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PUBLISHER
Hatje Cantz

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 10.25 x 13.5 in. / 200 pgs / 1,006 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Out of stock indefinitely

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2016 p. 129   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783775741576 SDNR30
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.

  

HATJE CANTZ

Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital

Edited by Aliza Watters. Text by Hanan al-Shaykh, Daniel E. Atha, Kate Fowle, Nicholas Kulish.

Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of CapitalIn 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.

Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital

STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely.

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

MARK PEARSON | DATE 8/3/2016

Best of Fall 2016: Forthcoming Favorites from Mark Pearson

Best of Fall 2016: Forthcoming Favorites from Mark Pearson

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


FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/4/2016

Taryn Simon's 'Paperwork and the Will of Capital' evokes secrets that can be parsed only with the help of their captions

Taryn Simon's 'Paperwork and the Will of Capital' evokes secrets that can be parsed only with the help of their captions

"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


FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/3/2016

Teju Cole on 'Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital'

Teju Cole on 'Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital'

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


FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 1/20/2018

Taryn Simon & Tobias Ostrander in conversation at PAMM

Taryn Simon & Tobias Ostrander in conversation at PAMM

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."
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TARYN SIMON MONOGRAPHS + ARTIST'S BOOKS

Taryn Simon: The Innocents

TARYN SIMON: THE INNOCENTS

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

ISBN: 9781633450837
USD $85.00
| CAD $119

Pub Date: 4/5/2022
Active | In stock


Taryn Simon: The Color of a Flea’s Eye

TARYN SIMON: THE COLOR OF A FLEA’S EYE

Cahiers d'Art

ISBN: 9782851173140
USD $150.00
| CAD $210

Pub Date: 12/1/2020
Active | In stock


Taryn Simon: An Occupation of Loss

TARYN SIMON: AN OCCUPATION OF LOSS

Hatje Cantz

ISBN: 9783775743198
USD $75.00
| CAD $99

Pub Date: 2/27/2018
Active | Out of stock


Taryn Simon: Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies

TARYN SIMON: FIELD GUIDE TO BIRDS OF THE WEST INDIES

Hatje Cantz

ISBN: 9783775740920
USD $65.00
| CAD $90

Pub Date: 6/28/2016
Active | Out of stock


Taryn Simon: Contraband

TARYN SIMON: CONTRABAND

Hatje Cantz

ISBN: 9783775739719
USD $45.00
| CAD $62

Pub Date: 9/29/2015
Active | Out of stock


Taryn Simon: Birds of the West Indies

TARYN SIMON: BIRDS OF THE WEST INDIES

Hatje Cantz

ISBN: 9783775736633
USD $55.00
| CAD $75

Pub Date: 12/31/2013
Active | Out of stock