Taryn Simon: An Occupation of Loss
Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
September 13-25, 2016
Production | Exhibition Grant
Taryn Simon is an enigmatic and groundbreaking artist working in photography, video, text, sculpture, and performance. Her practice involves rigorous research and investigation into the power and structure of secrecy and the precarious nature of survival. Often highlighting moments of collapse in authority and seemingly functional systems, she underscores our operational and emotional vulnerabilities.
Simon continues to challenge the limits of this exploration in a new work that blurs the lines between audience, performer, performance, and reality. Commissioned by the Park Avenue Armory and Artangel, and supported by a production grant from VIA Art Fund, Simon directs and designs a performance that is self-orchestrated by the audience through their collective presence, absence, and movement throughout the space. At once intensely solitary and somberly communal, An Occupation of Loss blends performance, sound, and architecture, mapping the ways in which grief is programmed.
World Premiere
Artistic Concept and Direction: Taryn Simon
Installation Design and Architecture: Taryn Simon in collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu/Office of Metropolitan Architecture
Lighting Design: Urs Schönebaum
For more information, visit Park Avenue Armory.
Images [1-3] Courtesy of James Ewing.
Images [4-5] Courtesy of Naho Kubota.
