simonvantil@gmail.com
cast bronze,
cast from a pre-Columbian double-
chambered vessel attributed to
Chimú culture, ca AD 900-1470,
and two Roman coins, ca. AD 69-79
and AD 81-96.
25x15x12 cm.
Camera, 2026
cast bronze,
25x15x12 cm.
ceramic pre-Columbian vessel,
attributed to Chimú culture, dated
between AD 900-1470.
The double-chambered vessel in the
shape of two jaguars was once a ritual
object that supported the crossing to
an afterlife as burial gift. Cast with its
openings covered by ancient Roman
coins, defaced by having drilled pin-
hole apertures at their centres, the
ceremonial vessel that was once lifted
from the darkness of a grave is now
repurposed as an optical instrument,
a double camera obscura that parallels
binocular human eyesight.
in a camera obscura.
photogram, silver gelatin print,
40x120 cm.
Framed 90x180 cm.
photogram, silver gelatin print,
40x80 cm.
Framed 90x140 cm.
the House of the Orchard is known
for its frescos that adorn the walls of
two bedroom spaces, offering views
onto an orchard through life-like
representation. This multi-part work
looks at the imitation of nature and
early history of Western painting
through the historical beginning of
photography in the form of the photo-
gram.These lush views are however
starkly reduced to the painted pergola
panels that circumscribe the blue bed-
room. The panels are each copied as
photograms by exposing a lattice
structure made of cherry tree leaves
on b/w paper, resulting in an image
of a lattice framework on a black
ground, identical to the original
painted representations.
2025-2026, photogram, silver
gelatin print, 40x80 cm.
Framed 90x140 cm.
tree leaves, held together with cellulose
tape, 2025-2026
photogram, silver gelatin print,
40x120 cm.
Framed 90x180 cm.
Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam
January 19 - March 28, 2018
Traveled to
C/O Berlin, Amerika-Haus, Berlin (DE)
September 29 - December 1, 2018
Traveled to
Mai Mano Haz, Hungarian House of
Photography, Budapest (HU)
February 1 - March 17, 2019
The traveling exhibition Back to the
Future, the 19th century in the 21st
century, paired 19th-century photo-
graphy with contemporary practices,
drawing parallels in motifs, methods
and means.
two silver gelatin prints,
each 28,5x36 cm.
Framed 72,5x85 cm.
pre-Columbian Chimú burial vessels.
Photographed inside a darkened tent
with a small hole in the top, the objects
were lit by daylight during exposures
that lasted up to several hours,
gradually appearing from the darkness.
Yet, as a result of erroneous double
exposures on already exposed film, the
artefacts almost disappear from the
pictures instead.
Untitled, 2015-2018-2023,
two silver gelatin prints,
each 28,5x36 cm.
Framed 72,5x85 cm.
the 19th century in the 21st century,
C/O Berlin, Amerika-Haus, Berlin (DE)
2018
Two Chimú-Inca Vessels, 2012
double exposed photograph,
both vessels photographed
individually in two different
locations on a single 4x5" film.
silver gelatin print, 28,5x36 cm.
Framed 78x90 cm.
three ritual pre-Columbian Chimú
burial vessels, ca. AD 900-1470,
wool blanket, two ash wood elements
Installation view of Back to the Future,
Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam.
notions of reproduction and transformation. A small
show at an antiquarian's shop in 2015 centered on
the removal of six pre-Columbian vessels attributed
to Chimú culture, replaced by photographs of the
objects. A concurrent exhibition at De Ateliers in
Amsterdam then housed the vessels alongside other
sculpture. The work Current and Equivalent from
2018 consecutively compressed this installation of
disparate objects into a single sculpture, as a form
of duplication. Three vessels had been traded in the
meantime, destroyed abstract wood objects were
reinterpreted.
Untitled, 2015,
six pre-Columbian Chimú vessels,
this work is no longer extant.
Untitled, 2015, oak wood with
brass inlay, no longer extant.
chromogenic color print,
24x18 cm. Framed 26x20 cm.
of RMO, Royal Museum of
Antiquities, Leiden, NL
Huis Marseille Museum for Photography, Amsterdam,
September 7, - December 8, 2013
chromogenic color print, 149x190 cm.
Framed 153x194 cm.
The work Light over Horizon (sunset to nautical
twilight) shows a seascape photographed with an
extended exposure that started at sunset and lasted
till nautical twilight (the moment when the sun is
12 degrees below the horizon and all natural light
has disappeared from the atmosphere).
Inherently methodical, this photograph's exposure
time ran parallel to the full duration of twilight, as
daylight faded into darkness and the visibility of the
world slowly diminished, yet the actual exposure ran
counter to this decrease, accumulating more light
over time due to a gradual increase in aperture, star-
ting with the smallest lens opening and ending with
the widest.
Installation view, The Rediscovery of
the World, Huis Marseille, 2013
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
June 17, - September 17, 2017
silver gelatin print, 16,5x21 cm.
original frame 100x150 cm.
This work is photographed with an exposure time
corresponding to the time it takes for light to travel
from the sun to the Earth, an accurate duration of
8 minutes and 19 seconds. Traveling at the speed of
light, an approximate 300.000 km/s, light crosses
an average distance of 150.000.000 km.
Looking out over an expansive sea, the camera is
operated not only as a means to produce an image,
but as a device to measure duration and distance.
Location photograph,
From and To / Elongated View, 2011
Installation view, The Rediscovery of
the World, Huis Marseille, 2013
the collection of Huis Marseille at De Pont,
De Pont Museum, Tilburg,
February 15, - August 23, 2020
Moonlit Disk, 2012
photographed by moonlight,
chromogenic print, 160x200 cm.
Framed 164x204 cm.
Location photograph, moonlit,
Moonlit Disk, winter 2012
photographed by moonlight,
silver gelatin print, 52,5x65,3 cm.
Framed 110x130 cm.
This work was photographed in
nighttime, by the light of a full
moon, and recorded a shadow
cast on the dark side of the Earth.
Umbra in Umbra, 2013
photographed by moonlight,
silver gelatin print, 52,5x65,3 cm.
Framed 110x130 cm.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, installed
throughout the permanent collection,
May 20, 2015 - January 17, 2016
Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, on display alongside
Van Gogh's paintings and drawings, was held on the occasion
of the commemoration of the 125th anniversary of Vincent van Gogh's death.
Untitled, 2015
double exposed photograph,
photographed by moonlight,
silver gelatin contact print,
10x12,5 cm. Framed 46x52 cm.
chromogenic print,
image 180x140 cm.
Framed 220x180 cm.
The monochromatic, photographic work Night is the
outcome of an exposure that corresponds to the precise
duration of night-time, from exact sunset till exact sunrise.
The work depicts a clear sky as if it was day, exposed by the
last light of evening and the first light of new morning.
Huis Marseille Museum for Photography, Amsterdam,
September 7, - December 8, 2013
