In collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu of OMA, artist Taryn Simon has created An Occupation of Loss, a spatial performance that continues her exploration on the notions of abstraction. Unveiled at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, the installation and series of happenings meditate on “the anatomy of grief and the intricate systems that we devise to contend with the irrationality of the universe.” This past weekend, Architizer experienced the power of this space firsthand, attending a performance by professional mourners within the towering chambers.
“These soaring wells emit a ghostly glow from within, dematerializing the very concrete from which they are made.”
Spectators ascend a cast-iron fire escape of the Armory and enter a pitch-black balcony overlooking the cavernous Drill Hall. Below stands the dimly lit installation consisting of 11 self-supporting cylindrical structures, which Simon conceives as “inverted ‘wells,’ negative space turned positive.” These soaring wells emit a ghostly glow from within, dematerializing the very concrete from which they are made. Arranged in elliptical formation with the kind of intent that draws instant associations with ancient architecture — finely in tune with the spiritual — the installation immediately demands somber reverence.
The wells, which according to Shigematsu “were configured into a readymade ruin that responds to both personal and monumental dimensions,” are truly massive. The full scale is intangible until a group of 30 individuals emerge from the shadows, silently weaving their way through the space: Each monolith is 45 feet tall, their heights further exaggerated by their half-height doorways. “I was thinking about scale,” Shigematsu adds, “and how scale corresponds to grief, and this idea of monument making and marking loss: how we try to make the invisibility of loss visible and permanent.”
“Grief is sonically projected from the towers, mingling into a caterwaul.”
Starting with the beat of a drum, the figures begin the performance, enacting rituals of grief. The wells become a huge pipe organ, broadcasting simultaneous lamentations throughout the space. The audience is then invited into this netherworld, descending a single dimly lit staircase, from the balcony level, as if practicing a ritual themselves. The group lingers momentarily and, without direction, begins to gravitate toward wells of their choosing. Within them, 30 professional mourners from around the world activate the hollow cylinders with a cacophony of wails, supplications, moans, chants and melodies specific to their respective cultures and dialects. The effect is powerful albeit chilling: Grief is sonically projected from the towers, mingling into a caterwaul.
Through these individuals, whose occupations are to guide and shape our grieving, the space is occupied by an abstracted loss. Visitors are now navigating through a deeply psychological realm, free to project their own cultural and emotional notions of loss onto the performers and the space. Grieving becomes both personal and performative; visitors become both audience and performer. The architecture itself speaks to the subconscious with its massive geometries, devoid of any detail and context. It is a monument marking this loss: a paradox making tangible the palpable absence of nothing.
“Each well, architecturally identical, is radically transformed by the sound … ”
In a humbling act, visitors are forced to bow down if they wish to enter the wells through the half-sized thresholds, as if paying respects to this abstracted loss. Here the overwhelming static is muted, replaced by clear individual laments. Each of these mourners has its unique style. In one of the chambers, a Ghanaian woman stares into your eyes as she cries and pleads with tears running down her face. In another one, two Buddhist monks chant in deep textured tones. In yet another one, women mourn in anguished cries while entry to their chamber is forbidden for men: The space of loss is defiantly feminine.
And so it is, from one lamentation to the next, each well, architecturally identical, is radically transformed by the sound that reverberates as it rises the height of the silo. The visitors scurry in and out with intent, marching in a kind of death parade of their own until all the lamentations cease and a garage door slowly opens. What once was the darkness pierced by the sound of grieving is now the light and noise of the city. The mourners recede into the remaining darkness with any trace of tears now dry. Unsure, the audience slowly walks away from the wells, back into reality. Unceremoniously, they go about their night onto the sidewalks of New York.
OMA’s installation is on show at the Armory until September 25. For more information on and images of AnOccupation of Loss, explore the project profile here.
