Secrecy and survival

Taryn Simon is a multidisciplinary artist whose works combine photography, texts, video, performance and sculpture to direct attention to unique, surprising and often disturbing phenomena.

By JESSICA VRAZILEK
Artist Taryn Simon (photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
Artist Taryn Simon
(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
 The newest exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, “Paperwork and the Will of Capital” by New York native Taryn Simon, is the imaginative result of in-depth research into the power and structure of secrecy and the precarious nature of survival.
“Simon’s images and texts reveal the invisible space between language and the visual world – a space in which multiple truths and fantasies are constructed and where translation and disorientation continually occur,” says the exhibition curator, Ruth Direktor.
Simon is a multidisciplinary artist whose works combine photography, texts, video, performance and sculpture to direct attention to unique, surprising and often disturbing phenomena.
She first exhibited in the early 2000s.
Her earlier series explored various topics such as innocent prisoners released after being wrongly incarcerated for years; the genealogy of families around the world and how they are linked with political, religious or civilian conflict; and hidden locations or objects that are related to American myths. Simon’s choice of topic and her ability to work with various media make her work conceptually and visually intriguing; the intricate layers she creates unfold in a seductive and captivating manner.
In her exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Simon comments on the political practices of signing treaties, agreements and decrees that have been constructed to influence systems of governance and economics.
Contract to Rehabilitate the Lebanese Postal System: Beirut, 1998(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
Contract to Rehabilitate the Lebanese Postal System: Beirut, 1998(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
“By drawing attention to the complex relationship between text and image, she highlights habits of inference and judgment, while also revealing the fictional dimensions of facts,” says Direktor.
Through her characteristically meticulous research and unique perspective, Simon examines the floral arrangements that have decorated the stages of major world conferences from the mid- 20th century to the present day. As they are often flanked by powerful world leaders, Simon sees the flower bouquets as carefully curated arrangements strategically placed to convey the importance of the institutions and signatories they represent.
“When looking through archival photographs of these events, some of the [floral] arrangements are absurdly large yet delicate. I find it interesting how nature is positioned in an ancillary way; it is ignored in the process,” says Simon.
“They [floral arrangements] signify the stagecraft and the ceremony that surround power.”
By isolating the bouquets, Simon positions them as the silent observer of man’s determination to control the fates of nations, institutions and the natural world. The artist further explores the floral arrangements in the context of their specific ceremonies, which unveils the public deceit and manipulation involved in the international political arena.
On display at the museum are 16 photographs of larger-than-life size floral arrangements, along with five stands containing pressed and dried flower specimens from the photographed bouquets.
“The beauty of the photographed flowers and the fragility of the dried flowers stand out in stark contrast to the informative texts – seemingly factual reports about conventions, agreements and conferences, which expose instances of injustice, hypocrisy and greed around the world,” says Direktor.
The flower arrangements that Simon works with are not the originals. Instead, she diligently studied archival photographs and worked closely with a botanist to most accurately recreate the bouquets. The flowers she uses come from the world’s largest flower auction in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands. At this auction, nearly 20 million flowers from Europe, Africa and North and South America are sold daily.
Final Communiqué of the Third Summit Conference of the Arab Front for Steadfastness and Confrontation States: Damascus, 1978(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
Final Communiqué of the Third Summit Conference of the Arab Front for Steadfastness and Confrontation States: Damascus, 1978(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
The globalization of the modern flower industry plays a vital role in the creation of the floral arrangements. More than 4,000 flowers and florae from Aalsmeer were shipped to Simon’s New York studio, where she recreated and photographed what she calls “impossible bouquets.”
According to Simon, the impossible bouquet is a man-made fantasy, and the ability to acquire any flower or flowers at a given time has been made possible through the advancements of science and commerce.
The concept of the impossible bouquet first appeared in Dutch still-life paintings in the early 1600s, when the increased urbanization of Dutch and Flemish society generated new interest in international trade and commerce.
Still-life artists would paint vases filled with combinations of exotic flowers from different countries and continents, some of which bloom during different seasons. Since this collection of flowers could never bloom naturally in a single season or in the same geographic location, it would not be possible for these bouquets to exist in reality.
Simon’s impossible bouquets did exist in reality, and each of the floral arrangements included in her series replicates a treatise or agreements involving countries present at the 1944 United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The purpose of this conference was to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the end of World War II. The agreements made there led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Both these institutions continue to be influential leaders of global capitalism.
The 16 large-scale photographs featured in the exhibition present Simon’s strikingly recreated flower arrangements.
She further emphasizes the bouquets by distilling the background and foreground tones from the original ceremonies to produce one wall color and one table color. The duo-chromatic background suggests a flag-like visual, which reinforces the political narrative.
“The work is a constellation of different things, all based on the underlying research, which is built into the medium,” says the artist.
Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, Bratislava Declaration: Slovakia, 1968(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, Bratislava Declaration: Slovakia, 1968(photo credit: AVIV HOFI)
Simon explains that even the heavy wooden frames outlining the photographs have been specifically chosen to correspond to the mahogany furniture used at such political events.
After having photographed each of the recreated floral arrangements, Simon carefully pressed and dried one of each of the flowers used; she then sewed the specimens onto archival herbarium paper to create a botanical collage. At the center of the exhibition space, the dried flowers are presented in a sculptural flower press, adjacent to a photograph of the full arrangement. Therefore, when the flower press closes, the specimen is pressed directly against its photographic counterpart.
The pressed flowers are made up of organic materials and thus will eventually fade and degrade over time, while the colorful photographs will retain their original form. Simon draws a parallel between the reliability and endurance of records and the idea that these, too, change and distort as time passes.
“Paperwork and the Will of Capital” is on display at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art until January 28. For more information: www.tamuseum.org.il/about-the-exhibition/ taryn-simon