BOOK FORMAT Hardcover, 10.25 x 13.5 in. / 200 pgs / 1,006 color.
PUBLISHING STATUS Pub Date 6/28/2016 Out of stock indefinitely
DISTRIBUTION D.A.P. Exclusive Catalog: FALL 2016 p. 129
PRODUCT DETAILS ISBN 9783775741576SDNR30 List Price: $100.00 CAD $132.50
AVAILABILITY Not available
TERRITORY NA LA
A storyteller whose grist is the instability of fact, Simon’s research-driven approach has produced such impactful bodies of work as The Innocents (2002); An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007); Contraband (2010); and A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII (2008–11); as well as the more whimsical The Picture Collection (2013), and Birds of the West Indies (2013–14). Simon takes empirical photography into the field of post-conceptual practice, with exacting attention to aesthetic and formal concerns.
Edited by Aliza Watters. Text by Hanan al-Shaykh, Daniel E. Atha, Kate Fowle, Nicholas Kulish.
In Paperwork and the Will of Capital, Taryn Simon (born 1975)--one of the most original and challenging conceptual artists of our time--brings together geopolitics, horticultural science and the art of still life to investigate how the stagecraft of power is created, performed, marketed and maintained. At signings of political accords, contracts, treaties and decrees determining some of the gravest issues of our time, powerful men flank floral centerpieces curated to convey the importance of the signatories and represented institutions. Simon reconstituted and photographed the flower arrangements from archival images of key events; she then dried and pressed the flowers as herbarium specimens. This sumptuous book, part nature study, part metaphor, bears witness to an elaborate and intriguing process of artistic deconstruction and reconstruction.
“These flowers sat between powerful men as they signed agreements designed to influence the fate of the world.” --Taryn Simon
A spread from 'Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital.' Centerpiece is from a 2014 Phnom Penh meeting between Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison and Cambodian interior minister Sar Kheng, at which an agreement was signed to transfer Australian refugees from Nauru to Cambodia.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The New York Times
Teju Cole
Paperwork and the Will of Capital originates in the press and official photographs made at signings of agreements, declarations, memorandums, treaties, communiqués, conventions, contracts and other formalized moments of accord. Simon noticed the ubiquity of floral displays at these occasions. To refocus attention on the workings of power at these signings, she took an oblique approach: a re-creation of the flower arrangements. The flowers were originally a decorative note, a reflex to signal the importance of the occasion. Reconstructed, they are not mere decorations. The people are gone. The documents are absent. The isolated arrangements are like secrets that can be parsed only with the help of their captions.
Our idiosyncratic man on the street reports back from the real world with a list of 10 favorite titles from our Fall 2016 catalogue and beyond. continue to blog
"What could a flower arrangement have to do with an agreement to settle claims between two nations?" Teju Cole asks in this weekend's New York Times Magazine. Taryn Simon's Paperwork and the Will of Capital "originates in the press and official photographs made at signings of agreements, declarations, memorandums, treaties, communiqués, conventions, contracts and other formalized moments of accord. Simon noticed the ubiquity of floral displays at these occasions. To refocus attention on the workings of power at these signings, she took an oblique approach: a re-creation of the flower arrangements. The flowers were originally a decorative note, a reflex to signal the importance of the occasion. Reconstructed, they are not mere decorations. The people are gone. The documents are absent. The isolated arrangements are like secrets that can be parsed only with the help of their captions." Featured spread deconstructs a centerpiece from the Cairo Communiqué on International Cooperation for the Protection and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage, 2010. continue to blog
In this weekend's New York Times Magazine, Teju Cole attempts to reconcile his election shock by delving into Taryn Simon's newest body of work—documenting floral arrangements that have graced the tables upon which the world's most important historical treaties and contracts were signed. "Paperwork and the Will of Capital uses a different set of tools to think about political fate," Cole writes. "Powerful men (it is usually men) meet to sign some papers. Afterward, the world is not the same. And yet few of those whose lives are altered by whatever was signed could conceivably trace their circumstances to that event. All they know — all most of us know — is that there are powerful forces in the world that shape our day-to-day realities. Simon’s project brings the scattered light of those forces to clear points of attention." Featured spread is captioned "Nuclear fuel agreement: Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Brushehr, Iran, February 27, 2005." continue to blog
Thursday, January 25 at 7 PM, artist Taryn Simon will discuss her multidisciplinary practice with PAMM Chief Curator Tobias Ostrander. Simon’s work, "Convention on Cluster Munitions. Oslo, Norway, December 3, 2008," from the collection Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, is one of a series of archival photographs of official signings, each including an elaborate floral arrangement that represents the occasion. Immediately following the conversation Simon will sign copies of
Paperwork and the Will of Capital and her forthcoming book, An Occupation of Loss, which will be available for purchase. "Convention on Cluster Munitions. Oslo, Norway, December 3, 2008" (below) is on view as part of PAMM’s permanent collection exhibition, "Within Genres." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 10.25 x 13.5 in. / 200 pgs / 1,006 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $100.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $132.5 ISBN: 9783775741576 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 6/28/2016 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: SDNR30 PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Edited by Aliza Watters. Text by Hanan al-Shaykh, Daniel E. Atha, Kate Fowle, Nicholas Kulish.
In Paperwork and the Will of Capital, Taryn Simon (born 1975)--one of the most original and challenging conceptual artists of our time--brings together geopolitics, horticultural science and the art of still life to investigate how the stagecraft of power is created, performed, marketed and maintained. At signings of political accords, contracts, treaties and decrees determining some of the gravest issues of our time, powerful men flank floral centerpieces curated to convey the importance of the signatories and represented institutions. Simon reconstituted and photographed the flower arrangements from archival images of key events; she then dried and pressed the flowers as herbarium specimens. This sumptuous book, part nature study, part metaphor, bears witness to an elaborate and intriguing process of artistic deconstruction and reconstruction.
“These flowers sat between powerful men as they signed agreements designed to influence the fate of the world.” --Taryn Simon
