#An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar

[archivist-dragonfly]

Book 573

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar

Taryn Simon

Steidl 2008

Taryn Simon (b. 1975) is a multidisciplinary artist, who, with her 4x5 view camera, was given access to photograph those restricted or secret places that exist on the fringes of American culture. Some of these places are essential to the daily functioning of the country or essential to the country’s foundation or collective mythology, but they remain in most cases almost completely unknown. Within we are given glimpses of the Nuclear Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility in Washington State; the Avian Quarantine Facility of the N.Y. Import Center; the Celebrity Centre screening room in L.A.’s Church of Scientology (where I have also been); the Death Row Outdoor Recreational Facility at the Mansfield, Ohio, Correctional Institution; the Plum Island Animal Disease Center off Long Island, New York; a decomposing corpse at the Forensic Anthropology Research Center in Knoxville, Tennessee; and an inbred white tiger (Kenny) at the Selective Inbreeding Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Because of the how Simon chose to shoot these mysterious sites—compositionally flat and formal, often in dim lighting, muted color palettes—it all feels a bit off. Not fake exactly—but somehow too real. And perhaps that’s the point. Strange, but bureaucratic; fantastic, yet mundane—not unlike the country itself.

[albagabriel]

Espacio para vivir y transitar

4. Espacios para vivir y transitar

Justificación de la actualidad y relevancia del tema

La exploración de los espacios urbanos y de tránsito en el arte contemporáneo responde a las profundas transformaciones que han experimentado las ciudades y los territorios en la era global. El crecimiento de las megaciudades, las crisis migratorias, la vigilancia masiva y la redefinición de fronteras físicas y simbólicas han generado una necesidad urgente de reflexión sobre cómo habitamos y nos desplazamos en estos entornos.

Los artistas contemporáneos han abordado estas problemáticas desde diversas perspectivas, exponiendo la alienación en los entornos urbanos densamente poblados, la precariedad habitacional, el impacto de las políticas migratorias y los sistemas de vigilancia, así como la memoria de los espacios y su carga simbólica. A través de la fotografía, la instalación, la performance y otros medios, estos artistas cuestionan las dinámicas espaciales y proponen nuevas formas de comprender el territorio.

Texto crítico basado en el marco teórico y conceptual

Desde un enfoque teórico, autores como Henri Lefebvre (1974) en La producción del espacio y Marc Augé (1992) en Los no-lugares han analizado la transformación del espacio urbano y su impacto en la experiencia humana. Lefebvre sostiene que el espacio no es neutral, sino que está producido por estructuras de poder y relaciones sociales, mientras que Augé plantea la existencia de espacios transitorios, como aeropuertos o estaciones, que generan una sensación de desarraigo.

Michael Wolf documenta la alienación y la opresión en la arquitectura densa de las megaciudades en su serie Architecture of Density (2003). Mediante fotografías de edificios en Hong Kong, Wolf elimina el horizonte y el cielo, generando imágenes claustrofóbicas que reflejan la falta de espacio y la pérdida de identidad en los entornos urbanos contemporáneos.

Do Ho Suh, en su serie Home within Home (2013), crea réplicas de sus antiguos hogares en tela translúcida, explorando la experiencia de la migración y la memoria de los espacios habitados. Sus estructuras etéreas desafían la materialidad de la arquitectura y evocan la sensación de desarraigo y pertenencia simultánea.

Francis Alÿs, en su performance The Green Line (2004), camina por la ciudad de Jerusalén derramando pintura verde para marcar la frontera trazada en 1948. Su obra cuestiona las divisiones geopolíticas y la imposición de límites territoriales en entornos urbanos que han sido históricamente disputados.

Trevor Paglen investiga la vigilancia estatal y los espacios ocultos del poder. En su serie Limit Telephotography (2006-2011), utiliza telescopios de largo alcance para capturar imágenes de instalaciones militares secretas en EE.UU., revelando la invisibilización de estos espacios dentro del discurso público.

Taryn Simon, en An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007), documenta lugares restringidos y espacios inaccesibles para el ciudadano común, como laboratorios de armas biológicas o archivos gubernamentales. Su trabajo resalta la tensión entre el conocimiento público y los espacios de exclusión.

Finalmente, Richard Misrach, en su serie Border Cantos (2016), fotografía la frontera entre México y EE.UU., capturando la materialidad del muro y los rastros dejados por los migrantes. Su obra evidencia la brutalidad de las políticas migratorias y la manera en que la frontera se convierte en un espacio de violencia y resistencia.

