SZYMON ULIASZ & SOMI SNIEGOCKA | «Esperar»
27 Setembro 2025 16h00
SZYMON ULIASZ & SOMI SNIEGOCKA
Esperar
Esperar
Open Studio | 27-28 September 2025, 16:00-20:00
Artist Talk & Performance | 27 September 2025, 18h00
Artist Talk & Performance | 27 September 2025, 18h00
Zaratan is pleased to present Esperar, a pop-up exhibition by our artists-in-residence, Szymon Uliasz & Somi Sniegocka.
The concept of Esperar (Waiting) first took root in Lisbon during PACAP 8 / Mystery School of Choreography, curated by Meg Stuart. There, Somi Sniegocka and Salomé Pham-Van-Hué found they had been independently developing solo performances that explored the theme of time. During their residency at Zaratan, this exploration expanded as Szymon Uliasz joined the collaboration, creating a video essay as part of his and Somi’s research into Geomancy (earth divination). Their work together became a way to “open a time capsule”—a space for alternative temporalities to emerge, ones often overlooked, crushed, or rendered invisible by the speed and brutality of the world we live in.
The concept of Esperar (Waiting) first took root in Lisbon during PACAP 8 / Mystery School of Choreography, curated by Meg Stuart. There, Somi Sniegocka and Salomé Pham-Van-Hué found they had been independently developing solo performances that explored the theme of time. During their residency at Zaratan, this exploration expanded as Szymon Uliasz joined the collaboration, creating a video essay as part of his and Somi’s research into Geomancy (earth divination). Their work together became a way to “open a time capsule”—a space for alternative temporalities to emerge, ones often overlooked, crushed, or rendered invisible by the speed and brutality of the world we live in.
The exhibition will be complemented by an artist talk with the creators on Saturday, September 27th, at 6:00 PM, which will culminate in an improvised performance by Somi Sniegocka and Salomé Pham-Van-Hué. Two limited-edition risograph posters, produced in collaboration with Stolen Prints, will also be released at the event.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS & PROJECT:
As a duo, SZYMON ULIASZ & SOMI SNIEGOCKA explore geomancy—an ancient art of divination—as a way of reading Lisbon’s fractures and reimagining its histories. Taking the 1755 earthquake as a point of departure, they treat the city’s fissures in walls, streets, and stones as sites of prophecy. Inspired by Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas, their work unfolds through psychogeographic drifts and slow walks that expose the cracks between dream and waking, revealing hidden narratives at the edges of reality.
Szymon Uliasz (www.szymonuliasz.pl) is a cultural anthropologist and filmmaker. He is the author of music videos and short experimental forms and holds a PhD in Humanities. As a director, he has made three documentary films, including the feature Papercuts (2012), which received the Andrzej Munk Award for a directorial debut from the Lodz Film School. For Szymon, the camera is both a medium and a pretext for exploring a multi-sensory, palimpsest world. He lives in Kraków.
Somi Sniegocka (www.somisni.pl) is an artist, sound poet, and witch. Inspired by the surrealists and fascinated by psychogeography, she translates dreams into a wa(l)king language. Her research manifests in the murmuring sounds of the subconscious, using practices like Deep Listening, Logomotion, and Dreamwork to expand auditory perception.
Salomé Pham-Van-Hué is a dancer and choreographer from France, with a background in Political Sciences. Their work, grounded in somatic practices, explores alternatives to capitalist and patriarchal logics by giving space to the invisible, inefficiency, and imagination.
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