Skip to main content

TARYN SIMON'S 'AN AMERICAN INDEX OF THE HIDDEN AND UNFAMILIAR'

editorial
Eyeline 72
The following is a brief preview - the full content of this page is available to premium users only.
Click here to subscribe...
Image removed.
This cryopreservation unit holds the bodies of Rhea and Elaine Ettinger, the mother and first wife of cryonics pioneer, Robert Ettinger. Robert, author of “The Prospect of Immortality” and “Man into Superman” is still alive.

The Cryonics Institute offers cryostasis (freezing) services for individuals and pets upon death. Cryostasis is practiced with the hope that lives will ultimately be extended through future developments in science, technology, and medicine. When, and if, these developments occur, Institute members hope to awake to an extended life in good health, free from disease or the aging process. Cryostasis must begin immediately upon legal death. A person or pet is infused with ice-preventive substances and quickly cooled to a temperature where physical decay virtually stops. The Cryonics Institute charges $28,000 for cryostasis if it is planned well in advance of legal death and $35,000 on shorter notice.

In late 2009 Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art exhibited American artist Taryn Simon’s ‘An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar’. In this photographic series Simon explores the spaces and objects which lie beneath the surface of modern American culture. Shot over four years, mostly with a large-format camera, these images of restricted or rarely accessed sites within America deal variously with nature, religion, science and government. Prior to this Simon was well known for her ‘Innocents’ series in which, through photography, she examines the role of photography in wrongful convictions. On 
17 September 2009 the Institute of Modern Art hosted a roundtable at which William MacNeil, Hilary Emmett and Rex Butler discussed Simon’s work. Their final papers are published here.

Taryn' with the negative  |  William MacNeil

Hidden in plain sight  |  Hilary Emmett

Taryn Simon  |  Rex Butler