Egied Simons (NL)

Egied Simons - Coils (2017)
Disruption – Remapping Nature (2017)
Photography Gert Jan van Rooij

Egied Simons - Coils (2017)

The world is his laboratory. Egied Simons (b. Wouw, 1958, lives and works in Rotterdam) presents processes and structures of living organisms that often go unnoticed. But Simons himself also subtly and respectfully intervenes in the natural space. His focus is not on the magic of the biology itself, but on the aesthetic experience of the amazing phenomena that occur every day all around us.

Liquid Files brings together many typical aspects of Simons’ practice as an artist: a process-oriented way of working, involving ephemeral, purely organic material that he collects himself, with chance playing an important role. The basis of the Liquid Files is the projection of living materials. Simons placed slide mounts on overhead projectors, with organic waste, pollen and cobwebs pressed between the sheets of glass. The development of the life contained within those few square centimetres, which the public could watch happening live, produced the most elegant and colourful structures, reminiscent of abstract-expressionist art. For other Liquid Files, Simons filled transparent containers with ditch water, full of beetles, water fleas and fly larvae. He projected these images on windows, in bus shelters, galleries and houses. Viewers witnessed a shadow play of minuscule water life, razor sharp and vastly enlarged, like in a dream.

In Coils (2017), Simons built on his fascination with the complex shapes of root structures. Using recycled coloured synthetic mooring rope, he made three sculptures inspired by the shape of coils. The work played with the notion of tree roots in the old wooded park, both seen and unseen. The rope naturally has a structure similar to that of tree roots, consisting of small threads branching off in different ways, and it is also extremely absorbent. This structure dictated how the artist was able to work with the rope; it was not possible to shape it according to any kind of plan. The unnatural, colourful and indestructible material entered into a confrontational interaction with its natural surroundings.