Taryn Simon Debuts Largest Guggenheim Show with FBI Agent Saga
Taryn Simon's new exhibit, "Father Country I Do Love You," has just opened at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, making history as the largest exhibition ever held there. It runs until March 14 and features over 1,000 works, including photos, sculptures, and films, organized into 42 "chapters." These chapters trace the life of an unnamed federal agent from the early '90s to 2024, highlighting key moments like negotiations with Saddam Hussein and the sting that led to the arrest of Marion Barry, the former mayor of Washington, DC. Simon stumbled upon the agent's narrative while sifting through FBI files in 2017. This project, which took a decade to complete, also serves as a tribute to her late father, a former State Department worker.
Key facts
- "Father Country I Do Love You" is on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum through March 14.
- The exhibition is the largest body of work ever to debut at the Guggenheim.
- It features over 1,000 photographs, sculpture, and film across 42 chapters.
- The project follows an unnamed federal agent from the early 1990s to 2024.
- The agent appeared as an extra on The Silence of the Lambs and worked the 2024 Republican National Convention.
- Simon discovered the agent in 2017 while reviewing FBI files from the 1990s.
- The show includes teak installations dedicated to Simon's father, based on a tale about Jim Thompson.
- Simon's father worked for the State Department and took thousands of Kodachrome photos.
Entities
Artists
- Taryn Simon
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Eli Baden-Lasar
- Saddam Hussein
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Marion Barry
- Jim Thompson
- Jodie Foster
- Donald Trump
- JD Vance
- George Lucas
- Georgia O'Keeffe
- Pablo Picasso
- Bill Cunningham
- Thomas Dozol
- Juman Malouf
- Sophie Taeuber-Arp
- Nat Trotman
Institutions
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- FBI
- State Department
- Republican National Convention
- CIA
- Skywalker Ranch
- CULTURED
- Hatje Cantz
- New York Art Life
- Guggenheim
- Brown University
- Park Avenue Armory
- Joann Fabrics
- Marimekko
- Vogue
- Guggenheim New York
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Washington, DC
- Cambodia
- Lebanon
- Thailand
- Russia
- Iran
- Israel
- China
- Afghanistan
- Korea
- 1071 Fifth Avenue
- Manhattan
- New York City
- Royan
- France
- Switzerland