(02) Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, install. view, 2019

After exhibiting in Slovenia’s infamous brutalist Gas Station by Mihelic a series of oneiric creations Jakub Jansa shares his concept. Ten Years Nightfeatures Occult table, Guided Tour, Keeping in Line (social niceties), Red Herringand April Showers. His solo exhibition was simultaneously haunting and humorous, poking fun at society describing a complex history of the hierarchy of vegetables- with a surreal flare. Ten Year Nightpersuaded us to sleep with one eye open - the avocados dominate the celery-people and no narrative is stable. Placed in the home of Melania Trump, with a Prime Minister who was previously a comedian, political spleen seeps from Jansa’s work.

(03) Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, “Keeping in Line”, UV print on engraved mirrors, LED, 160x100cm , 2019

(08) Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, “Occult table, UV print on engraved mirrors, LED, detail, 2019

What drew you to Mihelic’s Gas Station, the 1968 Architectural space built under communism, for your exhibition?
This sixth episode of Club of opportunitiesis a reflection on what happened in previous episodes. Each object represents every single existing one. The Gas Station is simply a symbolic choice - a moment of pause and replenishment. At the stop you can orientate yourself from there and choose where you go. It summarises our first series.

What aesthetics influence you most?
Aesthetics of the places where I spend my time- first is my studio. Based in Thrill Park, a tourist attraction, it is some kind of horror themed escape room. Second is my Fitness centre, placed in the middle of a casual shopping mall pretending to be the Oxford University library but full of fitness machines. It is a very Black Mirror-ish experience- with fake bookshelves glued with fake books. I like places that challenge the senses and our perception in the way that you are not sure if they are real or simulated. I also think Mihelic’s Gas station building is from this category.

(10) Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, “Occult table, UV print on engraved mirrors, 120x90x120cm, LED, 2019

(13) Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, install. view, 6 channel synced video “Guided Tour”, 4:50, 2019

Do you intend to align your art with ‘the alien’?
No.

Shiny and bright or black and enclosed in a box your imagery ricochets between styles. Do you intend to disorientate the viewer?
The viewer’s comfort is part of my whole process. Attack comfort and you will gain attention. Maybe it's some kind of attention trap. One of the sub-themes, quite a utopian one, which I really love to observe, is how much energy we invest into perceiving art in the gallery. Usually people invest around three seconds per painting and then start to look for another glass of wine. Quite depressing, right? :-))

Avocados are a theme in Keeping in Line, a video installation of a strained social interaction between acquaintances. Why did you add an outlandish avocado into your video?
It uncovers the crucial topic of the whole series - the vegetables world hierarchy. In the supermarkets we can find celery roots situated on the bottom shelves, avocados are always highlighted in the centre. In the episode you've mentioned - No.5 “Keeping in Line”. The main character Red Herring (a trans celery being) is working on the Avocado Bar, where he is comparing himself with star avocados. And he wants to become a part of higher veggie-siety.

Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, install. view, 2019

Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, “Red Herring”, UV print on engraved mirrors, LED, 160x100cm, detail, 2019

Your large canvas-like installations explore transparency and hiding, can you develop on your concept?
I like to work with “hidden dramaturgy” plan. I am trying to build a situation, which invisibly leads visitors all around the place telling the story chapter by chapter. Transparency or hiding- I am simply part of that.

Define ‘post-truth’.
Are we sure that something like “truth-truth” existed in the past?

Ten Year Night happens in Slovenia, the birthplace of Melania Trump and president Marjan Serac who “first came to public attention as a comedian and satirist” (BBC). What do you think about the increase in electing ‘personality’ politicians?
Fear? I guess non-psychopath human beings feel fear → Confident psychopath leaders looks like they have no fear → People follow them. Simple formula. As a bonus, it’s sometimes fun.

Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, “Occult table, UV print on engraved mirrors, LED, detail, 2019

Jakub Jansa, Ten Years Night, “April Showers” feat Karolína Juříková, video on leather jacket, 6:00, 2018

Red Herring offers disjointed advice for the political right by a middle-aged man in prosthetics. What is the purpose of your satire?
Ok, long story short (I promise, I will try)…The story of Club of Opportunitiesbegan as an introduction to an ontology of a celery root and it's own self-being.

In the second episode we witness the SEER touching every individual celery root and getting them tattooed with positive predictions - or functions. She is trying to realize her own ambitions and desires for hope.

The first main plot twist comes in the third episode. Here, we can see one of the so-called "Celerists", individualizing himself and becoming a dark-side influencer. He calls himself Red Herring. Now he's revolting against the SEER. He simply doesn’t want to follow given functions. He discovers that this mythology is simply a storytelling. By taking control of this storytelling, he is able to steer it in a different direction. He enters a battlefield and wrestles on a political level.

Other celerists are shocked by Red Herring’s acting and they don't know how to react. That is why they are looking for help. So, on which page to start, hm? They are based in the department called Britanica Bootcamp (episode 4), reminding us of a hybrid military camp and library. What happened in ep. 5, you already know from my previous answer - Red Herring starts to work on an avocado bar and wants to become part of higher veggiesiety…

We expect, that in upcoming episodes, other celery roots are going to find out on which page to start. And they will be able to cooperate. Even though they are handicapped by advanced critical thinking. They need to find a new positive idol. But how to find him? What does he/she/it look like?

Give us three words to describe Ten Year Night.
Grown organic story