Conclusión

El estudio de los espacios para vivir y transitar en el arte contemporáneo permite reflexionar sobre las tensiones entre la movilidad, el control y la pertenencia en el mundo actual. Artistas como Michael Wolf, Do Ho Suh, Francis Alÿs, Trevor Paglen, Taryn Simon y Richard Misrach problematizan la arquitectura, las fronteras y la vigilancia, ofreciendo nuevas perspectivas sobre la relación entre el cuerpo y el espacio. A través de sus obras, exponen las dinámicas de exclusión, control y memoria que atraviesan los territorios en la contemporaneidad.

[distinktionsfetzen]

Check out Taryn Simon, Research Marijuana Crop Grow Room, National Center for Natural Products Research, Oxford, Mississippi from An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2005/2007), From Phillips

[rise-tv]

Edge of Wonder TV Reveals The CIA’s 'Secret' Art Collection

Let's see how the CIA's fortress headquarters in Langley, Virginia, is home to more than a few surprises. Such as a Starbucks where the baristas never ask for names and a spy museum you'll never visit.

Backstory - The CIA’s 'Secret' Art Collection:-

At first glance, Taryn Simon's photograph above appears harmless, if not mundane. It depicts two modern artworks hanging on bare white walls, separated by limp rope barriers, as harsh fluorescent ceiling lights bounce their reflection off the slick laminate floor. However, when one reads the text, which indicates that the shot was taken at the US Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, it becomes much more alluring and enigmatic. Simon's shot is part of her 2007 series, An American Index to the Hidden and Unfamiliar, which presents perspectives that are mostly unknown to the general public.

The photograph intrigued Johanna Barron, a Portland-based artist when she first saw it in 2008. She was encouraged to learn more about the CIA's abstract painting collection. However, she found little available material, except a single page on the CIA website with no photographs and some brief details in a book about the agency. Although the lack of information was not unusual for a cash-strapped federally sponsored organization, Barron decided to investigate further by filing a series of FOIA requests. This would be the first stage in a sophisticated artistic undertaking that would keep Barron busy for years to come. Edge of Wonder TV has covered a detailed video on the CIA’s secret art collection.

Here is a small reference to the previous article:-

The previous post highlighted restored access during “Facebook’s shutdown.” Meta announced that the issue had been resolved following a two-hour downtime. The company expressed regret for any inconvenience resulting from technical issues.

Obtaining historical records:-

As any scholar who has gone through the time-consuming process of discovering and obtaining historical records can attest, asking busy librarians to find information on your behalf rarely yields results. Barron would respond similarly to her FOIA requests. Her requests for photographs of the gathering and acquisition records, such as information about tax advantages for donors and funding for purchases, were frequently denied because the documents relating to the paintings were not "government records" and thus were not subject to FOIA regulations.

Once again, a lack of publicly available information, which could have been explained away by a processing snafu or a lack of resources, took on a mysterious air, with the CIA acting evasively. Barron's search for knowledge only intensified, as she stated: "I felt this increasing need to try to uncover details that appeared to be kept secret for no logical reason." In 2014, Barron obtained over 100 pages of severely censored documentation, allowing her to put together more information about the collection.

Abstract paintings:-

The abstract paintings that had piqued Barron's interest were among a tiny collection lent to the CIA by Vincent Melzac, a bigger-than-life art connoisseur and former director of the Corcoran Collection of Art in Washington, DC. Melzac began sharing paintings with the agency in 1968, including those by painters involved with the Washington Color School. Two decades later, the CIA bought eleven of the pieces, but after Melzac died in 1989, his estate consented to continue loaning canvases. Barron used this newly discovered information to build 3/4 size copies of several of the 29 paintings, which she first showed in 2015 under the title Acres of Walls.

Carey Dunne, a journalist for Hyperallergic, contacted the agency's Public Affairs division after being informed by DC-based creator Barbara Januszkiewicz that the government's art collection may not be as hidden as it first appeared. She was startled to learn that plans were quickly made for her to visit Langley and that she was permitted to publicize her tour of the art collection, including photographs. The abstract paintings from Melzac's collection stood out among a diverse collection of art displayed across CIA headquarters, comprising realistic paintings commemorating the agency's accomplishments and official portraits of previous CIA directors.

The mundane justifications offered for this collection comprised brightening up the building with art that complemented the architectural age (the Old Headquarters Building was finished in 1961) and connected to Langley's position in the Washington metropolitan area. However, Dunne discovered an intriguing feature of the CIA's collection of abstract art: it was also used for teaching purposes.

