Free
Krakow-based artist Janek Simon presents a new project for his solo exhibition inspired by theorist Paul Virilio’s concept of the ‘end of geography’. This proposes the idea of the contraction of time and space as a result of the process of globalisation. Simon investigates new understandings of geography and distance in the globalised world by revisiting key locations of the historic Trans-Atlantic slave trade triangle – West Coast Africa, the Caribbean and Bristol.
The exhibition is an environment comprising found and constructed components including historic maps made into 3D projections: visualisations of time-space compression for the Atlantic Ocean; documentation of his research travel; anthropological studies including his personal magazine archive; and collages appropriating the pages of key structuralist ethnography books. Simon’s experience of travel has always been an important inspiration for his work, particularly in situations where he seeks ways to break through the tourist glass cage by looking beyond the conventions of the tourist industry.