The exhibition EURASIA – A Landscape of Mutability seeks to map innovative practices and exchanges that reflect the plurality of cultures, collaborations and conceptions of Eurasia, with all its innovations and frictions. Inspired by the artistic imagination of artists, it will consider Eurasia as a landscape of mutability. EURASIA will explore the transformations and growing mutipolarity of the supercontinent, reflecting the flux of cultural practices, communication and exchanges. It will ask: How has Eurasia inspired artists and thinkers historically, and how has this varied across the supercontinent?

EURASIA – A Landscape of Mutability

From 8 October 2021 to 23 January 2022

@ M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp

Website of the exhibition 

Janek Simon

Simon studied sociology and psychology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His artistic activity began around 2001. As VJ Jansi he cooperated with Commbo group, making visualisations for music in clubs and with the 36,6 Foundation. He is author of interactive installations, videos, objects. Simon takes inspiration from computer games, Internet and the archive (in its multiple meanings). He lives and works in Cracow.

The main topic of Janek Simon’s art is the problem of catastrophe, an approaching end of civilisation, which could be foreshadowed by computer games. He makes objects which suggest an approaching cataclysm, on the other, he gathers hints and constructs tools with the help of which a human being can free himself/herself from civilisation and will survive in the face of the catastrophe. This attitude is based on the thought of anarchists who propagated the idea of individual rebellion against the system and state. This rebellion finds its expression in Simon’s individual creativity, and consequently, in his aspiring for self sufficiency. 

His artistic début took place in 2002 during the Novart.pl Festival in Cracow. There he presented Carpet Invaders – a simple computer game whose board was an image of a carpet projected on he floor. Within the limits marked by the edging in the style of Eastern carpets, a space ship navigated by the viewer shoots at elements of the oriental ornament. 

More about Janek Simon on culture.pl