Hyperallergic speculated about art collection:-

Hyperallergic further speculated that the art collection may have been chosen by the CIA about the agency's secret backing for Abstract Expressionism during the Cold War. The story Dunne relates to, which has been fueled by sensationalized pieces in the New Yorker and the Independent, among others, is yet another simplifying and mythologization of a more complicated but less famous tale linking art and espionage - and more evidence of the desire to maintain a narrative of CIA secrecy that prompted both Johanna Barron's project and the subsequent press coverage.

However, if the CIA kept its art collection secret, it could have been for a good purpose. While investigating her article, Dunne contacted Robert Newmann, the agency's last living abstract painter. Melzac did not inform the artists about the loan of their works to the CIA, according to Newmann, who found this fact in 2012, when Warner Brothers asked for permission to use the painting Arrows in Hollywood the Big Argo, which was filmed on-site at Langley.

Concluding Opinions:-

Taryn Simon's photograph, taken at CIA headquarters, is part of a series that aims to reveal hidden and unfamiliar perspectives to the public.

The author, Barron, faced difficulties in obtaining historical records and information through FOIA requests, as the documents related to the paintings were not considered "government records" and were therefore exempt from FOIA regulations.

Barron's interest in abstract paintings led her to create 3/4 size copies of pieces lent to the CIA by Vincent Melzac, showcasing them in an exhibition titled Acres of Walls in 2015.

The art collection chosen by the CIA during the Cold War may have been a part of their secret support for Abstract Expressionism, and the story surrounding it is a simplified and sensationalized version of a more complex narrative, highlighting the agency's desire to maintain a narrative of secrecy.

[2023ard516isobelchilberto]

Week 1 - Photographer 1 - Taryn Simon

Taryn Simon is a modern multi-disciplinary artist who maintains a studio practice in New York City. I chose her because I really like the way her photography feels isolating and expansive. The way she utilises shadows to enhance specific colours is effective and striking. I also like how a lot of her photography feels like it reveals something we wouldn't usually notice, the information behind closed doors or unseen at first glance.

(Taryn Simon, The Innocents, 2002, Taryn Simon, http://tarynsimon.com/works/innocents/#7)

(Taryn Simon, Research Marijuana Crop Grow Room, National Center for Natural Products Research, Oxford, Mississippi from An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2005/2007, Artsy, https://www.artsy.net/artwork/taryn-simon-research-marijuana-crop-grow-room-national-center-for-natural-products-research-oxford-mississippi-from-an-american-index-of-the-hidden-and-unfamiliar)

(Taryn Simon, Forensic Anthropology Research Facility, Decomposing Corpse, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 2003/2007, Artblart, https://artblart.com/tag/taryn-simon-forensic-anthropology-research-facility/)

[lhoocul]

Exploding Warhead Test Area C-80C Eglin Air Force Base, Florida

This is a test of an MK-84 IM (Insensitive Munition) Warhead conducted at the Eglin Air Force Base Air Armament Center. The warhead was tested by the 46th Test Wing‘s 780th Test Squadron in order to collect pressure and fragment velocity data on a new experimental explosive warhead fill. The Air Armament Center is responsible for the development, testing and deployment of all U.S. air-delivered weapons. It tripled its production of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This film was shot using a remote sequencer that detonated the warhead from a control bunker. It was captured on U.S. government issue film with a red marking.

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007 72 mm-Kodak film (1:08 minute, loop) and Letraset on wall Dimensions variable

http://www.tarynsimon.com/works/aihu/#14

[collection-particuliere]

Taryn Simon, White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation Eureka Springs, Arkansas (series 'An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar'), 2007.

[nomanwalksalone]

PIECES OF SELF

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans

On a tip from the Instagram stories of my friend Paul Fournier, I picked up Nishiguchi Essentials 100, a bilingual compendium of the 100 articles of clothing and accessories that totemically compose the intrepid Shuhei Nishiguchi, the photogenic men’s fashion director of Japan’s directional department store, Beams. It is the sort of thing I love, a diverse collection of objects, each with their own particular stories and their own particular uniqueness. It reminded me of my old favorite Einstein’s Watch, which juxtaposed the most interesting items put up for sale in 2009 (from Einstein’s own Swiss watch to a Barbie version of the DC comics superhero Black Canary). It also put me in mind of Taryn Simon’s An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, out of whose catalog of hymen restoration clinics, corpse farms and Braille editions of Playboy rose a strange, yet familiarly offbeat, Americana.

