Janek Simon: The Polish Year in Madagascar

In April 2006. Janek Simon organised an exhibition of contemporary Polish art in the capital of Madagascar, Antananarywa. An exhibition that is unique for many reasons. Unique, because the first presentation of Polish culture in this country. Exceptional, because he did not show any work by a Polish artist on it - he presented the works of Vlad Nancy from Romania, Ivan Moudov and Krassimir Terziev from Bulgaria, Erik Binder from Slovakia and the Czech group Guma Guar.

Despite the fact that in Antananaryve Janek Simon, through his thoughtful selection, created an exhibition that referred to the situation of Poland and its problems: the growth of nationalism after the transformation in 1989, the Church's interference in the sphere of politics, the degradation of public space, mass and thoughtless consumption, or the issue of the war in Iraq. Ironizing about the current Polish cultural policy, the artist showed that art created outside Poland can relate to Polish reality. In his project, Janek Simon also draws our attention to the contemporary concept of the nation and the evolution of its social significance. In the Fourth Republic of Poland, this issue takes on a special, new dimension, although the artist himself, in an extremely interesting conversation with Krzysztof Cichon, points out that "the idea with Madagascar was created before the elections". Year of Poland in Madagascar Janek Simon was interested in two young, outstanding art historians - Łukasz Guzek and Łukasz Ronduda, who in an interesting way subjected the project to thorough analysis, clearly indicating that the number and variety of issues and problems raised by the artist seems to be unlimited. I sincerely encourage you to read both interesting texts and a record of the conversation with Janek Simon.

Presenting in Atlas Sztuki Year of Poland in Madagascar Janek Simon, we will show the works of artists from Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, who made up the exhibition in Antananaryve, documentation of the exhibition itself and the artist's trip to Madagascar and archival materials related to Polish plans to colonize the island. I cordially invite you to visit the Atlas Sztuki and see Polish Year in Madagascar. In my opinion, this is a very important statement about the contemporary Polish art world.