SIMULACRA
Over the years, Nika Kupyrova has collected a large archive of images: .jpg downloads, .png downloads and screenshots. “I spend a lot of time on the Internet, which explains where many of the ideas for the “Simulacra” were born. One of the things about spending a lot of time online is that the seemingly playful nature of the pop-culture interpretations I encounter on the Internet is accompanied by an oppressive anxiety about the state of the world and a deep technological malaise.” Ambivalent feelings such as euphoria and unease are not confined solely to the humanistic history of technology and that of the Internet, but also extend to phenomena which involve deviations in our perception of reality […]. The hypnagogic gate, the transitional moment between wakefulness and sleep, is a classic threshold state in which the perception of sound and time frequently changes or hallucinations occur.
From a creative perspective, Kupyrova draws on methods used in digital game design: “Assets” are digital resources that are generated or used in the design process. These include 3D models, textures, colour palettes, audio and video files as well as animations. Click by click, code by code, the digital world is brought to life by means of illusion mechanisms. […] In a pseudo-organic construct composed of sunset, corals or mycelium, “Simulacra” unfurls a stage for a digital, animist cosmology consisting of jpg downloads, screenshots and avatars that serve as markers for the transition to an [altered] world. This world is a hybrid of reality and fiction, mechanical and organic elements. It is the world we live in, where the boundaries between what we perceive as real or fictional are constantly shifting. It is a phenomenon that is currently exemplified by images generated by deep learning models – a method that the artist consciously chooses not to employ, but at best to imitate.
Denise Helene Sumi
Over the years, Nika Kupyrova has collected a large archive of images: .jpg downloads, .png downloads and screenshots. “I spend a lot of time on the Internet, which explains where many of the ideas for the “Simulacra” were born. One of the things about spending a lot of time online is that the seemingly playful nature of the pop-culture interpretations I encounter on the Internet is accompanied by an oppressive anxiety about the state of the world and a deep technological malaise.” Ambivalent feelings such as euphoria and unease are not confined solely to the humanistic history of technology and that of the Internet, but also extend to phenomena which involve deviations in our perception of reality […]. The hypnagogic gate, the transitional moment between wakefulness and sleep, is a classic threshold state in which the perception of sound and time frequently changes or hallucinations occur.
From a creative perspective, Kupyrova draws on methods used in digital game design: “Assets” are digital resources that are generated or used in the design process. These include 3D models, textures, colour palettes, audio and video files as well as animations. Click by click, code by code, the digital world is brought to life by means of illusion mechanisms. […] In a pseudo-organic construct composed of sunset, corals or mycelium, “Simulacra” unfurls a stage for a digital, animist cosmology consisting of jpg downloads, screenshots and avatars that serve as markers for the transition to an [altered] world. This world is a hybrid of reality and fiction, mechanical and organic elements. It is the world we live in, where the boundaries between what we perceive as real or fictional are constantly shifting. It is a phenomenon that is currently exemplified by images generated by deep learning models – a method that the artist consciously chooses not to employ, but at best to imitate.
Denise Helene Sumi
Papier-mâché, plaster, bi-resin, organic and synthetic fibres, acrylic and
watercolour on wood, imitation gold leaf, varnished steel, digital print
Exhibition views Lentos Kunstmuseum (Linz, 2025)
Photodocumentation by Janine Schranz
Simulacra, 2024
Video (dual screens), 6 min 28 sec
Directing and art: Nika Kupyrova
Performers: Teuta Jonuzi, Trin Alt
Make up: Dragana Suljic
Camera: Ulrich A. Reiterer
Editing and postproduction: Patrick Topitschnig
Music: Ai fen
Exhibition views Lentos Kunstmuseum (Linz, 2025)
Photodocumentation by Janine Schranz
Simulacra, 2024
Video (dual screens), 6 min 28 sec
Directing and art: Nika Kupyrova
Performers: Teuta Jonuzi, Trin Alt
Make up: Dragana Suljic
Camera: Ulrich A. Reiterer
Editing and postproduction: Patrick Topitschnig
Music: Ai fen
Video trailer