Nishiguchi-san has been a stalwart of the hashtag-menswear scene for years, a fixture at the Pitti Uomo trade fairs  (which he attends in a professional, rather than parasocial, capacity), and a popular enough phenomenon that menswear blogger Simon Crompton marketed a previous book of his, Nishiguchi’s Closet, which purported to show readers how to use just ten articles of clothing to create a hundred different outfits.

As its title suggests, Nishiguchi Essentials 100 features ten times the pieces of clothing as that earlier book, for a very different philosophy of dress. Why, at least three different raincoats are Essentials. Rather than pretend to any minimal rigor, or to the particular multifarious use of basics, the very number of these Essentials seems to beggar the meaning of the word. At last, a clothing book that does not lie about practicality, but instead exults in an overwhelming plenty of carefully sourced vintage trenchcoats, one-off briefcases specially created for him by a firm that specializes in gun cases, patinated prototype suede blazers, 1950s French army pants and… buffalo skin cowboy boots.

As the above list suggests, Nishiguchi is a polyvalent dresser not captive to any particular menswear style. His choices of Essentials is not just diverse, it is variegated like the motley plumage of an exotic bird. While his choice of vintage Brooks Brothers button-down-collar shirts would delight a Trad, his taste for vintage Ralph Lauren (a certain 1990s trenchcoat, baggy 1990s Polo trousers, and old American-made Polo oxford-cloth shirts) would put them off. The ‘Lo-Heads who might be impressed by those would be nonplussed by Nishiguchi’s 1980s Metallica T-shirts, French berets, or Hermès silver bangle hand-beaten by Touareg tribesmen like a Paul Bowles character. And each Essential has its own story: a tale of how each item had a connection to a person from his life, or how it is special in every detail, in ways the casual reader or consumer could not have imagined.

For every item in Nishiguchi Essentials 100 is special, and not just by its significance to its owner: even the Levi’s 501s Nishiguchi includes are specifically those from the 1950s to the 1990s, when Levi’s ceased making them in the United States. His Aquascutum trenchcoat was not one of its usual English production, but a version made in Canada for the North American market with natural shoulders. His handkerchieves are no ordinary bits of limp chambray, but by the infamous Simonnot-Godard, and came not only from Florence’s hallowed haberdashery Tie Your Tie, but from Tie Your Tie back before it changed ownership and, by implication, became just a bit more… well-known? Accessible? Viable? The implication is that experiences unavailable in the current day made many Essentials more precious, more covetable.

Even in purported catalogs like the other books I list above, a certain ghostly narrative detaches itself from the pretty (or unsettling) pictures and makes its presence felt. Nishiguchi is more explicit, writing even before his table of contents that he has “carefully selected” 100 items from his wardrobe that he cherishes and that are “indispensable” to his style and way of life… indissociable, it seems, from his sense of identity. Each item and its story seem like infinitesimally thin sample slices of self, specimens for us to pore over as if through a scanning microscope, and over a hundred of them to piece together a sense of Nishiguchi-san.

The recent pandemic, NIshiguchi-san writes, triggered a meditation that led to this book, In a way, it has catalyzed a sort of behavior of which Nishiguchi Essentials 100 is only the most brilliant version: the exhibition of self through visual and temporal fillets, consumerist fillets, pieces of self that each have their own narrative in our new world of social encounters, that of the distanced virtual interaction of Instagram and its ilk where so many of us have taken to including bits and pieces of what we wish to exhibit of our stuff… our latest kops, our latest drinks, talismans and fetish objects that have latterly become proxies, in our safety-minded physical stasis, for personality and identity.

How often have I thought, in recent months, of this exercise, this attempt to assert identity to faraway acquaintances (while we go bonkers with strain in our own real abodes), as a bit of body horror straight our of a Cronenberg film, our virtual attempts to maintain some sense of identity as we feel our real lives fall apart, like Brundle-Fly carefully, obscenely, gathering and storing the human pieces of him that fall off… What we store, what we catalog, what we display sometimes no longer aligns with who we actually are, and we have less control over the latter. What a fun exercise it would be, being able to show and write about the hundred or so things that we think compose us, or how we wish to be seen. But the Nishiguchi’s Essentials are actual talismans of his life, lifestyle and daily dress. This display is indeed inherent of him, for he actually is a fashion director for a famously eclectic luxury store, and a fashion icon, unlike most of the rest of us whose Instagram displays, whether self-conscious and ironical or not, are manifestations of aspiration, even if the act of display, the construction of images of our drinks, accessories, kops, and so on, can in effort feel like we are indeed parting with a piece of ourselves. As we are not Nishiguchi-san, let us pause to think about what remains, inside us, as well.

