya

In a tense climate increasingly marked by fear and mistrust, many people believe that a choice has to be made between security and freedom, considering that the increase of one often necessarily leads to the decrease of the other.

In view of this polarized and antagonistic context, MATZA wants to consider this question under other perspectives, and seeks to explore how trust and new forms of social contract can emerge among the complex layers of cities and their informal development.

This project was initiated by Séverin Guelpa and Anja Wyden Guelpa in close collaboration with the Edgelands.

Fact sheet:

Who: MATZA Edgelands, Wajukuu Arts Collective, Pro Helvetia

Date: January 23 – February 10, 2023

Location: Mukuru Lunga Lunga, Nairobi

Exhibition: February 10 – February 30, 2023

Artists: Lawrence Shabu Mwangi (KEN), Joan Otieno (KEN), Mounir Ayoub (TUN, CH), Flurina Rothenberger (CH), Ngugi Waweru (KEN), Nabalayo Wattimah (KEN), Ngure Wanjiru (KEN) and Ronald Pizzoferrato (VEN).

Experts: Wajukuu Arts Collective (KEN), Mukuru representative (KEN), Grace Mutungu, John Walubengo, Grace Githaiga, Irungu Houghton, Victor Ndede, Peter Ouko, Chao Tayiana, Stephen Githuita Mwangi, Silantoi Suzzane, Constant Cap, Bridget Andere, Jaimee Kokonya, Njoki Jacqueline Gichinga, Sibonelo Hlanganani Gumede (S-A), Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health - TICAH (KEN), Barack Otieno (KEN), Nest Collective (KEN), Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute - NCAI (KEN), Patrick James Naef (CH), Yves Daccord (CH), and Beatriz Botero (COL).