M HKA Ensembles

Maquette, 44 x 38 x 26 cm.

Collection: Courtesy Milena and Rafał Bujnowski.

Adopting a kind of artistic chain reaction, Simon’s artworks can often lead to other artworks. Chinese Calculator became fundamental in the process of making the work The Holiday House, made half a year later. Simon made a small model of a house, in particular one based on the memory of the summer house he would visit with his family as a child on their holidays. Created from Balsa wood favoured by hobbyist model-makers, the artist made all the measurements to 25 construct the model using the Chinese Calculator. With the calculator’s degrees of variation, all the angles of the house’s structural supports and contours are slightly off, giving the model a slightly odd, precarious look with an un-level floor, and no segment being truly horizontal or vertical. Chinese Calculator and The Holiday House are exhibited together, which becomes particularly meaningful for the latter. Chinese Calculator actually provides much of the formal context for The Holiday House, bringing one inspiration from adulthood in dialogue with one from childhood.