Cisternerne presents an extensive sound installation by artist Taryn Simon. Building everlasting recitations of loss, Start Again the Lament explores how we mourn individually and collectively, considering the anatomy of grief and who we choose to guide us through it.

In the act of lament, discontent is publicly performed. Professional mourners are granted the authority and solicited by the bereaved to occupy, negotiate, and shape their loss. 

In a relentless replay, the lamentations of professional mourners are broadcast into the reverberating space of Cisternerne. These sonic rituals of grief include northern Albanian laments, which seek to excavate ‘uncried words’; Wayuu 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 Yazidi laments, which trace a topography of displacement and exile. Cisternerne becomes an instrument echoing recitations of loss with a reverberation of 17 seconds.

As sound and visiting bodies move through repeating archways, the installation merges darkness and light, absence and presence, singular loss, and its exponential multiplication. The public is pulled through Cisternerne by lamentations sonically pushing against its walls in cacophony and silence.

Taryn Simon (b. 1975) is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, text, sculpture, and performance – often in combination. Through her artistic practice, Simon directs our gaze towards hidden or inaccessible systems, revealing underlying structures and how these influence our behavior.

Collaborating Artists

Ana Luisa Montiel Fernández, Marisol Rosalía Montiel Fernández, Kalash Tossouni Boudoyan, Aziz Tamoyan, Lala Ismayilova, Haji Rahila Jafarova, Patimat Alibekova, Zakhra Maldaeva, Zamfira Ludovica Mureşan, Mrike Nokaj, Hu Xinglian, Chen Jian, Afua Acheampomaah, Hanna Koduah, Aníbal González, Nota Kaltsouni, Vangelis Kotsos, Nikos Menoudakis, Busara Azimbaeva, Toktokan Chancharova.  

About Taryn Simon
Taryn Simon (b. 1975) is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, text, sculpture, and performance – often in combination. Through Taryn Simon’s artistic practice, she directs our gaze towards hidden or inaccessible systems, revealing underlying structures and how these influence our behavior both collectively and individually.

Simon’s bookwork is also a central aspect of her carefully researched multimedia work. Simon has exhibited in museums including Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen. Her work was included in the 56th Venice Biennale (2015).

Start Again the Lament is a new sonic work arising from the acclaimed performance installation of An Occupation of Loss at Park Avenue Armory, New York, 2016, and in the cavernous concrete space below Islington Green, London, 2018 presented by Artangel. Laments from Quarantine, 2020, compiled by the artist and produced by Artangel, is a collection of video recordings from collaborating artists made during the pandemic.

Production
Lighting Design: Urs Schöenebaum
Sound Design: Mathis Nitschke
Sound and Lighting Technician: Mikkel Peter Larsen

The exhibition is realized thanks to
Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, Arbejdernes Landsbank, Arne V. Schleschs Fond, Augustinus Fonden, Beckett-Fonden, Bestles Fond, Brøchner Hotels, Det Obelske Familiefond, Frederiksberg Fonden, Frederiksberg Forsyning, Frederiksberg Kommune, Grosserer L. F. Foghts Fond, Hoffmann og Husmans Fond, Lizzi og Mogens Staal Fonden, Overretssagfører L. Zeuthens mindelegat, Ny Carlsbergfondet, Statens kunstfond, William Demant Fonden.