TARYN SIMON: “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar” (2007)

The recreational facility for death row prisoners at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Ohio

3 Steps to the Taryn Simon Experience

Step 1.

First look at Taryn Simon’s photographs without any context, without any frame of reference and certainly without any text. To do this is to enter a fantastically bizarre world, a circus like freak show of sites, human things, animals and locations… a whizzing siren of color. Empty-yet-clear, distorted-yet-shaped scenes abound, alien-American-laboratory textures, sounds and surfaces. Without context the photographs are joyfully disturbing and fascinatingly covert… almost like entering secretly into a spy story as an invisible spectator only the spies are spying on you and the story is taking place with you at the center. Pardoxically, the images are disparate and unconnected but also connected and to a certain extent, cohesive. Like the work of Michele Abeles assorted puzzle pieces are there on the table, the fabric patchwork of “the quilt” seems to be stitched together. A story is asking you if it can be “told”… but the secret story is encrypted… the “code” is planted under the surface… everything is connected but somewhere down at the root.

Step 2.

After this first exercise, one should move next to the written text (below and numbered) and enter the next stage of your secret-Taryn-Area-51-ish-American experience. Soak this text in and relish it. You then enter a sort of catch-22 situation where one cannot determine which is more bizarre… the revolting yet fascinating reality behind the imagery or the parallel-universe-secret-fiction that bleeds into the space inside of your own head without knowing the reality. One can also now think about the “before and after” Taryn experience itself. Most viewers will not truely know which is better… to know nothing, or to know everything. You can think about it for yourself and try to make that determination but your efforts will perhaps be in vain. For myself, knowing nothing is a tad sweeter, but… I can’t be sure. It is like saying, “Which is better, knowing your future or not knowing your future”. Take a pick – both have implications.

The Central Intelligence Agency, Art, CIA Original Headquarters Building, Langley, Virginia
White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation, Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Step 3.

One can go next to the reality inside of Taryn’s head and read her own words, understand her process… look at her “engine”, feel her “steering wheel”. Typically this can be risky as it may actually harm the mystery, hurt the experience and affect “the magic” that is inherent in viewing photography without knowing the motivation. It may let you down to know the motive instead of inspiring you… or it may be icing on the cake. In the case of Taryn, the risk is okay… you won’t erase the experience… and you will likely only put a dent in your “magic”.

So, go ahead…

Explore Taryn a bit as Step 3 of your final Taryn-act…

Best,

Doug Rickard

Taryn’s Index Text

1. Coming

2. “Transatlantic Submarine Cables Reaching Land, VSNL International, Avon, N.J.”

These VSNL submarine telecommunications cables extend 8,037.4 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Capable of transmitting over 60 million simultaneous voice conversations, these underwater fiber-optic cables stretch from Saunton Sands in the United Kingdom to the coast of New Jersey. The cables run below ground and emerge directly into the VSNL International headquarters, where signals are amplified and split into distinctive wavelengths enabling transatlantic phone calls and internet transmissions.

Underwater fiber-optic cables are laid along the ocean’s floor by specially designed ships. Cables are buried as they approach shore and armored to protect against undersea landslides, marine life (sharks, in particular), and fishing equipment. Fishermen are advised of cable locations as hooking one can interfere with international communication services as well as sink a boat.

VSNL operates one of 14 submarine cable systems connected to the continental United States. Exchanges originating in the U.S. are combined and enhanced before broadcast and transmission across the Atlantic. As of 2005, submarine cables link all the world’s continents except Antarctica.

3. “White Tiger (Kenny), Selective Inbreeding, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Foundation, Eureka Springs, Arkansas”

In the United States, all living white tigers are the result of selective inbreeding to artificially create the genetic conditions that lead to white fur, ice-blue eyes, and a pink nose. Kenny was born to a breeder in Bentonville, Ark., on Feb. 3, 1999. As a result of inbreeding, Kenny is mentally retarded and has significant physical limitations. Due to his deep-set nose, he has difficulty breathing and closing his jaw, his teeth are severely malformed and he limps from abnormal bone structure in his forearms. The three other tigers in Kenny’s litter are not considered to be quality white tigers as they are yellow-coated, cross-eyed, and knock-kneed.

” “The white tiger figures quite prominently in American entertainment, especially in Vegas, I wanted to show the truth behind the showbiz spectacle; the side of things that one would never normally see, or even imagine.”

4. Coming

5. “Playboy, Braille Edition, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., New York, N.Y.”

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the U.S. Library of Congress, provides a free national library program of Braille and recorded materials for blind and physically handicapped persons. Magazines included in the NLS’s programs are selected on the basis of demonstrated reader interest. This includes the publishing and distribution of a Braille edition of Playboy.

Approximately 10 million American adults read Playboy every month, with three million obtaining it through paid circulation. It has included articles by writers such as Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, and Kurt Vonnegut and conducted interviews with Salvador Dali, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Malcolm X.

6. “Research Marijuana Crop Grow Room, National Center for Natural Products Research
Oxford, Mississippi”

The National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) is the only facility in the United States which is federally licensed to cultivate cannabis for scientific research. In addition to cultivating cannabis, NCNPR is responsible for analyzing seized marijuana for potency trends, herbicide residuals (paraquat) and fingerprint identification. NCNPR is licensed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and also researches and develops chemicals derived from plants, marine organisms, and other natural products.