[gagosiangallery]

Launching Soon—Artist Spotlight: Taryn Simon

June 16, 2021

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Taryn Simon

Exclusively Online | Launching June 23, 2021 __________ There’s the impossibility of ever achieving precise truth. The effort is to imagine getting to it, through an assembly of the image, the text, the missing things, the slippages. —Taryn Simon Gagosian’s second season of Artist Spotlight—a series that focuses on an individual artist for one week each month—presents new work by Taryn Simon. Conceived in response to the events of the past year, the work will be revealed on June 25 and available to view on gagosian.com for forty-eight hours. On June 23, Gagosian Quarterly will publish a dynamic and wide-ranging conversation between Simon and writer, photographer, and critic Teju Cole, based on a public talk conducted in March 2021 as part of the Lambert Family Lecture Series at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. Throughout Artist Spotlight: Taryn Simon, a collection of essays, articles, and videos relating to four of Simon’s acclaimed bodies of work—An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007), A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII (2008–11), An Occupation of Loss (2016), and A Cold Hole (2018–19)—will be highlighted across Gagosian’s digital channels, offering numerous insights into the artist’s expansive range. A storyteller and researcher driven by the mutability of fact and the documentary potential of fiction, Simon directs our attention to systems of organization, revealing the structures of power and authority hidden within. Working in photography, sculpture, text, sound, performance, and installation, she traces lineages—of objects, families, nations, and histories. For Artist Spotlight, Simon will reveal a large-scale photographic assembly of over two hundred images, collaged in a single piece. This is the first realized work from a new series for which Simon has spent almost a decade documenting, accumulating, and archiving thousands of photographs. The project confronts the risks and anxieties of motherhood, many of which have crystallized during the pandemic: the primal alertness of the mother’s eye, the phantom of morbid uncertainty that continually haunts her mind. Its virtual debut invites audiences to participate in a deliberate act of screen-based looking that betrays the incompatibility between the privacies of the domestic realm and the fundamentally public nature of online existence. Artist Spotlight: Taryn Simon anticipates Simon’s upcoming two-part exhibition The Color of a Flea’s Eye: The Picture Collection, to be held at Gagosian, 976 Madison Avenue, New York, starting July 14, 2021, and the New York Public Library, opening this fall. Artist Spotlight is a dynamic platform that enables artists to present their work in the digital realm, sharing their stories with a global audience online. The series, which launched in April 2020 in response to the pandemic crisis, is now in its second season and is presented once a month as a regular part of Gagosian’s programming. Each installment highlights a work by an individual artist, alongside new editorial features and selected archival content. For more information, please contact the gallery at collecting@gagosian.com. _____ Photo: courtesy the artist and MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts

[phroommagazine]

"An american index of the hidden and unfamiliar" // Taryn Simon from PHROOM on Vimeo.

"An american index " // Taryn Simon Book review by PHROOM - phroommagazine.com copyright © Taryn Simon and PHROOM, all rights reserved

[paintingafterpainting]

Taryn Simon, The Central Intelligence Agency, Displayed Art CIA Original Headquarters Building, Langley, Virginia, 2006–07, from the series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, 2007

[ouahibaaitelhaj]

A6: Social Inequality in Cairo: Luxury Real Estate Billboards

Project Statement:

Social Inequality in Cairo: Luxury real estate billboards photo series is a project in which I took photographs of billboards around New Cairo and El Thawra Street. Since I moved to Egypt two years ago, I couldn’t help but notice the socioeconomic difference between New Cairo (the 5th settlement) and the rest of the city, especially in housing. There are housing compounds all over the area, creating bubbled communities out of touch with the reality of life in Cairo and Egypt in general, with the government turning a blind eye to the housing crisis in the city. It’s ironic seeing people in the shade of giant compound billboards waiting for their 4-pound microbuses knowing they’re not the audiences for those advertisements. My work was inspired by My professor’s suggestion of Taryn Simon’s American Index of Hidden and Unfamiliar project, where she reveals some hidden and out-of-view details within the united states borders. In my project, I show giant billboards from New Cairo and Thawra Street and caption them with interesting information about housing inequality in Egypt.

