manifesto of fragility – A World of Endless Promise
Taryn Simon – Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015
2024
Archival inkjet prints, texts on archival herbarium paper, wooden frames
Venue
-
Lyon
Born in 1975 in New York, United States.
Lives and works in New York, United States.
In signings of political accords, contracts, treaties, and decrees, powerful men flank floral centerpieces curated to convey the importance of the signatories and institutions they represent. The signings that inform Taryn Simon’s Paperwork and the Will of Capital involve the countries present at the 1944 United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, which addressed economic globalization after World War II and led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Photographs of the recreated centerpieces from these signings, together with their stories, underscore how the stagecraft of political and economic power is created, performed, marketed, and maintained. Simon worked with a botanist to identify flowers in archival images of signings and sourced specimens from the world’s largest flower auction in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, which receives and distributes approximately 20 million flowers per day. Each recreated floral centerpiece represents an “impossible bouquet,” a concept that emerged in Dutch still-life painting during the country’s seventeenth-century economic boom and the emergence of modern capitalism. An impossible bouquet is a man-made fantasy of flowers that could not naturally bloom in the same geographic location and season—now made possible by global commerce. Thirty-six floral centerpieces were photographed against background and foreground colors keyed by the original décor of the historic ceremonies. Many of the agreements in this project represent broken promises—declarations that have been violated and withered.
Courtesy the artist, Gagosian Gallery and Almine Rech Gallery
With the support of Gagosian Gallery et Almine Rech Gallery
Artist(s)
Discover also
- manifesto of fragility
Annika Kahrs – Le chant des maisons, 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Christina Quarles
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Aurélie Pétrel –Minuit chez Roland [31 décembre], 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Cemile Sahin – Drone Valley, 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Markus Schinwald – Panorama, 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Sarah del Pino – Amosite, 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
WangShui
Hyphal Stream (Isle of Vitr.°.ous), 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Organon Art Cie – Le fantôme du Bataillon de la Belle de Mai, 2022
Usines Fagor
- manifesto of fragility
Eva Fàbregas – Growths, 2022
Usines Fagor