While 11 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows for the arrest of any individual caught using it for this purpose. Nearly half of the annual arrests for drug violations involve marijuana possession or trafficking.

7. “Nuclear Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility, Cherenkov Radiation, Hanford Site, U.S. Department of Energy, Southeastern Washington State”

Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity. It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States. The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect. which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium. The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States.

8. “The Central Intelligence Agency, CIA Original Headquarters Building, Langley, Va.”

The Fine Arts Commission of the CIA is responsible for acquiring art to display in the Agency’s buildings. Among the commission’s curated art are two pieces (pictured) by Thomas Downing, on long-term loan from the Vincent Melzac collection. Downing was a member of the Washington Color School, a group of post World War II painters whose influence helped to establish the city as a center for arts and culture. Vincent Melzac was a private collector of abstract art and the Administrative Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.’s, premiere art museum.

Since the founding of the CIA in 1947, the Agency has participated in both covert and public cultural diplomacy efforts throughout the world. It is speculated that some of the CIA’s involvement in the arts was designed to counter Soviet Communism by helping to popularize what it considered pro-American thought and aesthetic sensibilities. Such involvement has raised historical questions about certain art forms or styles that may have elicited the interest of the Agency, including abstract expressionism.

9. “Cryopreservation Unit, Cryonics Institute, Clinton Township, Michigan.”

Taryn Simon (Interview by Leo Benedictus, The Guardian, Thursday September 20, 2007)

“This is a cryopreservation unit just outside Detroit, Michigan. Cryopreservation allows people to have the possibility of an extended life – their bodies are stored in liquid nitrogen until developments in science mean they can be defrosted and resuscitated.

I was given my tour by the man in charge at the site. He was an eccentric – absolutely obsessed with cryostasis. He took me in, gave me a quick tour, then disappeared. It was kind of scary being out there in the middle of nowhere in this warehouse, with all these dead bodies inside all these pods. It didn’t feel like the place had high production values, shall we say, which made it even more uncomfortable. Everything felt a bit precarious.

The site manager regularly attaches a hose to the pod to maintain the temperature and regulate the chemicals that prevent ice from growing on the bodies. When he takes it out, the vapour goes everywhere. I thought it was extremely beautiful, so I got him to put the vapour in the room to create a seductive image. I carefully lit the space and took this with a large-format 4×5 Sinar camera and colour film, although there wasn’t any colour in the scene.

This is one of the original pods; a lot of the others are more contemporary. It holds the bodies of the wife and mother of cryonics pioneer Robert Ettinger, who is still alive. I don’t know exactly how long they’ve been in there – about 15 years or more.

I like the absence of any discernible scale in the image. You can’t decide if the pod is a model or extremely large. In fact, it is probably about 8ft long, and wide enough to hold six bodies. I am actually interested in cryostasis for myself. The one element that would probably keep me from participating is that the spaces are vulnerable. I have trouble having faith in them.”

10. “Avian Quarantine Facility, The New York Animal Import Center
Newburgh, New York”

European Finches seized upon illegal importation into the U.S. and African Gray Parrots in quarantine.

All imported birds that are not of U.S. or Canadian origin must undergo a 30 day quarantine in a U.S. Department of Agriculture animal import quarantine facility. The quarantine is mandatory and at the owner’s expense. Birds are immediately placed in incubators called isolettes that control the spread of disease and prevent cross-contamination by strategically placed High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters.Before each quarantined bird is cleared for release, it is tested for Avian Influenza and Exotic Newcastle Disease.

11. “Hymenoplasty, Cosmetic Surgery, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.”

The patient in this photograph is 21 years old. She is of Palestinian descent and living in the United States. In order to adhere to cultural and familial expectations regarding her virginity and marriage, she underwent hymenoplasty. Without it she feared she would be rejected by her future husband and bring shame upon her family. She flew in secret to Florida where the operation was performed by Dr. Bernard Stern, a plastic surgeon she located on the internet.

The purpose of hymenoplasty is to reconstruct a ruptured hymen, the membrane which partially covers the opening of the vagina. It is an outpatient procedure which takes approximately 30 minutes and can be done under local or intravenous anesthesia. Dr. Stern charges $3,500 for hymenoplasty. He also performs labiaplasty and vaginal rejuvenation.

12. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, N.Y.”

African cane rats infested with maggots, African yams (dioscorea), Andean potatoes, Bangladeshi cucurbit plants, bush meat, cherimoya fruit, curry leaves (murraya), dried orange peels, fresh eggs, giant African snail, impala skull cap, jackfruit seeds, June plum, kola nuts, mango, okra, passion fruit, pig nose, pig mouths, pork, raw poultry (chicken), South American pig head, South American tree tomatoes, South Asian lime infected with citrus canker, sugar cane (poaceae), uncooked meats, unidentified sub-tropical plant in soil.

All items in the photograph were seized from the baggage of passengers arriving in the U.S. at JFK Terminal 4 from abroad over a 48-hour period. All seized items are identified, dissected, and then either ground up or incinerated. JFK processes more international passengers than any other airport in the United States.