In the fall of 2016, Taryn Simon presented a unique interactive work, An Occupation of Loss, at the Park Avenue Armory in collaboration with Artangel, London. (Loss, in the work’s title, represents the fugitive nature of things, a theme that runs through all of Simon’s work.) The Armory is a historic red brick structure that fills an entire city block on New York City’s Upper East Side. It was originally built for New York State’s first volunteer militia, the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard, raised in response to President Lincoln’s 1861 call for troops. Designed by regiment veteran and architect Charles W. Clinton, the structure, with its soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall, is reminiscent of 19th-century European train stations. The drill hall, along with an array of exuberant period rooms, has been offering an alternative platform for creativity across all art forms music, visual art, and performance since 2007. Some of the installations over the years have cohabited with the audacious space of the hall; others have invaded or obliterated it. An Occupation of Loss, a performance/installation, offered as complete a gestalt as any I’ve experienced. …see the entire article in the print version of April’s Sculpture magazine.
