Meta Folklore

Janek Simon com­bines in his works elements of post-​colonial theory, com­puter science, and anar­chism, with do-it-yourself practices. Meta Folklore is a series of figures prin­ted in 3D tech­nology based on a neural network created by the artist. The con­tinually expan­ding database—a set of photographs of the most varied figurative ethnic sculp­tures from various eras and cultures—is proces­sed based on prin­ciples of machine lear­ning and generates new pat­terns mutated in various ways.

Synthetic Folklore

Simon fed geo­metric textiles motifs from all over the world into a com­puter and “trained” the neural network on this database. The algorithm “lear­ned” to produce new pat­terns and ornaments, no longer crafted by man but by an artificial intelligence.

Polyethnic

A series of sculp­tures mer­ging ethnic motifs from India, Africa, South America, Europe, and Poland.

A, A, M, ?, K and A

A series of poems coded within abs­tract artistic com­positions was writ­ten by Simon as a response to emotions spur­red by the col­lapse of sub­sequent intimate relationships.

Man with the Head of Dog

A series of 3D-printed sculp­tures of the dog-​headed people.

Untitled

A relief based on the ornamen­tal tapestries, stit­ches together a per­sonal nar­rative of the artist’s emotional and artistic life.

Reversed Theft 1

The artist bought one can of Coca-​Cola by going with it from one shop to another and paying for the very same coke over and over again.

Sculpture from the Museum of Man in Paris Made Based on Oskar Hansen’s and Lech Kunka’s Drawings

A series of sculp­tures alluding to the so-​called primitive forms in art, created by the artist using a do-it-yourself 3D printer.

Homemade Electronic Watch

An elec­tronic watch con­struc­ted accor­ding to instruc­tions found by artists on the Inter­net. An experiment in lear­ning and the availability of information.

A Survey of Lottery Systems

Untitled

Bzik tropikalny

A mechanical and mul­timedia spec­tacle about Polish coloniality. The artist reflects on this topic through the lens of Witkacy’s work of the same title.

Cracow’s bread

The bread loaves with insect legs. Janek Simon won­ders about the limits of homemade robotics — produced at home, as well as related to home works.

Time-space compression of the Atlantic region

Two objects, which are a visualization of trade relations and their develop­ment in the Atlan­tic region, as well as the times needed to cross the ocean.

Polish Year in Madagascar

Janek Simon organized an unof­ficial Polish cul­tural season in the Antananarivo. Made a reflec­tion on the role of cul­tural diplomacy in the con­tem­porary world and never-​realized Polish colonial plans in Madagascar.

Janek was here

Stockbook

Shadow of a Broken Bicycle

National budget in 2010

A solid instal­lation by Janek Simon, which is a three-​dimensional sculp­tural visualization of the annual budget of Poland.

Volkswagen Transporter T3 Painted in Random Colors