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Photo: Cisternerne, Frederiksbergmuseerne, Frederiksberg, Denmark

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Taryn Simon
Start Again the Lament

Through November 30, 2024
Cisternerne, Frederiksbergmuseerne, Frederiksberg, Denmark
frederiksbergmuseerne.dk

Start Again the Lament is an extensive sound installation by Taryn Simon broadcast into the subterranean urban dripstone cave of the Cisternerne. Performed by professional mourners, the work explores how people mourn individually and collectively, considering the anatomy of grief and whom we choose to guide us through it. These sonic rituals of loss and discontent—including northern Albanian, Wayuu, Greek Epirotic, and Yazidi laments—transform the exhibition space into an instrument echoing recitations with a reverberation of seventeen seconds.              

Photo: Cisternerne, Frederiksbergmuseerne, Frederiksberg, Denmark

Taryn Simon, Agreement to develop Park Hyatt St. Kitts under the St. Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment Program. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, July 16, 2012, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015 © Taryn Simon

On View

Taryn Simon in
Guest Relations

Through April 28, 2024
Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai
jameelartscentre.org

Guest Relations brings together artwork and archival and architectural research to explore the historical, political, social, and cultural transformations that accompany processes of intense tourism. Examining the transactional nature of modern hospitality, the exhibition considers hotels as sites of artistic investigation, tracing their origins in colonial grandeur and hubris to their current, often generic, ubiquity in the age of globalization. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Agreement to develop Park Hyatt St. Kitts under the St. Kitts & Nevis Citizenship by Investment Program. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, July 16, 2012, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015 © Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Chapter XI, from the series A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII, 2008–11 © Taryn Simon

On View

Taryn Simon in
Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother

Through September 15, 2024
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
www.metmuseum.org

At a time when photographs are primarily shared and saved digitally, many artists are returning to the physicality of snapshots in albums or pictures in archives as sources of inspiration. Taking its title from a photograph by Maurizio Cattelan, the exhibition Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother brings together works in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from the 1970s to today. The selected works reflect upon the complicated feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality evoked by these physical artifacts, while underlining the power of the found object. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Chapter XI, from the series A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII, 2008–11 © Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Agreement to form a Palestinian national unity government. Mecca, Saudi Arabia, February 8, 2007, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Flower Power

September 29, 2023–January 7, 2024
Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, France
www.mdig.fr

This exhibition explores the symbolism of flowers, from antiquity to the present, through more than one hundred works, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, prints, books, and clothing. Flower Power is organized in thematic sections devoted to history and mythology, the relationship between science and art, religion, and politics and economy. This exhibition has traveled from Kunsthalle München in Munich, where it was titled Flowers Forever: Blumen In Kunst Und Kultur. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Agreement to form a Palestinian national unity government. Mecca, Saudi Arabia, February 8, 2007, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015 © Taryn Simon

Left: Taryn Simon: An Occupation of Loss Double Album (London: The Vinyl Factory, 2019). Right: Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII (1st ed. New York: Gagosian; Los Angeles: Wilson Center for Photography; Berlin: Neue Nationalgalerie, 2012)

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Taryn Simon in
How to Put Art in a Book

November 9–19, 2023
Palazzo Grassi, Venice
www.pinaultcollection.com

How to Put Art in a Book is a project dedicated to publishing and its manifold connections with contemporary art. The exhibition brings together fifty-two books selected by artists—including Taryn Simon, who also has work in the show—designers, and curators who were invited to nominate publications that they consider outstanding or unique.

Left: Taryn Simon: An Occupation of Loss Double Album (London: The Vinyl Factory, 2019). Right: Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII (1st ed. New York: Gagosian; Los Angeles: Wilson Center for Photography; Berlin: Neue Nationalgalerie, 2012)

Nan Goldin, Memory Lost, 2019–21 © Nan Goldin

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Nan Goldin
Memory Lost

May 11–October 8, 2023
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
louisiana.dk

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is presenting Nan Goldin’s Memory Lost (2019–21)—a new acquisition jointly owned with Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Scored by composer Mica Levi, with additional music by CJ Calderwood and Soundwalk Collective, the twenty-four-minute-long slideshow relates a haunting and emotional narrative comprised of outtakes drawn from Goldin’s archive. It is exhibited alongside selected works from the collection by artists including Taryn Simon.