Social inequality in housing is a serious problem in Egypt since there is a wide disparity in access to housing between the wealthy and the poor. The underprivileged reside in slums such as the City of the Dead without access to basic amenities like sanitary facilities and clean water. In contrast, the wealthy reside in gated communities (compounds) with services such as gyms, security, and sometimes education. This exacerbates social segregation between social classes and leads to a lack of empathy and complete detachment between social groups.

Investment spending in the housing sector has increased dramatically over the preceding eight years, increasing by 508% to E£614 billion (US$32.66 billion), compared to 2006-2007 and 2013-2014. The yearly public investment in the sector has increased by 847 percent from E£19 billion (US$1 billion) in 2013/14 to E£180 billion (US$9.6 billion) in 2021/22.

The need for new housing increased to 300000 units annually, with an extra 254000 units to gradually address given the backlog, according to a World Bank research in 2014. Housing demand is anticipated to reach 700000 per year in 2022. High-interest rates and outdated, ineffective housing policies have an impact on home availability as well. The population is expected to reach 132 million by 2023, and with this population growth, the housing deficit will increase more.

Prices for affordable housing units range from £400,000 to £450,000. Homes can cost up to £1.7 million ($90,416 U.S.).Low-income borrowers can borrow 90% of the property's worth, whereas middle-class borrowers can borrow 85%. Along with the 7.2% unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2022, more than 40% of Egyptians have poor incomes and cannot even apply to buy apartments from the housing projects the government claims to serve.

Millions of Egyptians live in substandard housing conditions, making Egypt the only country in the Middle East with the most unoccupied homes. Over 13 million vacant homes, or 22.7% of all housing units in Egypt, were reported by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, or CAPMAS, in 2019. Most of these homes are owned by wealthy people for investment or vacation purposes, while an estimated 12 million Egyptians live in informal settlements.

The Egyptian government adds to the housing issue by putting the needs of wealthy investors to construct opulent resorts and compounds ahead of all other interests. The government's construction strategy is centered on luring private investment, which accounts for 71% of the housing market, and aiming for big profits by building luxurious residences for a specific socioeconomic class that accounts for a very small percentage of the country's population.

According to a recent survey, only 40% of Egyptians own the homes they live in, although the country's real estate market has increased by 420% since 2001. However, the analysis finds that the private sector made 95% of all real estate investments during that time. While this was happening, the population did not grow by more than 22% (from 66.14 million in 2001 to 80.72 million in 2012).

The Egyptian government implemented several housing projects to provide subsidized housing for less privileged families; however, most projects are inefficient in reaching the most vulnerable populations. The government needs to determine the concentration of the investments towards providing the average Egyptian citizen with their inherent right to housing rather than pouring money into residential communities catering to the wealthy of the country.

[jlmrtn]

Conférence Quelques tactiques artistiques pour documenter l'invisible

Fondation Caisse d’Épargne, Toulouse

16 décembre 2021

Image Taryn Simon, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2007)

[artd360spring2018]

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar

Taryn Simon

[theseadagiodays]

March 30, 2020

Kids Arts Activities through Quarantine

As BC’s spring break officially ends, I am very aware that working parents, with kids at home who now need online schooling and extra care, are extremely hard hit by the current changes.  I also realize that Adagio may not at all reflect the tempo of their lives as they juggle these new responsibilities.  What I hear from my friends in this situation is that Prestissimo Agitato (agitatedly fast) probably sums it up far better.  So, I am hoping that some of the kids’ arts activities which I list below might help give parents even a few tacet moments.  

This accelerated pace also relates to health care workers, grocery employees, and so many others who are working harder than ever during this period.  Conversely, people who have temporarily lost their jobs, aging people who were enjoying the well-earned luxury of post-career social time before the virus hit, and many others now find time spooling out before them in a sometimes overwhelming abundance.  And while I am fortunate to be able to sustain a considerable amount of my work during this unusual time, I relate more to both the challenges and privileges of being faced with increased space in my life.  In fact, I have always been aware that my choice not to have children has meant that my life’s rhythms are quite different from many of my peers.  So, I take this reality as an onus to use the extra capacity I have to contribute where I can.  And writing this blog is one way I am attempting to do that.

As I share this, I am inspired by the words of one of my favorite writers and thinkers, Rebecca Solnit, who in her Harper’s article, The Mother of All Questions, poignantly sums up the role that people who choose not to have children can play in their communities.  “There are so many things to love besides one’s offspring, so much work that love has to do in the world”.

