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Emotional Terrains of Change @ Simian

2025

Simian presents Emotional Terrains of Change, a group show organised by the independent curator Fabian Flückiger in dialogue with Simian.

Against a backdrop of global unrest and fading post-war promises of progress, prosperity, and peace, the group exhibition Emotional Terrains of Change turns its focus to how humans, as individuals and societies, navigate transformation. Drawing inspiration from the writings of Johannes V. Jensen and Octavia E. Butler, the exhibition proposes to consider change not only as inevitable, but also as a potentially powerful source of agency.

The large-scale works in the exhibition investigate shifts in body and psyche brought about by technological developments, climate change, and political upheaval. At the core are emotional responses to changing social dynamics; the inner experience amidst external disruption. Offering a fragmented yet resonant portrait of the present, Emotional Terrains of Change calls upon the power of collective imagination to nurture emotional resilience and to re-envision the future with a renewed sense of human depth and possibility.

How do we navigate a world that appears to be transforming faster than we can grasp – without our agency and consent? Emotional Terrains of Change brings together six artistic positions to examine the emotional dimensions of accelerated change and its effects on the shifting inner and outer landscapes we inhabit.

We find ourselves in the midst of far-reaching upheaval: climate crises, geopolitical ruptures, democratic erosion, and the breakdown of structures once taken for granted. The promise of progress, prosperity, and peace that once defined post-war democracies has become difficult to sustain. Even traditional conservative forces, once considered protectors of continuity, now act as drivers of instability and disruption.

Photos by Brian Kure / GRAYSC

Too weak to catch a chicken, pushing a rock across a road, moving a sofa alone, what idiot prays for a time machine, the shallow end of deep, that was a long time on a boat, platitudes, undiluted African darkness, I can hear you chewing even with your mouth closed, my debts! chop the wood, thoughts and prayers, domain randomization, they say like anything the cancer can sneak up on you, nonsense she spits while speaking, all incidents are proceeded by a sign Handcrafted glass 2025 78 × 78 × 1 cm
Too weak to catch a chicken, pushing a rock across a road, moving a sofa alone, what idiot prays for a time machine, the shallow end of deep, that was a long time on a boat, platitudes, undiluted African darkness, I can hear you chewing even with your mouth closed, my debts! chop the wood, thoughts and prayers, domain randomization, they say like anything the cancer can sneak up on you, nonsense she spits while speaking, all incidents are proceeded by a sign Handcrafted glass 2025 78 × 78 × 1 cm
The hare that wants to open its eyes will prick itself with thorns Handcrafted glass 2025 78 × 78 × 1 cm
The hare that wants to open its eyes will prick itself with thorns Handcrafted glass 2025 78 × 78 × 1 cm
The neighbor’s chicken is a goose, from the ditch to the pit, don’t piss on concrete, I’ve lost my sky, follow the river, we should leave today, flavors of the mountain sea and sky, what does the rain matter to the drowning? don’t be like that, problems are a byproduct of risk, the Chicago fire was started by a cow, today as in the day that has passed or the day that is coming, well fitted sneakers for flat feet, eat more protein, you’re calling yourself to the stand? platitudes, it’s been an issue the whole time, it’s already passed the 4th stomach, thoughts and prayers, was it the bed wetting or the swaying, the arrest or the inability to grip properly, you can’t smell that way at this hour, money is dirt, the dog is the brother of the fox Handcrafted glass 2025 78 × 78 × 1 cm
The neighbor’s chicken is a goose, from the ditch to the pit, don’t piss on concrete, I’ve lost my sky, follow the river, we should leave today, flavors of the mountain sea and sky, what does the rain matter to the drowning? don’t be like that, problems are a byproduct of risk, the Chicago fire was started by a cow, today as in the day that has passed or the day that is coming, well fitted sneakers for flat feet, eat more protein, you’re calling yourself to the stand? platitudes, it’s been an issue the whole time, it’s already passed the 4th stomach, thoughts and prayers, was it the bed wetting or the swaying, the arrest or the inability to grip properly, you can’t smell that way at this hour, money is dirt, the dog is the brother of the fox Handcrafted glass 2025 78 × 78 × 1 cm

The exhibition – a hybrid that moves between solo and group show – draws its conceptual momentum from two literary works that explore, in distinct ways, the relationship between transformation, temporality, and emotional resilience. In The Long Journey (1908–1922), a sweeping six-volume epic tracing humanity’s evolution from early hominids to Columbus, Danish Nobel laureate Johannes V. Jensen describes the rock formations of Kullen (today Sweden) as seemingly eternal to the people living on the opposite coast (today Denmark). However, this perception is revealed to be an illusion: what appears fixed, has in fact been sculpted by time – through tectonic, climatic, and biological forces. For Jensen, change is not opposed to reality but constitutes its very core.

A more radical reading emerges in Octavia E. Butler’s dystopian novel Parable of the Sower (1993), which plays thirty years in the future, that is now. In a violent society on the brink of climatic and democratic collapse, Butler’s protagonist confronts a central truth: “God is Change.” Here, change is not only inevitable but absolute – a primal force that evokes both awe and fear. Butler’s narrative captures the fragility of humanity, the strength of community and agency in the midst of systemic collapse.

These two trajectories – Jensen’s evolutionary review and Butler’s transformationist prophecy – form conceptual pillars within the exhibition. They challenge us not to recoil from change, but to face it emotionally, with reflection and initiative. The large-scale contributions of the invited artists address themes of transformation spanning habitats, psyche, biology, and democracy. These works engage in a dialogue that sparks reflection on issues such as the role of medicine and technology amid shifting political landscapes (including autocratic regimes), or the psychological impact of altered habitats and social dynamics brought about by climate change.

Rindon Johnson turns his attention to a symbol of democratic representation: the Capitol in Washington, D.C. In an AI-assisted live-stream video work, the riots on January 6, 2021 are rendered from a distance, its actors appearing almost like streams of ants. Meanwhile, this detached perspective belies the profound fracture it signifies: a society driven by polarisation, where democratic institutions are disregarded or eroded. Johnson transforms this moment into a symbol of technologically amplified rupture (by algorithmic manipulation) – a real, but digitally intensified, assault on democracy’s foundations. His hand-crafted glass ceiling pieces, produced in Ukraine, enter into dialogue with the video by echoing the patterns of brain cancer cells. In doing so, Johnson opens up a discussion on the physical and psychological weakening of systems, and raises questions about interruption, containment, and the possibility of healing.

Eating is cooking!
Eating is cooking!