Nan Goldin, Memory Lost, 2019–21 © Nan Goldin

Taryn Simon, Folder: Rear Views, 2012 (detail), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
New on View

February 16–August 6, 2023
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
www.icaboston.org

New on View presents a small selection of works on view for the first time at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, including several pieces recently acquired for its permanent collection. Exploring themes such as domesticity and photography in an expanded field, the exhibition demonstrates that these recently added works build on the collection’s strengths by taking it in expansive new directions. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Folder: Rear Views, 2012 (detail), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston © Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Professional Mourners: Mrike Nokaj, Kalash Tossouni Boudoyan, Amar Ozmanyan, Aziz Tamoyan, Lala Ismayilova, Haji Rahila Jafarova, Lama Tashi Galay, [Redacted], Lama Phurba Tshering, Goama Marcel Nana, Paul Nana, Rasmane Nana, Yamba Nana, Pong Pon, Pong Rean, Seng Son, [Chen Jian], [Hu Xinglian], [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted], Aníbal González, [Redacted], [Redacted], Hanna Koduah, [Redacted], Nota Kaltsouni, Vangelis Kotsos, Nikos Menoudakis, Alagu Adaikkan, Muniyammal Bose, [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted], Busara Azimbaeva, Toktokan Chancharova, Siah anak Tutong, Zamfira Ludovica Muresan, Patimat Alibekova, Zakhra Maldaeva, Ana Luisa Montiel, Marisol Montiel, 2018 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Shift: Music, Meaning, Context

April 13–August 6, 2023
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago
www.mocp.org

Shift: Music, Meaning, Context explores how music changes in form and interpretation as it moves across time, bodies, and place. This exhibition, produced in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Chicago, combines video, sound, and photography to transform the museum’s galleries into a unique choral mélange. Work by Taryn Simon is included. 

Taryn Simon, Professional Mourners: Mrike Nokaj, Kalash Tossouni Boudoyan, Amar Ozmanyan, Aziz Tamoyan, Lala Ismayilova, Haji Rahila Jafarova, Lama Tashi Galay, [Redacted], Lama Phurba Tshering, Goama Marcel Nana, Paul Nana, Rasmane Nana, Yamba Nana, Pong Pon, Pong Rean, Seng Son, [Chen Jian], [Hu Xinglian], [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted], Aníbal González, [Redacted], [Redacted], Hanna Koduah, [Redacted], Nota Kaltsouni, Vangelis Kotsos, Nikos Menoudakis, Alagu Adaikkan, Muniyammal Bose, [Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted], Busara Azimbaeva, Toktokan Chancharova, Siah anak Tutong, Zamfira Ludovica Muresan, Patimat Alibekova, Zakhra Maldaeva, Ana Luisa Montiel, Marisol Montiel, 2018 © Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Imperial Office of the World Knights of the Ku Klu Klan (KKK), Sharpsburg, Maryland, 2007, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Selections from the Collection

September 17, 2022–April 16, 2023
George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York
www.eastman.org

Since the invention of photography, the documentation of war has been a subject of interest to the camera and consumers. People have long relied on photographs to view and grapple with the harsh realities of war and conflict. This selection ranges from the Crimean War (1853–56) to the Afghanistan War (2001–21). The works challenge us to think critically about how photography documents and disseminates information about war, and how photographers’ approaches to recording war has shifted over time. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Imperial Office of the World Knights of the Ku Klu Klan (KKK), Sharpsburg, Maryland, 2007, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

Installation view, 16th Biennale de Lyon: Manifesto of Fragility, Fagor Factory, Lyon, France, September 14–December 31, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Blaise Adilon

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Taryn Simon in
16th Biennale de Lyon: Manifesto of Fragility

September 14–December 31, 2022
Various locations in Lyon, France
www.labiennaledelyon.com

Manifesto of Fragility, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath for the 16th Biennale de Lyon in France, explores fragility as one of few universally felt truths in our divided world. Ten photographs from Taryn Simon’s series, Paperwork and the Will of Capital (2015), are included in the exhibition, among the work of more than two hundred artists. In the series, Simon addresses the instability of executive decision-making and the precarious nature of survival by examining accords, treaties, and decrees drafted to influence systems of governance and economics. All involve the countries present at the 1944 United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, which addressed the globalization of economies after World War II.

Installation view, 16th Biennale de Lyon: Manifesto of Fragility, Fagor Factory, Lyon, France, September 14–December 31, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Blaise Adilon

Installation view, Human Brains: It Begins with an Idea, Fondazione Prada, Venice, April 23–November 27, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Marco Cappelletti, courtesy Fondazione Prada

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Human Brains
It Begins with an Idea

April 23–November 27, 2022
Fondazione Prada, Venice
www.fondazioneprada.org

Curated by Udo Kittelmann in collaboration with Taryn Simon, this exhibition fills three floors of Ca’ Corner della Regina and is the result of an in-depth research process carried out with Fondazione Prada and a scientific board chaired by Giancarlo Comi and composed of physicians, philosophers, scientists, and researchers. It is part of a multidisciplinary project of the same name launched by Fondazione Prada in November 2020 and centering on the brain, a unique organ due to the complexity of its functions, which are fundamental in the characterization of human beings.

