Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015. Exhibition catalogue / monograph documenting Simon’s photographic and sculptural series on the floral centerpieces staged at political signings, treaties, and global economic accords. Fully illustrated. Excellent condition.
Drawing on archival images from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and on George Sinclair’s nineteenth-century horticultural experiments, Simon reconstructs—and then reimagines—the bouquets that flanked world leaders as they formalized the institutions of postwar capitalism. Each “impossible bouquet” was recreated from botanically identified specimens sourced from the Aalsmeer flower auction (the first site of the global flower trade), photographed in the style of the Dutch Masters against colors keyed to the original ceremony décor. The project extends into sculptural presses containing both photographs and herbarium sheets, pairing dried specimens with their photographic doubles.
A study of political stagecraft, preservation, and the fragile aesthetics surrounding global power—Simon's meticulous, research-driven practice at its most formally exacting.
Taryn Simon: Paperwork and the Will of Capital, 2015. Exhibition catalogue / monograph documenting Simon’s photographic and sculptural series on the floral centerpieces staged at political signings, treaties, and global economic accords. Fully illustrated. Excellent condition.
Drawing on archival images from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and on George Sinclair’s nineteenth-century horticultural experiments, Simon reconstructs—and then reimagines—the bouquets that flanked world leaders as they formalized the institutions of postwar capitalism. Each “impossible bouquet” was recreated from botanically identified specimens sourced from the Aalsmeer flower auction (the first site of the global flower trade), photographed in the style of the Dutch Masters against colors keyed to the original ceremony décor. The project extends into sculptural presses containing both photographs and herbarium sheets, pairing dried specimens with their photographic doubles.
A study of political stagecraft, preservation, and the fragile aesthetics surrounding global power—Simon's meticulous, research-driven practice at its most formally exacting.
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