So, for children and adults alike, I offer Lunch Doodles and Lockdown Diaries and Puppet Shows and Haiku.

At 1 pm EST, every day, Mo Willems, livestreams his Lunch Doodles classes for all to follow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmzjCPQv3y8

Or, if you want to get your hands a bit dirtier, you might try this homemade playdough recipe to make the rainbows that people are sticking to their windows all over the world to spread hope.

https://www.pre-kpages.com/rainbow-play-dough/

In Saskatoon, Wide Open Children’s Theatrehosts livestreamed storytelling and puppet shows at 10 am CST and bedtime (7 pm CST), every single day, on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/638733030283792/

Christchurch artist, Stephen McCarthy has created a free downloadable, Lockdown Diary, that will keep anyone busy for ages:

https://www.mylockdowndiary.com/?fbclid=IwAR0G3KgCfRfnr2FXhEIumzR2SigQB3bEYXfOu1m9m0g8tqL2RnQPoprJL2w

The New York Times has created a digital coloring book with a truly timely image.  You can play with their online pen or print it out and do it old-school analog style.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/23/opinion/covid-coloring-activity.html

And finally, if you want to distill your feelings about this unique time, the simple container of a Haiku works very well for this.   The 3 lines form is made up of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, & 5 syllables.  The invite it is to write your own, video record yourself reading it, and then send it to Quarantine Haikus: https://thebridgepai.org/quarantinehaikus/

Here’s mine:

cherry blossom tree

as colorful as ever

like nothing has changed

March 31, 2020

Resilient Quarantine Artist Projects

The life of an artist is one of constant reinvention.  And these times call for just that.  As I’ve shifted from a flute performance career, to directing a community arts non-profit, Instruments of Change (instrumentsofchange.org), to creative writing, I have sometimes struggled to define myself by my job description or title.  However, if I have learned anything from this necessary process of unravelling my identity from my career achievements, I have learned to connect more deeply to who I AM rather than what I DO.  This process of redefinition has led me to recognize that, at the core of everything I do, I am an arts advocate, first and foremost.  So, this is the title that sits most comfortably for me.  As an arts advocate, I am constantly seeking ways to increase public perception of the value of the arts and artists, themselves. And this eloquent article (https://madmimi.com/s/708e601) which my friend, Juliana Bedoya shared, perfectly illustrates why artists are ideally equipped for dealing with our current uncertain circumstances.  To summarize Andrew Simonet’s piece, Dear Artists, This is What We Train For:

1.    Artists are accustomed to charting unfamiliar territory.

2.    Artists are excellent at “working with what they’ve got” - to quote Duke Ellington

3.    Artists are keen observers, and they use those powers to create expressions of resonance and relevance.

4.    Artists thrive at adapting to constantly changing rhythms and flow.

In only the few brief weeks since quarantined living began (although I know that this has seemed eternal for some), it has been remarkable how many resilient strategies and projects I’ve encountered in my artist community.  So, here, I’d like to share just a few initiatives that are happening in my own backyard.

In Vancouver, the Little Chamber Music Series That Could has launched their Isolation Commissions, where individuals, for only $200, can hire solo artists to film a 4 min video of themselves performing something which reflects the impact that this extraordinary social situation is having on their artistic practice. It might be an improvisation, a favorite piece, a work that brings comfort, or a new composition in progress. Incredibly, by March 31st, already 30 video performances from 30 unique artists had been successfully commissioned. Interested “commissioners” can contact Mark Haney at: artisticdirector@littlechambermusic.com to arrange their desired artist partnership.  And you can learn more about their innovative program here: http://littlechambermusic.com/isolation-commissions/

For years, the Sunday Service has provided live improv sets at Vancouver’s Fox Cabaret, and they are not letting self-isolation stop that tradition.  So now, every Sunday, at 9 pm, Cyber Service livestreams collaborative improv, from each of their respective homes, on their You Tube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2A8-xxVUssHFIr_WDt4Gyg?view_as=subscriber&fbclid=IwAR2ojZlCDLZHjkN6qq0iDKtm4mPkI9dQvoZeGVv9IWpYX85zDfq0lKePegA

Instruments of Change is also playing with our own adaptive strategies as we anticipate the potential cancellation of our free, outdoor summer concert series, Street Beats.  In 2018, originally invited by VIVA Vancouver, I of C launched this series to make a wide variety of top-rate live music accessible to all, while celebrating our city’s vibrant public spaces.    So, in an effort to continue meeting those objectives without the possibility of large public gatherings, Street Beats sound engineer, David Spidel has proposed Street Beats - the Stream Beats edition.  His idea is to drone video record several Vancouver parklets and plazas, and then green screen these behind various livestreamed performances of Vancouver artists.  We should learn, in the coming weeks, if VIVA goes for his slightly wacky concept, and we’ll keep you posted.

