Taryn Simon's An Occupation of Loss blends together architecture, sound and performance in an exploration of the intricate ways we devise to contend with the abstract certainty of death.

Running from: Tue 17 - Sat 28 Apr.

Within a monumental setting, Taryn Simon’s An Occupation of Loss combines performance, sound, and architecture to consider the anatomy of grief and the intricate systems we use to manage the abstract certainty of death.

Each night, professional mourners simultaneously broadcast their lamentations, enacting rituals of grief. Their sonic mourning is performed in recitations that include northern Albanian laments, which seek to excavate “uncried words”; Venezuelan laments, which safeguard the soul’s passage to the Milky Way; Greek Epirotic laments, which bind the story of a life with its afterlife; and Yezidi laments, which map a topography of displacement and exile.

Taryn Simon is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, text, sculpture and performance. Like much of her work, An Occupation of Loss considers state power, borders and the precarious nature of survival. It is the artist’s first major performance work.