Installation view, Human Brains: It Begins with an Idea, Fondazione Prada, Venice, April 23–November 27, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Marco Cappelletti, courtesy Fondazione Prada

Taryn Simon, Cryopreservation Unit, Cryonics Institute, Clinton Township, Michigan, 2004–07, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Alter + Ego

June 30–October 29, 2022
Eres Foundation, Munich
eres-stiftung.de

In a world in which scientific developments offer new opportunities for extending human life spans and optimizing our bodies’ physical performance, this exhibition presents artistic approaches that illuminate the promises of various aspects of “human enhancement” and explore ideas around how we come to terms with aging and the ephemeral nature of life itself. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Cryopreservation Unit, Cryonics Institute, Clinton Township, Michigan, 2004–07, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

Installation view, Taryn Simon: Birds of the West Indies, Conservatory Gallery, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York, June 7–October 23, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Liz Ligon

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Taryn Simon
Birds of the West Indies

June 7–October 23, 2022
Conservatory Gallery, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York
www.bbg.org

In Birds of the West Indies, which takes its title from a taxonomy by American ornithologist James Bond, Taryn Simon identifies, photographs, and classifies every bird that appears in the first twenty-four James Bond films. Casting herself as Bond the ornithologist, Simon trains her eye away from the agents of seduction—luxury, power, violence, sex—to look only in the margins.

Installation view, Taryn Simon: Birds of the West Indies, Conservatory Gallery, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York, June 7–October 23, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Liz Ligon

Taryn Simon, Troy Webb; Scene of the crime, The Pines, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Served 7 years of a 47-year sentence for Rape, Kidnapping and Robbery, from the series The Innocents, 2002 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Előhívás/Emplotment

May 13–August 28, 2022
Ludwig Múzeum, Budapest
www.ludwigmuseum.hu

The guiding principle of Előhívás/Emplotment is the adaptation of both material and personal sources of trauma by means of the tools of visual art and a novel analysis of their performative representation. The duality of the exhibition’s Hungarian and English titles reflects the complexity inherent in the topic of trauma. The exhibition is primarily conceived as a platform that, rather than showing works that seek to represent traumatic experiences and tragic events, focuses on cre­ative processes that use art as a potential active tool for processing trauma. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Troy Webb; Scene of the crime, The Pines, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Served 7 years of a 47-year sentence for Rape, Kidnapping and Robbery, from the series The Innocents, 2002 © Taryn Simon

Installation view, Give and Take. Bilder über Bilder, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany, May 20–August 28, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Fred Dott

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Taryn Simon in
Give and Take. Bilder über Bilder

May 20–August 28, 2022
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany
www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de

This exhibition, whose subtitle translates to Images upon Images, is part of the 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg 2022. Give and Take explores processes of exchange and appropriation of visual material in contemporary photography. The artists featured in the exhibition draw on a rich trove of material, from early picture archives, historical film footage, museum collections, classic print media, and digital images on social media and in search engines. In their respective mediums, ranging from photography and film to installation, they respond to images that originated in another time or were made for a different purpose. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Installation view, Give and Take. Bilder über Bilder, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany, May 20–August 28, 2022. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Fred Dott

Taryn Simon, Ronald Jones; Scene of the arrest, South Side, Chicago, Illinois; Served 8 years of a Death sentence for Murder and Rape, from the series The Innocents, 2002 © Taryn Simon

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True Pictures?
Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus Kanada und den USA

March 12–June 26, 2022
Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria
www.museumdermoderne.at

This group exhibition, whose subtitle translates to Contemporary Photography from Canada and the USA, presents work by more than thirty North American artists spanning three generations whose photography is informed by our digital age—both through their employment of digital technologies and in terms of their engagement with the “flood of images” that defines visual culture of the twenty-first century. This exhibition has traveled from the Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany. Work by Gregory CrewdsonTaryn Simon, and Jeff Wall is included. 

Taryn Simon, Ronald Jones; Scene of the arrest, South Side, Chicago, Illinois; Served 8 years of a Death sentence for Murder and Rape, from the series The Innocents, 2002 © Taryn Simon

Installation view, Taryn Simon: The Color of a Flea’s Eye: The Picture Collection, New York Public Library, 2020. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Rob McKeever

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Taryn Simon
The Color of a Flea’s Eye: The Picture Collection

September 24, 2021–May 15, 2022
New York Public Library
www.nypl.org

A project nine years in the making, The Color of a Flea’s Eye foregrounds the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, whose storied images have been available, for more than a century, for the public to sift through in search of visual references of every conceivable kind. Intrigued by the Picture Collection since childhood, in 2012 Taryn Simon embarked on a study of its underlying patterns, codes, and orders. Her photography of its contents reveals it to be an inadvertent recorder of changing social mores, disclosing latent fault lines of power, race, and gender.