April 1, 2020

Lockdown Laughs

This year, the internet exploded with announcements that there should be a moratorium on April Fools Jokes, as we are all living a far worse hoax than any one of us could ever devise.  And while I’m usually a huge fan of this prankster holiday, I fully understand the sensitivity of the ask. So, instead of tricks, I thought I’d just include some good laughs for much needed levity.

As a dentist, my Dad spent his life glaring into terrified people’s mouths, so humor served him well to put his patients at ease.  It is no surprise, then, that he has injected daily doses of giggles into my quarantined existence with his reliably hilarious links.  Here’s my favorite so far:

https://www.theloop.ca/watch/news/strange/this-couple-s-hilarious-horse-dance-has-gone-viral/6144325579001/1660977952457681249%20/your-morning/

Masters of lockdown living, people in China have perfected the art of making themselves laugh in hard times. And watching this American comedian’s stand-up routine, which weaves in crazy Tiktok videos from China, was perhaps the hardest I’ve laughed since this whole ordeal began:

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/608485/tik-tok-quarantine/

Also, my local arts community has come through again, with a livestream version of their weekly Thursday night comedy show, Jokes Please, that’s hosted at Little Mountain Theatre, only blocks from our home.  It airs every Thursday, at 9 pm PST, but remains on their Facebook page for future viewing, too. https://www.facebook.com/jokespleaseshow

April 2, 2020

A Simple Verse

Some days, a few artful lines can go a long way.  In life, as is now evident more than ever, there are many changes over which we have no control.  And while we often wish we had the power to say or do something that could shift those things with which we are uncomfortable, this is not always possible. However, what we can control is the steadiness with which we face these uncomfortabilities.  As we all struggle with feelings of powerlessness in these uncertain times, TS Eliot reminds us that patience and faith will get us through.

I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; 

Wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; 

There is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. 

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: 

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. 

                                                                                               T.S. Eliot

April 3, 2020

Physically Distant Connections

There is much to be learned from trees.  For those who have not yet read the wonderous, Hidden Life of Trees, in it Peter Wohlleben describes the remarkable communication system between our forest friends.  Without language or physical touch, these living beings can support, nourish and love one another in magnificent symbiosis.  In fact, trees are masters of social distancing, as he illustrates here:

“The average tree grows its branches out until it encounters the branch tips of a neighboring tree of the same height. It doesn’t grow any wider because the air and better light in this space are already taken. However, it heavily reinforces the branches it has extended, so you get the impression that there’s quite a shoving match going on up there. But a pair of true friends is careful right from the outset not to grow overly thick branches in each other’s direction. The trees don’t want to take anything away from each other, and so they develop sturdy branches only at the outer edges of their crowns, that is to say, only in the direction of “non-friends.” Such partners are often so tightly connected at the roots that sometimes they even die together.”

Ironically, another term for the crown of a stand of trees is corona. So, let us all follow their lead and trust that our separateness is what will keep us together.

And, if you’re keen to read more about the wisdom of trees, the latest Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Overstory by Richard Powers, weaves a dense and motivating tale that explores what drives radical tree activists’ passion to save our dwindling forests.  Powers is not a man of few words.  On nearly every tenth page of his 512 page tome, there will be a word that you will likely have to look up.  But trust that you will be the smarter and more moved for it.  This has been the most powerful read I’ve had in the past couple of years, emotionally and intellectually.  So, if quarantine living happens to leave you with some extra time on your hands, it’s definitely worth it.

Pratityasamutpada is my favorite Sanskrit word.  (And yes, as nerdy as that sounds, I do have a favorite.)  It means the interdependence of all things.  And since physical distancing began, nothing has made me feel more connected to my fellow citizens than the nightly 7 pm cheer for our health care workers. So, I will leave you with a video from this week that captures the essence of interconnectedness beautifully.  https://youtu.be/BS8dMC1sfXc

[whatisitworth-signori-lenzin]

Taryn Simon: Serpent Handler - Edwina Church of God in Jesus Christ’s Name, Newport, Tennessee. Image: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar.