SIMON WALD-LASOWSKI
b. 1980 Paris, France
Simon Wald-Lasowski collects, studies and mocks the iconography of images, objects and signs that are so prevalent in contemporary society. Simultaneously, his multiform practice conveys a genuine love for disdained tacky gadgets and obscene curiosities, which he obsessively hoards. Objects become actors in satirical subversive installations, which confront viewers to absurd issues of the human condition and to the enormous underbelly of our morbid consumerism.
For instance, Wald-Lasowski’s artwork “The Slinky” made in collaboration with Sajoscha Talirz was created in the context of ‘Get Lost Art Route’ in the summer of 2018. They were commissioned by Flow Real Estate to make a site-specifc work for Tripolis, a building designed by famous Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck.
“The theme of the route was ‘Code of Conduct’: the term refers to a company’s behavioural code and comprises the norms and values directors and employees must adhere to. How can profit go hand in hand with morality and corporate social responsibility? How can you marry up business with ideals?” In addition to his work as an architect, Van Eyck was known for designing playgrounds. He wanted to stimulate the imagination of children.
With “The Slinky”, the artists wanted to introduce the ‘Homo ludens’ in the sterile business environment of the Zuidas (Amsterdam’s Financial district). The sculpture, which perfectly matches the gradient of Tripolis’s window frames, is a playful critique of the Code of Conduct’s idealistic promises. “The Slinky” is undergoing a transition not only in colour but also in shape: the rings start ‘clean’ and end in an entwined cluster. Beautiful promises turn into a mess...
Wald-Lasowski’s artwork is both playful and disruptive, thought-provoking and eye-catching. Interventions in quotidian spaces create modes of communication of concepts in a way that removes the art from private and inaccessible spaces, creating conversations with all publics that use the spaces the artworks invade.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 ‘Welcome Stranger’ Stitching Welcome Stranger, Amsterdam, NL
2021 ‘He saved the world from harmony’, 1646, Den Haag, NL
2020 ‘It is difficult to be an island of perfection in a sea of misery, but please, do not doubt our sincerity’
Part 2, W139, Amsterdam, NL
2020 To glide in on a shrimp sandwich’ TTHQ, Rotterdam, NL
2019 ‘It is difficult to be an island of perfection in a sea of misery, but please, do not doubt our sincerity’
Part 1, PPPP, Beijing, CN
2018 ‘She was the Picasso of passive aggressive karate’, trampoline gallery, Antwerpen, BE
2017 ‘I think there’s very little likelihood that oysters, mussels and clams have any consciousness so
it’s defendable to eat them’, trampoline gallery, Antwerpen, BE
2015 ‘Do Camels Dream of Snow?’, Foam Mercatorplein Gallerie, Amsterdam, NL
2015 ‘Do Camels Dream of Snow?’, Project Space Pacific Place, Amsterdam, NL
2010 ‘For Your Eyes Only’, Foam-3h, Amsterdam, NL
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 ‘Residing, Reviewing, Rendering’, online exhibition, China ‘Alluminous’, Lichtkunst route Almere, NL
2022 ‘Beeld en Storm’, Oosterkerk, Amsterdam, NL
2021 ‘Your Playground’, Arti, Amsterdam, NL
2021 ‘The Architecture of Staged Realities’, HNI, Rotterdam, NL
2019 ‘Animalia’, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL
2019 ‘The Fountain Show’, SUNDY, London, UK
2019 ‘Der Rausch’, Arti, Amsterdam, NL
2018 ‘The Small Museum’, Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
2018 ‘Beyond the Liquid Horizon’, Le Lieu Unique, Nantes, FR
2018 ‘Sugar Pop Institute’ in collaboration with Bonno van Doorn, Museum het Dolhuys, Haarlem, NL
2018 ‘Get Lost Art Route’, Amsterdam Zuidas, The Netherlands ‘De Dingen’, Stroom, Den Haag, NL
2017 ‘Open Studios’, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL
2016 ‘Circluding and other fluid exchanges’, Van Eyck, Maastricht, NL
2015 ‘Dead Darlings 8’, Looiersgracht 60, Amsterdam, NL
2015 ‘Soirée Graphique’, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, CH
RESIDENCIES
2019 Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, NL
2018 Institute for Provocation, Beijing, China
2016 Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2014 Ksar Tissardmine, Rissani, Sahara, Morocco