Installation view, Taryn Simon: The Color of a Flea’s Eye: The Picture Collection, New York Public Library, 2020. Artwork © Taryn Simon. Photo: Rob McKeever

Taryn Simon, Press XL, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, Brooklyn Museum, New York © Taryn Simon

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The Slipstream
Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time

May 14, 2021–April 10, 2022
Brooklyn Museum, New York
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Slipstream draws examples from Brooklyn Museum’s contemporary art collection to contemplate the profound disruption that occurred in 2020. Borrowing its title from an aeronautical term that refers to the pull of the current that is left in the wake of a large and powerful object, the exhibition examines the placement and displacement of power that runs through American history and continues today. The show features more than sixty works by multiple generations of artists from the 1960s to the present day, including Titus Kaphar, Rick Lowe, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, and Taryn Simon.

Taryn Simon, Press XL, from the series Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015, Brooklyn Museum, New York © Taryn Simon

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled, 2003–08 © Gregory Crewdson

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True Pictures?
Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus Kanada und den USA

November 6, 2021–February 13, 2022
Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany
www.sprengel-museum.de

This group exhibition, whose subtitle translates to Contemporary Photography from Canada and the USA, presents work by more than thirty North American artists spanning three generations whose photography is informed by our digital age—both through their employment of digital technologies and in terms of their engagement with the “flood of images” that defines visual culture of the twenty-first century. Work by Gregory Crewdson, Taryn Simon, and Jeff Wall is included.

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled, 2003–08 © Gregory Crewdson

Taryn Simon and Aaron Swartz, Image Atlas (2012), installation view, C/O Berlin Foundation © Taryn Simon. Photo: David von Becker

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Taryn Simon in
Send Me an Image: From Postcards to Social Media

May 29–September 2, 2021
C/O Berlin
co-berlin.org

This exhibition considers photography’s transformation from an illustrative medium to one of society’s most significant means of communicating today. The photographs and projects on view illuminate phenomena such as censorship, surveillance, and algorithmic regulation, which affect human activities in our data-driven era. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon and Aaron Swartz, Image Atlas (2012), installation view, C/O Berlin Foundation © Taryn Simon. Photo: David von Becker

Taryn Simon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York, 2007, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Future Food: Essen für die Welt von morgen

May 31–August 28, 2021
Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, Germany
www.dhmd.de

This exhibition, whose title translates to Future Food: What Will We Eat Tomorrow?, investigates the political, ethical, and cultural significance of eating. This interdisciplinary show features works of contemporary art that address one of the most urgent questions of our time: “How will we—and can we—feed ourselves in the future?” Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York, 2007, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

Installation view, Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, April 21–May 30, 2021. Artwork © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon
An American Index

April 21–May 30, 2021
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
louisiana.dk

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is presenting the entirety of Taryn Simon’s photographic series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007), recently acquired for its collection. Documenting in photography and text objects, sites, and spaces that remain inaccessible or unknown to the American public, this unsettling body of work presents a rare portrait of the United States through the lenses of science, religion, medicine, entertainment, security, and politics.

Installation view, Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, April 21–May 30, 2021. Artwork © Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, Chapter XVIII, from the series A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII, 2008–11 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Dear Truth: Documentary Strategies in Contemporary Photography

February 5–May 2, 2021
Hasselblad Foundation, Gothenburg, Sweden
www.hasselbladfoundation.org

This exhibition explores how nine contemporary artists approach ideas of truth, facts, and objectivity, and how they, guided by ethical reflections, make urgent sociopolitical matters visible in their work. Their projects address some of the most challenging issues of our time: human rights, the environment, democracy, migration, technology, and violence. The truth plays a central role in their practices, not as an authoritarian or neutral vision, but as a starting point for socially engaged contemporary art. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, Chapter XVIII, from the series A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII, 2008–11 © Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York, 2007, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon

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Taryn Simon in
Spaces of No Control

October 1, 2020–February 19, 2021
Austrian Cultural Forum New York
www.acfny.org

Spaces of No Control is an international group exhibition that explores the notions of the modern city and its signifying dystopias of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This multifaceted show unites contemporary artists based in Austria and the United States to comment on current definitions of citizenship and public space. Work by Taryn Simon is included.

Taryn Simon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York, 2007, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 © Taryn Simon