In 2004, Janek Simon took part in the project Re:Location Academy / Shake Society. At the close of this seven-week residency in Luxembourg, the artist presented his own hypothetical retrospective as a model at Casino Luxembourg.
Unlike this miniature retrospective, his latest project takes the shape of an “intelligent” installation. A sequence of events in a space provides a multimedia experience confronting the visitor with an assemblage of signs and messages, creating a universe bordering on subliminal and random phenomena.
At once manipulative, spectacular and irksome, the work shows a new facet of itself to every new entrant. All in all, you enter a pitch-black space, where nothing happens for some thirty seconds; then, a low hum makes itself heard from one of the speakers for about twenty seconds; then nothing again for another minute or so. You start to feel a certain frustration. Then, a blinking light appears at the far end of the room and something seems to appear on a wall, beckoning you closer… “
A surprising and deceptive device, the installation defies not only the visitor but exhibition conventions and practice at large.
From 20 December 2008 - 25 January 2009 at Casino Luxembourg.